Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation

Gregory Howe

Donald C Howe

George O Hicks

Joe Gavin

A tree structure represents a terrain area as nested polygons organized in a parent-child relationship, each polygon associated to a specific geographic location. The tree structure defines at least one parent node and a plurality of child nodes, some being leaf nodes containing a height value. A processor uses a distance measure to change the tree structure topology assessing whether all leaf node children of a first parent node lie outside a predetermined distance from an aircraft runway, and if so, converting the first parent node into a leaf node by storing in the first parent node a height value representing the greatest of the respective height values of the leaf node children and by removing the leaf node children; and iteratively repeating for each remaining parent node until it has been determined that every remaining parent node in the data structure cannot be pruned without violating accuracy requirements.

Quadtree terrain data compression using distance-based pruning

A wing for an aircraft includes, but is not limited to, a wing body having a wingtip, a leading-edge, and a trailing edge. The wingtip comprises an outboard-most portion of the wing body. The leading-edge is disposed along a forward portion of the wing body and is configured to cause a vortex to extend off the trailing edge at a location inboard of the wingtip when the aircraft is flown sub-sonically at a predetermined angle of attack. The trailing edge is disposed along an aft portion of the wing body and has an aft-most region disposed inboard of the wingtip at a position that corresponds with the location where the vortex extends off the trailing edge.

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Savannah, GA, United States of America

Gregory Howe