Next generation flight management systems for manned and unmanned aircraft operations - automated separation assurance and collision avoidance functionalities

The demand for improved safety, efficiency and dynamic demand-capacity balancing due to the rapid growth of the aviation sector and the increasing proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in different classes of airspace pose significant challenges to avionics system developers. The design of Next Generation Flight Management Systems (NG-FMS) for manned and unmanned aircraft operations is performed by addressing the challenges identified by various Air Traffic Management (ATM) modernisation programmes and UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system initiatives. In particular, this research focusses on introducing automated Separation Assurance and Collision Avoidance (SA&CA) functionalities (mathematical models) in the NG-FMS. The innovative NG-FMS is also capable of supporting automated negotiation and validation of 4-Dimensional Trajectory (4DT) intents in coordination with novel ground-based Next Generation Air Traffic Management (NG-ATM) systems. One of the key research contributions is the development of a unified method for cooperative and non-cooperative SA&CA, addressing the technical and regulatory challenges of manned and unmanned aircraft coexistence in all classes of airspace. Analytical models are presented and validated to compute the overall avoidance volume in the airspace surrounding a tracked object, supporting automated SA&CA functionalities. The scientific basis of this approach is to assess real-time measurements and associated uncertainties affecting navigation states (of the host aircraft platform), tracking observables (of the static or moving object) and platform dynamics, and translate them to unified range and bearing uncertainty descriptors. The SA&CA unified approach provides an innovative analytical framework to generate high-fidelity dynamic geo-fences suitable for integration in the NG-FMS and in the ATM/UTM/defence decision support tools