Patent ID: 8370057

Claim:
A method for displaying present and predicted future locations, velocities and accelerations of each of at least first and second aerial vehicles (AVs), the method comprising providing a computer that is programmed: to receive or otherwise provide estimates of present locations rj(t 0 ) of a selected number J of AVs, numbered j=1, . . . , J (J≧2), for a present time, t=t 0 , where the locations rj(t 0 ) are determined with reference to a Cartesian coordinate system (x,y,z) having unit length vectors i, j and k oriented parallel to x-, y- and z-coordinate axes, with initial vector location values rj(t 0 )=(xj 0 ,yj 0 ,zj 0 ); to provide estimates of at least one of present velocity vectors vj(t 0 ) and present acceleration vectors aj(t 0 ) for the J AVs, for the present time, t=t 0 ; to provide an estimate of locations rj(t), velocity vectors vj(t) and acceleration vectors aj(t) for at least two spaced apart times t that are greater than t 0 ; to provide an estimate of a time, t=t(min)≧t 0 , for which a distance separation value |r 1 ( t )−r 2 ( t )| attains a locally minimum value for the AVs j=1 and j=2, and estimating the locations rj(t=t(min)) for j=1 and 2; to provide a unit length normal vector n of a display plane for the J AVs, where the vector n is determined with reference to at least one of the following vectors: i, j, k, −i sin φ+j cos φ, (v 10 ^v 20 )/|v 10 ^v 20 |, and (v 10 ^a 10 )/|v 10 ^a 10 |, where φ is a selected azimuthal angle in a range 0≦φ<2π; to visually represent, on a display screen, a display plane Π defined by the normal vector n and passing through at least one display plane anchor point AP that is determined with reference to one or more locations AP=r 10 , r 20 , {f·z 10 +1−f) z 20 }k, r 1 ( t =t(min)), and r 2 ( t =t(min)), where f is a selected value in a range 0≦f≦1; and to visually represent, on the display screen, the locations r 1 (t 0 ) and r 2 (t 0 ) on or adjacent to a display plane Π, determined with reference to the normal vector n.