Patent ID: 8566016

Claim:
A method for preventing conflicts between vehicles in a vehicle traffic network on an airport surface, the method comprising: defining, via a processor the traffic network on an airport surface, the traffic network comprising at least a plurality of taxiways, runways and intersections therebetween; determining, via a processor a location and an assigned path for each vehicle in the traffic network for which location and path data are provided; searching along the assigned path and identifying a conflict where assigned paths for two vehicles merge, cross or intersect from opposing directions on the airport surface; designating a critical section on the airport surface for each identified conflict and defining a protected zone for each identified critical section; determining, via a processor a hold requirement for each identified conflict, the hold requirement defining a projected hold position for stopping one of the two vehicles in a conflicting pair at an entry point to the protected zone for the identified critical section; determining, via a processor whether any of the projected hold positions for the vehicles intrudes into the protected zone; repositioning projected hold positions intruding into the protected zone; and providing a hold advisory to a traffic controller, said hold advisory comprising the hold requirement to stop all but one vehicle or all vehicles at entry points to the protected zone for each identified critical section on the airport surface, wherein identifying said conflict comprises: pairing one vehicle with each of the other vehicles in the traffic network, comparing, via a processor, the assigned path for the one vehicle to the assigned path for the other vehicle in the pair to identify common vertexes; identifying each common vertex as a part of a critical section on the airport surface; repeating the pairing and comparing, via a processor, of the assigned path for the one vehicle to the assigned paths for each of the remaining other vehicles in the traffic network; and repeating the pairing and comparing of the assigned paths for each of the remaining other vehicles in pairs in the traffic network.