The Protected Volume of Airspace Generated by an Airborne Collision Avoidance System

Abstract

The shape, size and orientation of the protected volume of airspace generated by the airborne collision avoidance system currently known as TCAS II are derived. While based on constant-velocity aircraft flight paths the results are shown to have more general application. It is also shown how the essential features of the protected volume may be used to calculate alarm rates for some simple traffic patterns.