Systems and methods of airport traffic control

• US 9,396,663 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2014
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Zimmer, Nico, Vaaben, Bo, Pytel, Krzysztof, Azcuenaga, Brian A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Application Number:
  US14/330,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20160012737A1
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

A particular method includes sending a taxiing routing message from a device to a vehicle. The taxiing routing message indicates a route assignment associated with an airport. The method also includes in response to receiving an acknowledgment of the taxiing routing message from the vehicle, indicating a status at a graphical user interface. The status is associated with the taxiing routing message.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending a taxiing routing message from a first device to a vehicle, wherein the taxiing routing message indicates a route assignment associated with an airport;

in response to receiving an acknowledgment of the taxiing routing message from the vehicle, indicating a status at a graphical user interface, the status associated with the taxiing routing message;

in response to detecting that the vehicle has entered an area associated with a second device, sending a signal to the second device from the first device, wherein the signal indicates that the second device is to route the vehicle; and

updating the graphical user interface to indicate that the vehicle is routed by the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to sending the taxiing routing message, indicating a second status at the graphical user interface, wherein the second status indicates that the route assignment has been sent.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle includes a ground vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to sending the taxiing routing message, automatically generating the route assignment based on routing rules.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, prior to sending the taxiing routing message:

indicating the route assignment at the graphical user interface after the route assignment has been automatically generated;

receiving user data indicating that the route assignment is to be modified; and

modifying the route assignment based on the user data to generate a modified route assignment, wherein the taxiing routing message indicates the modified route assignment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the graphical user interface further includes a graphical layout of the airport, wherein the graphical user interface includes a first graphical representation of the route assignment on the graphical layout, and wherein the user data corresponds to a user selection of one or more graphical elements of the graphical layout.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the routing rules indicate that a particular vehicle with a particular property is to be routed to a particular waypoint.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular property is that the particular vehicle is arriving from an international flight, and wherein the particular waypoint is a gate in an immigration area of the airport.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to detecting the vehicle diverting from the route assignment, indicating an alert at the graphical user interface.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

sending a taxiing routing message from a first device to a vehicle, wherein the taxiing routing message indicates a route assignment associated with an airport;

in response to receiving an acknowledgment of the taxiing routing message from the vehicle, indicating a status at a graphical user interface, the status associated with the taxiing routing message,

in response to detecting that the vehicle has entered an area associated with a second device, sending a signal to the second device from the first device, wherein the signal indicates that the second device is to route the vehicle; and

updating the graphical user interface to indicate that the vehicle is routed by the second device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise indicating an alert at the graphical user interface in response to detecting the vehicle diverting from the route assignment.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the graphical user interface includes a textual representation of the alert.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the graphical user interface includes a graphical layout of the airport and wherein the graphical user interface indicates a graphical representation of the alert on the graphical layout.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the vehicle includes an aircraft or a ground vehicle.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the status indicates that the route assignment is accepted.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to receiving a taxiing request from the vehicle;

indicating a second status at the graphical user interface, the second status associated with the taxiing routing message, wherein the second status indicates that the route assignment is rejected;

automatically generating a second route assignment based on routing rules;

indicating the second route assignment at the graphical user interface; and

sending a second taxiing routing message to the vehicle in response to receiving a user input, wherein the second taxiing routing message indicates the second route assignment.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface further indicates a gate assignment corresponding to the vehicle.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

sending a first taxiing routing message from a first device to a first vehicle, wherein the first taxiing routing message indicates a first route assignment associated with an airport;

in response to receiving an acknowledgment of the first taxiing routing message, indicating a status at a graphical user interface, the status associated with the first taxiing routing message,

in response to detecting that the first vehicle has entered an area associated with a second device, sending a signal to the second device from the first device, wherein the signal indicates that the second device is to route the vehicle; and

updating the graphical user interface to indicate that the first vehicle is routed by the second device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

indicating an alert at the graphical user interface in response to detecting a conflict between the first route assignment and a location of a second vehicle at the airport;

automatically generating a second route assignment based on routing rules; and

indicating the second route assignment at the graphical user interface.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to receiving a user input, sending a second taxiing routing message to the first vehicle, wherein the second taxiing routing message indicates the second route assignment.

21. A method comprising:

automatically generating a route assignment based on routing rules;

sending a taxiing routing message from a device to a vehicle, wherein the taxiing routing message indicates the route assignment associated with an airport; and

in response to receiving an acknowledgment of the taxiing routing message from the vehicle, indicating a status at a graphical user interface, the status associated with the taxiing routing message,

wherein the routing rules indicate that a particular vehicle with a particular property is to be routed to a particular waypoint, and

wherein the particular property is that the particular vehicle is arriving from an international flight, and wherein the particular waypoint is a gate in an immigration area of the airport.

22. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

sending a taxiing routing message to a vehicle, wherein the taxiing routing message indicates a route assignment associated with an airport; and

in response to receiving an acknowledgment of the taxiing routing message from the vehicle, indicating a status at a graphical user interface, the status associated with the taxiing routing message,

wherein the status indicates that the route assignment is accepted, and

wherein the operations further comprise, in response to receiving a taxiing request from the vehicle;

indicating a second status at the graphical user interface, the second status associated with the taxiing routing message, wherein the second status indicates that the route assignment is rejected;

automatically generating a second route assignment based on routing rules;

indicating the second route assignment at the graphical user interface; and

sending a second taxiing routing message to the vehicle in response to receiving a user input, wherein the second taxiing routing message indicates the second route assignment.