A method for assisting the braking of an aircraft on a runway comprises the steps implemented automatically, including: before the landing of the aircraft on the runway, receiving the input, by a crew member of the aircraft, of a target braking distance by a man-machine interface associated with a processing unit, the target braking distance corresponding to a distance between a threshold of the runway and a selected exit of the runway; engaging an automatic optimized braking mode of the aircraft making it possible for the aircraft to attain the target speed when it reaches the selected runway exit; andcontrolling a braking system of the aircraft, while the aircraft is running on the runway, according to this automatic optimized braking mode.

An approach for identifying slot exchanges for flights among a schedule of an aircraft operator includes acquiring existing slot assignments and flight schedules for flights operated by any airline that participate in a slot exchange program for a particular controlled airspace. Cost values are assigned to slots of the aircraft operator based on various criteria, such as any difference between flight times of particular flights and corresponding assigned slots. An optimization is performed to identify any alternate authority issued slots that, if assigned to flights of the aircraft operator, result in reduced cost values. Slot exchange requests are issued for the alternate authority issued slots in a manner that facilitates acceptance of the request without user intervention, by either the send or receiving airline. Flight schedules and assigned slots may be represented on a common display.

An electric taxi motive control system of a first aircraft comprises a first aircraft position determining system configured to generate a first aircraft position signal, a first aircraft receiver, configured to receive transmissions of a second aircraft position signal, a first aircraft pilot interface configured to accept an input indicative of a first aircraft desired speed, and a first aircraft electronic controller configured to; determine a aircraft separation distance indicative of the distance between the first aircraft and the second aircraft, compare the aircraft separation distance with a safe distance value; and generate a modified first aircraft commanded speed signal when the aircraft separation distance is less than the safe distance value.

The present invention is a system and method for aircraft ground collision avoidance (iGCAS) comprising a modular array of software, including a sense own state module configured to gather data to compute trajectory, a sense terrain module including a digital terrain map (DTM) and map manger routine to store and retrieve terrain elevations, a predict collision threat module configured to generate an elevation profile corresponding to the terrain under the trajectory computed by said sense own state module, a predict avoidance trajectory module configured to simulate avoidance maneuvers ahead of the aircraft, a determine need to avoid module configured to determine which avoidance maneuver should be used, when it should be initiated, and when it should be terminated, a notify Module configured to display each maneuver's viability to the pilot by a colored GUI, a pilot controls module configured to turn the system on and off, and an avoid module configured to define how an aircraft will perform avoidance maneuvers through 3-dimensional space.

Processing arrangement for managing temporary updates to a map for use by vehicular navigation systems in vehicles in which a communications system at a remote site receives wireless communications from each vehicle including information about presence of an object or condition at a specific location automatically identified at the specific location without requiring manual entry of data about the object or condition at the specific location and that affects movement of vehicles on a roadway. A processor generates a map update for use by vehicular navigation systems based on the identified object or condition at the specific location which is transmitted to any vehicle in a vicinity of the specific location to cause the vehicular navigation system of that vehicle to use a map with the generated map update to display or otherwise indicate the presence of the object or condition at the specific location.

A stationary object identification system includes memory and a transmitter. The memory has obstacle data stored therein that includes a plurality of parameters associated with each of a plurality of stationary obstacles located at a location, such as an aerodrome. The transmitter is in operable communication with the memory and is configured to generate a plurality of signals. Each of the signals is associated with a different one of the stationary obstacles and has a power level representative of the plurality of parameters associated with the stationary obstacle.

A wake vortex avoidance system includes a microphone array configured to detect low frequency sounds. A signal processor determines a geometric mean coherence based on the detected low frequency sounds. A display displays wake vortices based on the determined geometric mean coherence.

Systems and methods are provided for converting taxiway voice commands into taxiway textual commands. In various embodiments, the systems can comprise a radio receiver that is configured to receive the taxiway voice commands from an air traffic control center, a voice recognition processor coupled to the radio receiver that is configured to receive and convert the taxiway voice commands into the taxiway textual commands, and/or a taxiway clearance display coupled to the voice recognition processor that is configured to receive and display the taxiway textual commands.

An unmanned aerial vehicle with lift and propulsion system and a flight control system and method. The flight control system has a flight control unit, a navigation system, a communication system and an actuator system. The flight control unit can calculate, based on data from the navigation system and/or data of a ground control station, control commands which can be fed to the actuator system for actuating the lift and propulsion system. The ground control station is configured to control and/or monitor the aerial vehicle. The aerial vehicle has a monitoring unit to monitor the communication system to determine whether all the communication links are interrupted. The monitoring unit can cause the flight control unit to land the aerial vehicle safely at a suitable landing site based on stored data relating to current flight conditions and nearby landing sites.

A flight management system architecture with two separate modules is proposed. In the core module, generic functionalities relative to the flight management of the aircraft are implemented. In the supplementary module, supplementary functions are implemented. The supplementary functionalities include functionalities specific to an entity to which the aircraft belongs such as the specific aircraft model, a family of airdraft, a company, an alliance, and so on. The flight management system also includes a message exchange interface in which enables the core and supplementary modules to exchanges messages with each other. The core and supplementary modules includes corresponding core module and supplementary module interfacing functionalities that respectively interface with generic and specific man-machine interfaces.