US 10,475,346 B1 · Miles-in-trail with passback restrictions for use in air traffic management

Abstract

Method of miles-in-trail passback restrictions for use in air traffic management. Miles-in-trail restrictions can be used as a traffic management initiative when downstream traffic congestion at airports or in sectors is anticipated. To successfully implement the miles-in-trail at airspace fixes or navigational aids, it is desired that restriction values be computed for passing back to upstream facilities at specific boundaries. This method incorporates traffic manager feedback, resulting in significant improvement in guidance. Additional operational considerations required by traffic managers to implement the passback restrictions, namely maximum ground delay and absorbable airborne delay, are used in this method. The method also includes the step of absorbing a small amount of ground and airborne delays which are sufficient to handle the imposed constraint. The method further includes the step of implementing the passback restrictions to provide traffic managers ways to alleviate traffic constraints for reducing excessive airborne delay for current traffic conditions.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A system for managing air traffic for optimal throughput of air traffic, the system using miles-in-trail passback restrictions for aircraft traveling via multiple merging routes through intermediate boundaries across a common metered location that satisfies the primary miles-in-trail restriction at the common metered location, the system comprising:

an initializer configured to accept and validate input parameters for setting system default limits;
a memory, coupled to the initializer, configured to store the valid input parameters and predicted times of arrival for each aircraft at the common metered location having the primary miles-in-trail restriction;
a passback boundary estimator, coupled to the memory, having a processor configured to compute boundary miles-in-trail passback restrictions for a plurality of merging routes to the common metered location which pass through a plurality of intermediate boundaries based on currently scheduled air traffic for the common metered location to satisfy the primary miles-in-trail restriction;
and
an aircraft scheduler, coupled to the passback boundary estimator, configured to update the boundary miles-in-trail passback restrictions at said plurality of intermediate boundaries for optimal throughput of air traffic.

2 more elements

A method for managing air traffic for optimal throughput of air traffic, the method using miles-in-trail passback restrictions for aircraft traveling via multiple merging routes through intermediate boundaries across a common metered location that satisfies the primary miles-in-trail restriction at the common metered location, the method comprising the steps of:

initializing system default limits by accepting and validating input parameters;
compiling a list of all aircraft predicted to pass through the common metered location having the primary miles-in-trail restriction within a specified time window;
ordering the list of aircraft based on predicted time of arrival at the common metered location having the primary miles-in-trail restriction;
creating a plurality of equidistant intermediate boundaries on the merging routes that are equidistant from a downstream intermediate boundary or the common metered location having the primary miles-in-trail restriction;
combining the plurality of equidistant intermediate boundaries that merge to the immediate downstream common metered location;
and
scheduling each aircraft to avoid violating the primary miles-in-trail restriction at the common metered location by increasing the passback value by a fixed amount at a first portion of said plurality of intermediate boundaries and simultaneously incrementing the aircraft's delay by a fixed amount at a second portion of said plurality of intermediate boundaries until all predicted times of arrival for all aircraft are optimized.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Miles-in-trail with passback restrictions for use in air traffic management

Life of this patent

Miles-in-trail with passback restrictions for use in air traffic management

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16