Computing provably safe aircraft to aircraft spacing for closely spaced parallel approaches

One of the requirements for closely spaced parallel approaches is the proof that possible blunders of the adjacent aircraft do not lead to a loss of separation. Our paper addresses this problem by considering the blunderer as a “pursuer” and the other aircraft as an “evader”. We then use differential game methodology to find the safe region in which it is guaranteed that blunders do not lead to a loss of separation. We apply the technique to a practical case to show how the minimum safe longitudinal separation can be computed. Finally, simulation is performed to show how the technique can be used as an alerting algorithm for onboard on-line computation