Method and system for controlling interval management of an aircraft
AssigneeGE Aviation Systems LLC
InventorsTerry Lee Williams, Andrew Douglas Gent, Joachim Karl Ulf Hochwarth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aircraft and method for controlling a following aircraft in reference to a target aircraft including receiving, in a flight management system of the following aircraft, information related to the target aircraft, setting a required time of arrival at an achieve-by-point abeam of the target aircraft target reference point, and after the achieve-by-point is reached, flying the following aircraft to maintain a fixed separation until a defined termination point has been reached.
Claims20
A method of controlling a following aircraft, operating according to a following aircraft planned path, in reference to a target aircraft, operating according to a target aircraft planned path, the method comprising:
- receiving, in a flight management system of the following aircraft, information regarding the target aircraft;
- setting, in the flight management system, a required time of arrival at an achieve-by-point provided on the following aircraft planned path wherein the achieve-by-point is abeam a target reference point provided on the target aircraft planned path;
- engaging, in the flight management system, a required time of arrival function and enabling flight of the following aircraft, according to the required time of arrival function, to reach the achieve-by-point by the required time of arrival;
- and
- after the achieve-by-point is reached by the following aircraft, maintaining a fixed separation between the following aircraft and the target aircraft.
An aircraft operating according to an aircraft planned path, comprising:
- a communication link;
- and
- a flight management system that is communicably coupled to the communication link, and includes an interval management module configured to receive information related to a target aircraft and automatically achieve an initial separation with a target aircraft, operating according to a target aircraft planned path, and maintain a predetermined separation with the target aircraft until a planned termination point is reached;
- wherein the flight management system of the aircraft comprises an abeam function configured to generate at least one achieve-by-point along the aircraft planned path that is abeam a target reference point provided on the target aircraft planned path, wherein the achieve-by-point is a point on the aircraft planned path that is normal to the target reference point on the target aircraft planned path;
- and
- wherein the flight management system utilizes a required time of arrival function to set a required time of arrival at the at least one achieve-by-point, and wherein the flight management system can engage the required time of arrival function to enable flight of the following aircraft, according to the required time of arrival function, to the achieve-by-point by the required time of arrival.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.