System and a method for automatic air collision avoidance

• US 7,711,484 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2005
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Saab AB
• Original Assignee: Saab AB
• Inventors: Sundqvist, Bengt-Goran, Hammarlund, Henrik, Lovgren, Jonas, Persson, Hasse
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Broadhead; Brian J
• Application Number:
  US11/162,089
• Publication Number:
  US 20060293855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,709 Days
• Field of Search: 701/301, 701/4, 701/9, 701/11, 244/175, 342/29
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933

Abstract

A method and a system for avoiding collisions between aircraft. The method includes computing a default fly out maneuver regarding how the aircraft shall be maneuvered during a fly out action, predicting a fly away path including a prediction of the position of the aircraft during the fly out maneuver, sending information about the own fly away path to the other aircrafts, receiving information about fly away paths from the other aircrafts, detecting an approaching collision, and activating the fly out maneuver upon detecting an approaching collision. The method further includes carrying out the following steps after activation the fly out maneuver: receiving the current position of the aircraft, and calculating a compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft based on the current position of the aircraft, the previously predicted position, and the default fly out maneuver.

Claims

1. A method for avoiding collisions between own aircraft and one or more other aircraft, each aircraft comprising an automatic collision avoidance system, the method comprising:

computing a default fly out maneuver regarding how the aircraft shall be maneuvered during a fly out action,

predicting a fly away path comprising a prediction of the position of the aircraft during the fly out maneuver,

sending information about the own fly away path to the other aircraft,

receiving information about fly away paths from the other aircraft,

detecting an approaching collision based on the own fly away path and the fly away paths received from the other aircraft, and

activating the fly out maneuver upon detecting an approaching collision, and

wherein the following steps are carried out after activation the fly out maneuver;

receiving the current position of the aircraft, and

calculating a compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft based on the current position of the aircraft, said previously predicted position, and the default fly out maneuver, wherein the compensated fly out maneuver is calculated by adjusting the default fly out maneuver in such a way that the position of the aircraft approaches the previously predicted position, thereby reducing the deviation between a performed fly out path and the predicted fly away path.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

estimating a position of the aircraft at a future point in time, a time period ahead, based on the current position of the aircraft and the default fly out maneuver,

calculating a difference between said estimated position of the aircraft and the previously predicted position at said future point in time, and

based on the difference calculating the compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said time period ahead is within the interval 0.2-2 seconds.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein computing a default fly out maneuver comprises computing a default fly out roll angle and a default fly out load factor, and calculating a compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft comprises calculating a compensated roll angle and a compensated load factor command.

5. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

computer program instructions recorded on the computer readable medium and executable by a digital computer, the computer program instructions for carrying out a method for avoiding collisions between own aircraft and one or more other aircraft, wherein each aircraft comprises an automatic collision avoidance system, the program code comprising instructions for;

computing a default fly out maneuver regarding how the aircraft shall be maneuvered during a fly out action,

predicting a fly away path comprising a prediction of the position of the aircraft during the fly out maneuver,

sending information about the own fly away path to the other aircraft,

receiving information about fly away paths from the other aircraft,

detecting an approaching collision based on the own fly away path and the fly away paths received from the other aircraft, and

activating the fly out maneuver upon detecting an approaching collision,

wherein the following steps are carried out after activation the fly out maneuver;

receiving the current position of the aircraft, and

calculating a compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft based on the current position of the aircraft, said previously predicted position, and the default fly out maneuver, wherein the compensated fly out maneuver is calculated by adjusting the default fly out maneuver in such a way that the position of the aircraft approaches the previously predicted position, thereby reducing the deviation between a performed fly out path and the predicted fly away path.

6. A system for automatically avoiding collisions between own aircraft and one or more other aircrafts, the system comprising:

a default fly out computing unit adapted to compute a default fly out maneuver regarding how the aircraft shall be maneuvered during a fly out action, and based thereon predicting a fly away path comprising a prediction of the position of the aircraft during the fly out,

a sender adapted to send information about the computed fly away path to the other aircraft,

a receiver adapted to receive information about fly away paths from the other aircraft,

a collision handler adapted to detect an approaching collision based on the computed fly away path and the fly away paths received from the other aircraft, and to activate a fly away maneuver upon detecting an approaching collision, and

a fly out maneuver compensating module adapted to, during a fly out action, receive a current position of the aircraft, and to calculate a compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft based on the current position of the aircraft, said previously predicted position, and the default fly out maneuver, wherein the compensated fly out maneuver is calculated by adjusting the default fly out maneuver in such a way that a position of the aircraft approaches the previously predicted position, thereby reducing a deviation between a performed fly out path and the predicted fly away path.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said default fly out computing unit is adapted to estimate a position of the aircraft at a future point in time, a time period ahead, based on the current position of the aircraft and the default fly out maneuver, and to calculate a difference between said estimated position of the aircraft and said previously predicted position at said future point in time, and based thereon to calculated the compensated fly out maneuver for the aircraft.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said time period ahead is within the interval 0.2-2 seconds.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein said default fly out computing unit is adapted to compute a default fly out maneuver comprising a default fly out roll angle and a default fly out load factor, and said fly out maneuver compensating module is adapted to calculate a compensated fly out maneuver comprising a compensated roll angle and a compensated load factor command.