Patent ID: 9324237
Filing Date: 2016-04-26
CPC Classification: G05D,G08G

Claim Text:
1. A method of determining a change in speed of an aircraft, comprising the steps of: defining a merge point and a tie point; determining when a first aircraft passes the tie point; predicting a trajectory of a second aircraft using trajectory data to form a predicted trajectory; defining a minimum permissible longitudinal spacing between the first aircraft and the second aircraft; predicting a longitudinal spacing between the first and second aircraft at the merge point based on the predicted trajectory to form a predicted longitudinal spacing; responsive to the minimum permissible longitudinal spacing being greater than the predicted longitudinal spacing, calculating a proposed change in speed of the second aircraft that will result in the longitudinal spacing between the first and second aircraft at the merge point being greater than or equal to the minimum permissible longitudinal spacing; and changing a speed of the second aircraft to achieve the longitudinal spacing.