Abstract: A smart airport automation system gathers and reinterprets a wide variety of aircraft and airport related data and information around unattended or non-towered airports. Data is gathered from many different types of sources, and in otherwise incompatible data formats. The smart airport automation system then decodes, assembles, fuses, and broadcasts structured information, in real-time, to aircraft pilots. The fused information is also useful to remotely located air traffic controllers who monitor non-towered airport operations. The system includes a data fusion and distribution computer that imports aircraft position and velocity, weather, and airport specific data. The data inputs are used to compute safe takeoff and landing sequences, and other airport advisory information for participating aircraft.

Abstract: A smart airport automation system includes a subsystem that inputs weather and airport configuration data to determine an active runway in use and an airport state. Another subsystem inputs aircraft position and velocity data from available surveillance sources, known flight-intent information, and past aircraft trajectories to project future aircraft unconstrained trajectories. A third subsystem uses the projected trajectories and aircraft intent to determine desired landing and takeoff sequences, and desired adjacent aircraft spacing. A fourth subsystem uses such information to predict potential aircraft conflicts, such as a loss of acceptable separation between adjacent aircraft. A fifth subsystem packages the weather, airport configuration, aircraft state, desired landing/takeoff sequence, and potential conflict detection into a verbal advisory message that is broadcast on a local common radio frequency.