Analysis of a wind compensation tool for the Relative Position Indicator (RPI)

The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) previously defined and prototyped the Relative Position Indicator (RPI), which is an aid to terminal air traffic control (ATC) for the task of merging and sequencing aircraft. In this paper a wind compensation tool for RPI is analyzed that would predict the effects of the wind on a merging aircraft. This prediction is displayed to the controller by adding an offset distance to the position of the aircraft indicator that RPI currently displays. It is shown that this wind compensation tool may be feasible given a sufficiently accurate source of wind predictions; however the currently available wind predictions, most notably the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) and upcoming Rapid Refresh (RR), are not accurate enough to make a useful wind compensation tool for RPI in the terminal area.