Patents by Inventor Daniel B. Kirk

Daniel B. Kirk has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7277043
    Abstract: A method of generating aircraft tactical alerts includes receiving track positions for two aircraft; receiving trajectories and static conformance bounds for the two aircraft; receiving current position for the two aircraft; generating tactical check segments and variable conformance bounds for the two aircraft based on the current position, the static conformance bounds, trajectory, adapted data, and the track positions; and generating a tactical alert if the variable conformance bounds overlap within a specified lookahead time. The variable conformance bounds can be either symmetric or asymmetric about projected tracks. The variable conformance bounds can use step functions, or continuously widening bounds up to the static conformance bounds. The variable conformance bounds can be based on modifying the static conformance bounds in two or three spatial dimensions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2007
    Assignee: The MITRE Corporation
    Inventors: William C. Arthur, Daniel B. Kirk
  • Patent number: 6604044
    Abstract: A computationally efficient method for automatically generating lateral resolutions for air traffic control problems for a given aircraft allows for prediction and evaluation of required separation between aircraft, between aircraft and airspace, and problems with assigned metering time. Upon a possible problem being predicted, lateral resolutions are created which provide plans to re-route the original flight trajectory of the aircraft in order to avoid a possible problem by examining the space surrounding the aircraft, iteratively adding data on each conflict encountered into a conflict database, calculating and probing maneuver trajectories for all conflicts in the conflict database, and selecting the most appropriate of the created maneuver trajectories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2003
    Assignee: The Mitre Corporation
    Inventor: Daniel B. Kirk