Horizontal Maneuver Coordination for Aircraft Collision-Avoidance Systems

The safe integration of unmanned aircraft into the airspace requires reliable systems to keep aircraft separated. Unmanned aircraft will likely use primarily horizontal maneuvers, in contrast with manned aircraft collision-avoidance systems, which use only vertical maneuvers. Horizontal maneuvers are much less straightforward to coordinate than vertical maneuvers. In some situations, it is better for both aircraft to maneuver in the same direction; in other situations, it is better to maneuver in opposite directions. In addition, unlike manned aircraft, unmanned aircraft will likely carry different collision-avoidance systems. This paper introduces the idea of using a universal coordination table to ensure complementary maneuvers between different kinds of collision-avoidance systems. The coordination table is generated using dynamic programming. Empirical results demonstrate the benefit of coordination tables in terms of safety and efficiency.