Company history

About Us

The History of Maneuver Space Technologies

MST was born in 1998, when we were graduate students at the University of Minnesota. We were researching commercial airline pilots in "pure" free flight, where pilots theoretically take complete responsibility for keeping themselves safely separated from other aircraft. Ground-based air traffic control would not intervene, except in an emergency.

The problem turned out to be difficult.

To examine both current and new technologies, Kip oversaw the development of the UMN flight simulator and I wrote a next-generation, time-to-conflict-based cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI).

While this system did significantly help pilots maintain safe separation with other traffic, it was still far from perfect. So it was natural to wonder if there could be a better way to display vital maneuver information to a pilot or air traffic controller, other than the traditional method of veridical (map) displays.

The "Eureka moment" came one evening after work when we first realized that--in the simplest possible sense--any given aircraft maneuver could be defined as one unique setting of the aircraft autopilot.

This unique setting has 3 numbers, one for heading, one for altitude, one for speed.

Defined that way, we immediately realized it should be possible to construct a 3D volume--a "state space"--determined by 3 coordinate axes of heading, altitude, and speed. Individual aircraft maneuvers could then be defined as unique points within that space.

Suddenly, what had once been very hard now became very simple.

Now, every possible maneuver could be classified into one of two states. Eiither it (1) leads to future conflict or (2) does not.

Conflict maneuvers could be then drawn out as colored regions in a 3D display. Theoretically, this should make it possible to resolve all possible conflicts with all possible objects in a matter of seconds.

This led directly to the theory of the maneuver space and the development of 4CAS, the world's first navaid based upon it.

©2006 Maneuver Space Technologies, LLC

<body> <div id="content"> <div id="breadCrumb"> </div> <h2 id="pageName">About Us </h2> <div class="feature"> <h3 align="left">The History of Maneuver Space Technologies, LLC </h3> <p> MST was first registered as a company in 2003. The idea was born in 1998, when we were graduate students at the University of Minnesota. We were researching commercial airline pilots in "pure" free flight, where pilots theoretically take complete responsibility for keeping themselves safely separated from other aircraft. Ground-based air traffic control would not intervene, except in an emergency.</p> <p>The problem turned out to be difficult. </p> <p>To examine both current and new technologies, Kip oversaw the development of the UMN flight simulator and I wrote a next-generation, <a href="Publications/Knecht Sepn Maint in FF.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>time-to-conflict-based cockpit display of traffic information</strong></a> (CDTI). </p> <p>While this system did significantly help pilots maintain safe separation with other traffic, it was still far from perfect. So it was natural to wonder if there could be a better way to display vital maneuver information to a pilot or air traffic controller, other than the traditional method of veridical (map) displays.</p> </div> <div class="story"> <p>The "Eureka moment" came one evening after work when we first realized that--in the simplest possible sense--any given aircraft maneuver could be defined as <em>one unique setting of the aircraft autopilot</em>. </p> <p><img src="Graphics/B737%20autopilot.jpg" width="212" height="72" hspace="8" vspace="8" align="middle">This unique setting has 3 numbers, one for heading, one for altitude, one for speed. </p> <p>Defined that way, we immediately realized it should be possible to construct a 3D volume--a "state space"--determined by 3 coordinate axes of heading, altitude, and speed. Individual aircraft maneuvers could then be defined as unique points within that space.</p> <p>Suddenly, what had once been very hard now became very simple. </p> <p> Now, every possible maneuver could be classified into one of two states. Eiither it (1) leads to future conflict or (2) does not.</p> <p> Conflict maneuvers could be then drawn out as colored regions in a 3D display. Theoretically, this should make it possible to <u><strong>resolve all possible conflicts with all possible objects in a matter of seconds</strong></u>. </p> <p>This led directly to the theory of the <strong>maneuver space</strong> and the development of 4CAS, the world's first navaid based upon it. </p> <p> </p> </div> </div>  <div class="style3" id="siteInfo"> ©2006 Maneuver Space Technologies, LLC</div> <p><a href="MSTAboutUsText.htm" title="History of Maneuver Space Technologies" target="_self">Maneuver Space Technologies History</a><br> <a href="MSTTheoryText.htm" title="Theory of the maneuver space" target="_self">Maneuver space theory</a> <br> <a href="MSTStaffText.htm" title="Maneuver Space Technologies Staff" target="_self">Maneuver Space Technologies Staff</a> <br> <a href="MSTKnechtCVText.htm" title="William Knecht CV" target="_self">William Knecht CV</a> <br> <a href="MSTProofOfConceptText.htm" title="Maneuver Space Proof of Concept" target="_self">Proof of Concept</a> <br> <a href="MSTFAQText.htm" title="Maneuver Space FAQ" target="_self">Maneuver space FAQ</a> </p> </body>