RU2609152C1 - Method for preventing collision of aircraft during flight in zones of low density of air traffic and absence of air control support - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: radio engineering.

SUBSTANCE: relates to radio engineering methods of locating objects in air space and can be used to prevent collision of aircraft, in particular, light aerobatic aircraft having minimum instruments and positions in zones of low density of air traffic in absence of air control support. Said result is achieved due to that as per a measured value of distance to the aircraft, which is a danger for the flight, formed is a zone of air space, which is displayed on the air picture indicator in the form of circles with evenly arranged on them radial arrows, herewith the diameter of the displayed circle corresponds to the distance to the aircraft, which is a danger for the flight, the arrows length and direction are the speed and direction (approach/departure) of the aircraft subject to the risk of collision. As per the specified value of altitude interval between flight levels and the pressure difference of altitudes of the protected and the threatening aircraft on the air picture indicator displayed are the aircraft, for which the difference of altitudes or the estimated time to a dangerous approach exceeds a preset threshold. Depending on a degree of danger changed is the colour of displaying and audio signals are generated. When the threatening aircraft is in the coverage area and when the previously established value of dangerous approach distance is reached the pilot of the aircraft subject to the risk of collision communicates via the standard radio phone with the pilot of the threatening aircraft and matches the divergence maneuver.

EFFECT: technical result is generation of information for detecting by the pilot the presence of a potential danger of collision with another aircraft.

4 cl, 1 dwg

Description

Technical field

The invention relates to radio-technical methods for determining the location of objects in airspace and can be used to prevent collisions of aircraft, primarily light aircraft, with a minimum of instrumentation and located in areas of reduced air traffic density without dispatch support.

State of the art

In instrument flight conditions, in the absence of operational communication with the dispatcher, the crew does not have information about the surrounding aircraft and is not protected from collisions. This may constitute a serious restriction on the use of small aircraft at high latitudes with low air traffic density and weak airspace obstruction by means of communication, surveillance and dispatching services, even if these aircraft are equipped with modern navigation equipment.

There is a method of increasing flight safety (see https://ra.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADS-В), which consists in using automatic dependent monitoring ADS-B, the essence of which is as follows. On board the aircraft there is a reliable source of coordinates. On a special radio channel, information about coordinates and other useful information is transmitted to the surrounding aircraft using the broadcasting method. On all aircraft except for measuring and broadcasting coordinates, information is provided from the surrounding aircraft and a picture of the air situation is displayed. The image of the air situation involves displaying your own aircraft in the center of the screen and displaying the surrounding non-aircraft in a projection from above. The availability of information about the air situation allows the crew to avoid collisions even in the absence of supervisory observation. Significant difficulties for the implementation of this method consist in the fact that at present, almost all aircraft that are operated in the airspace under consideration are not equipped with equipment that provides reliable information about the coordinates of the location.

As a prototype, a method was chosen (see https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Aircraft radar transponder), based on the use of a collision avoidance system (ACAS) for aircraft in the air, including: equipment of a protected aircraft with an analogue of a secondary radar that does not have controllable antenna patterns that determine the direction of the surrounding aircraft (with significantly reduced accuracy) and their range; placement of a radar transponder on the surrounding aircraft, the signals of which determine the mutual coordinates in the horizontal plane, and information about the barometric altitude is also transmitted. Based on this information, the ACAS-equipped aircraft crew receives a picture of the air situation and takes measures to prevent a collision.

The main disadvantage of the prototype is the need to have expensive bulky and heavy equipment on board the protected aircraft, used mainly on large passenger aircraft, the placement of which on light aircraft is associated with technical (weight, dimensions) and economic difficulties.

The aim of the proposed technical solution is to reduce the weight, dimensions and cost of equipment installed on the protected aircraft, which makes it possible to install equipment on small aircraft and provides the crew with sufficient information about the air situation to make a decision on the prevention of a possible collision in the absence of supervisory observation in low-level airspace traffic density.

Disclosure of invention

The technical result of the claimed method is to generate information to detect the potential danger of a collision with another aircraft, display the received information in a form that is clear to the pilot and provide the pilot with the opportunity to coordinate the maneuver of the discrepancy with the crew of the aircraft that is dangerous to flight.

This goal is achieved by the fact that in the method of preventing collisions on all surrounding aircraft, a radar transponder and a barometric altimeter are installed, and the following are additionally installed on the protected aircraft:

- radar interrogator (similar to that included in the collision avoidance system);

- response receiver (similar to that included in the collision avoidance system and ADS-B-IN);

- distance calculator to the transponder from which the signal is received (similar to that included in the collision avoidance system);

- an electronic indicator to display the air situation (can be combined with a navigation indicator).

Since the proposed radio equipment does not have a means of determining the direction to the source of the response signal, the information received and displayed to the crew does not contain the direction to the potentially dangerous aircraft, but there is information about its altitude and distance to it. Therefore, a potentially dangerous aircraft cannot be displayed as a point (symbol), but must be displayed as a circle with the center at the display location of the protected aircraft and a radius corresponding to the distance between the aircraft and an additional indication of the height difference of the conflicting aircraft. The radius of action of such a system is determined by the flight altitude and curvature of the earth's surface. The greater the height, the greater the radius of action. With a flight altitude of 1000 meters, the radius of action exceeds 150 kilometers, which leaves the crew enough time for further actions to prevent a collision.

According to the information displayed on the air situation indicator, the crew assesses the situation, communicates with a potentially dangerous aircraft via a standard radiotelephone (the necessary frequency for communication is known to the crew) and coordinates the discrepancy maneuver.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention is illustrated in the drawing, which shows a diagram of the display of the air situation with elevations and targets representing a threat of collision, where:

- the triangle in the center indicates the position of the protected aircraft;

- the figure placed in a rectangle on a circle line indicates the distance to the conflicting aircraft;

- the numbers in the rectangles located on the outer and inner sides of the circles indicate the difference in barometric heights at which the conflicting and protected aircraft are located (with a plus sign - above the protected aircraft, minus - below);

- arrows on the circles indicate the direction and speed of the conflicting aircraft relative to the defended (outside the circle - removal, inward - approach).

The relative position of the aircraft is displayed in the form of a circle in the center of which the protected aircraft is located, and the conflicting one is on a circle line with a radius corresponding to the distance between the aircraft. Based on the differentiation of the measured distance with respect to time, we obtain the rate of approach (or discrepancy if the derivative is negative). The resulting speed is displayed in the form of radial arrows, the length of which qualitatively displays the magnitude of the speed, and the direction (in or out of the circle) allows the crew to determine the trend of the distance. On the same screen, the difference in barometric heights is displayed. The choice of the point on the circle where the digital information is displayed is not related to the direction to the threatening aircraft and can be based on purely ergonomic considerations. The indicated information is sufficient to choose a maneuver of discrepancy, which is consistent with the oncoming aircraft crew.

A potentially dangerous aircraft will appear on the screen when the range reaches the direct radio visibility distance, so the crew has enough time to establish contact via standard aviation radio communication in the meter wavelength range and coordinate the divergence maneuver.

Thus, collision protection is provided with a minimum set of equipment and when flying through instruments in the absence of continuous communication with the dispatcher.

The implementation of the invention.

The proposed method is as follows. The protected aircraft sends requests at a certain frequency to the standard frequency of the secondary radar signal. Each surrounding aircraft sends a response at the standard secondary radar response frequency, and this response is received on the protected aircraft. Based on the time difference between the request and the response, taking into account the known physical constant - the speed of light - the distance between the protected and threatening aircraft is determined. Based on the results of two queries made with a known time interval, the change in range for this time interval is calculated, and by dividing the change in range by the time interval between requests, the speed of approach or removal of the aircraft is determined. Based on the information received, a picture of the air situation is built on the pilot’s screen.

In the case of receiving data from more than one aircraft, a similar circle is plotted for each aircraft.

If there is a set of equipment on the threatened aircraft that is similar to that on the protected aircraft, the equipment of each aircraft makes requests, processes the answers, forms a picture of the air situation, and its crew can take the initiative to agree on the discrepancy process.

The proposed method can be implemented in the development and operation of a transport aircraft designed to perform passenger and cargo transportation on local airlines and in airspace of class “G”.

Claims (4)

1. A method for preventing collisions of an aircraft located in areas in which there is no dispatching support, consisting in an automatic review of airspace based on the radio-electronic method "request-response", detection of an aircraft that is dangerous to flight, measuring the distance to the aircraft, forming areas of airspace displayed on the air traffic indicator, characterized in that the aircraft representing danger are displayed on the indicator e of the air situation in the form of circles with radial arrows evenly spaced on them, while the diameter of the displayed circle corresponds to the distance to the aircraft that is dangerous to flight, and the direction of the arrows - the speed of approach (removal) of aircraft at risk of collision, information about the difference in barometric heights of the protected and threatening aircraft is displayed in digital form with the “+” sign when the threatening aircraft is higher than the protected one, with the “-” sign in the opposite ohm case. 2. The method of ensuring air traffic safety according to claim 1, characterized in that the aircraft displays airplanes for which the height difference or estimated time to a dangerous approach exceeds a predetermined threshold. 3. The method of ensuring air traffic safety according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, depending on the degree of danger, the display color changes and sound signals are given. 4. A method for ensuring air traffic safety according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, having assessed the danger, the pilot communicates via standard radiotelephone with the pilot of the threatening aircraft and agrees the maneuver of discrepancy.

Images