Towards a formal language for the common description of aircraft intent

This paper summarizes the key characteristics of several different methods applied to encode aircraft intent in TP implementations. The differences appear to be significant. We conclude that a standardized formal method to express aircraft intent information (understood as input to the trajectory computation process) is a key enabler to achieve the required consistency. This paper identifies the need for a formal language for the common description of aircraft intent in the context of trajectory computation. Such a language, denoted as aircraft intent description language (AIDL), would allow expressing the aircraft intent with different levels of detail within a single standard unifying framework. By using the AIDL as a common standard for intent sharing, different TP clients could interoperate on the basis of a consistent input to the TP, regardless of their individual requirements. The proposed approach is considered as a possible solution to ensure interoperability among future ATM automation components.