Patent ID: 8219264

Claim:
A method for determining the position of a follower aircraft with respect to the position of a lead aircraft comprising the following steps: positioning two spaced apart sensors on the follower aircraft of the type that can measure airspeed, angle of attack, and angle of sideslip, which measurements can be converted to horizontal, vertical and lateral velocity vector components; measuring angle of attack, sideslip and total velocity at each of the two locations; converting the two airspeed, angle of attack, and angle of sideslip readings into horizontal (u), vertical (w), and lateral (v) velocity components in wind axes; calculating the vortex strength of the lead aircraft, based on an estimate of its weight, altitude and airspeed, and then calculating the wake vortex flowfield behind the lead aircraft using known flowfield models; and analyzing the difference between the two measurements using the calculated wake vortex flowfield models thereby determining the distance from the follower airplane to the lead airplane.