Air-Traffic Management Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The top 5 assignees hold 41.2% of all 1,555 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 52.5% — a narrow group controls more than half the field.
- Filing has cooled from its peak. After peaking at 131 records in 2023, filings fell from 123 in 2021 to 77 in 2024, a 37% drop over that span (2025-2026 figures are still filling in under publication lag).
- Traffic control and aircraft equipment dominate. G08G traffic control systems appear in 39.5% of records and B64D aircraft equipment in 27.6%, while ground installations (B64F) sit at just 6.7%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (123 records) with 2024 (77) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,555 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset spans 1,555 published records filed or published between 2015 and 2026, drawn from search terms spanning air traffic control, flight separation, trajectory control and aircraft sensor technology. It captures the intersection of traffic-management software and the airborne systems — thermal protection, high-Mach flow handling, sensor packages — that feed data into it. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years understate actual filing activity.
The field mixes ground-based traffic-control systems with the airborne equipment that must interoperate with them, which is why traffic control (G08G) and aircraft equipment (B64D) classes both carry heavy weight. Receiving-office data shows filing concentrated in the United States, with the EPO and PCT route as the leading international channels.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,555-record dataset: filing activity by year, and the IPC subclasses those records fall into.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings ran at 104 in 2017, climbed to a peak of 131 in 2023, then eased to 77 by 2024 — a 37% decline from the 2021 level of 123. Treat 2025 and 2026 as incomplete rather than as evidence of a further slowdown.
IPC subclass composition
G08G (traffic control systems) leads at 39.5% of the 1,555 records, followed by B64D (aircraft equipment) at 27.6% and B64C (aeroplanes & helicopters) at 21.0%. Because records can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares sum to well over 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,555 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Air-Traffic Management Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about air-traffic management patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this dataset
US9031720B2 — Fast vertical trajectory prediction method for air traffic management, and relevant ATM system
A method and system for predicting an aircraft's vertical trajectory across take-off, climb, cruise, descent and landing phases, using total-energy-model equations that take Mach number, vertical rate of climb or descent, true air speed, thrust and drag as inputs to output a predicted trajectory for air traffic management purposes.Filed by Selex Sistemi Integrati S.p.A., published 2015-05-12.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20030093187A1 | PFN/TRAC systemTM FAA upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control to stop the unauthorized use of ai… | 977 |
| 2 | US20040260470A1 | Conveyance scheduling and logistics system | 664 |
| 3 | US20050187677A1 | PFN/TRAC systemTM FAA upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control to stop the unauthorized use of ai… | 595 |
| 4 | US6965816B2 | PFN/TRAC system FAA upgrades for accountable remote and robotics control to stop the unauthorized use of airc… | 489 |
| 5 | US6314366B1 | Satellite based collision avoidance system | 400 |
| 6 | US20160236790A1 | System and methods for implementing regional air transit network using hybrid-electric aircraft | 395 |
| 7 | US20060260323A1 | Aircraft with disengageable engine and auxiliary power unit components | 388 |
| 8 | US6385513B1 | Satellite emergency voice/data downlink | 324 |
| 9 | US5974349A | Remote, aircraft, global, paperless maintenance system | 273 |
| 10 | US5420582A | Method and apparatus for displaying flight-management information | 265 |
Citation counts inside this corpus skew toward older filings and should be read as a signal of influence, not current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing strategy
Three patterns worth acting on before drafting new claims in this space.
A narrow group controls the core claim space
The leader alone accounts for 222 records, and the gap to fifth place (55) and tenth place (31) is steep. New entrants are filing into a field where the busiest claim territory — traffic control logic and onboard sensor integration — is already dense with prior art from a handful of assignees.
Filing has pulled back from its 2023 peak
Activity peaked at 131 records in 2023 before easing, and several of the largest historical filers show zero filings in the latest tracked year. That reads more as a pause after a filing surge than as the field closing down, given the 18-month publication lag on the most recent years.
Ground-side infrastructure is comparatively under-claimed
G08G traffic control and B64D aircraft equipment dominate at 39.5% and 27.6% respectively, but B64F ground installations sit far behind at 6.7% and G01S radar/positioning at 9.2%. That gap is where airborne systems and ground infrastructure claims have not yet been fully worked out.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to air-traffic management patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and how the leaders are moving
The ranked leaders account for just over half of all records between the top 10, but momentum has shifted: several of the historically largest filers show no activity in the latest tracked year, while newer entrants are still filing single records.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The top assignee's 222 records dwarf the fifth-place total of 55 and tenth-place total of 31, reflecting a long-running program spanning both ground traffic-control systems and onboard aircraft equipment.
A long tail beyond the top 10
Beyond the top 10 combined 816 records, the ranking runs to 100 companies with materially smaller counts each, including newer aircraft and autonomy-focused entrants alongside the established aerospace primes.
Established filers have gone quiet in the latest year
Multiple of the largest historical assignees show zero filings in the most recent tracked year, a -100% year-on-year drop, while at least one newer entrant still logged a single filing. Given publication lag, this likely understates true recent activity rather than confirming a full stop.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Merlin Labs Inc | 1 | — |
| Honeywell International Inc | 0 | -100% |
| BETA Air LLC | 0 | -100% |
| The Boeing Co | 0 | -100% |
| General Electric Co | 0 | -100% |
| Aurora Flight Sciences Corp | 0 | — |
| Textron Innovations Inc | 0 | — |
| TELVENT DTN LLC | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to a field with a settled core and an open edge. Two directions are worth pursuing depending on whether the goal is defence or entry.
Map the white space before drafting
Ground-installation coordination and radar/positioning fusion carry the lowest IPC shares in this dataset, which is where a first claim has the most room to stand clear of the leader's 222-record portfolio.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the leaders' quiet period
Several top assignees show zero filings in the latest tracked year. Whether that is a pause or a pivot to trade secrecy is worth monitoring before committing to a filing strategy that assumes continued competition on the same claims.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 222 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 55 and tenth place at 31. The top 5 assignees combined hold 41.2% of all 1,555 records in this dataset, and the top 10 hold 52.5%, so a small number of filers control a majority of the documented claim space. The remainder is spread across a long tail of 100 ranked companies with progressively smaller counts.
Filing peaked at 131 records in 2023 and fell to 77 by 2024, a 37% drop from the 2021 level of 123. That is a real pullback from the peak, but publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 in the underlying data reflect incomplete records rather than a confirmed further decline. Any conclusion about the very latest years should wait for those records to finish publishing.
Traffic control systems (IPC class G08G) appear in 39.5% of the 1,555 records, the single largest category, followed by aircraft equipment (B64D) at 27.6% and aeroplanes and helicopters (B64C) at 21.0%. Ground installations for aircraft (B64F) trail at 6.7%, marking it as comparatively under-claimed relative to the airborne and control-system side of the field. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these percentages add up to more than 100%.
The clearest gaps sit in the lower-density IPC classes: ground-installation coordination (B64F) at 6.7% and radar/positioning fusion (G01S) at 9.2%, both well behind the 39.5% share held by core traffic-control claims. These are areas where the dominant filers have built less of a defensive perimeter, making them a more realistic entry point than the crowded G08G and B64D categories. A first filer there would still need to check the specific claim language of the leading assignees' portfolios rather than assume the whole subclass is open.
US9031720B2, filed by Selex Sistemi Integrati S.p.A. and published in 2015, covers a method for predicting an aircraft's vertical trajectory across take-off, climb, cruise, descent and landing using total-energy-model equations with Mach number, airspeed, thrust and drag as inputs. It is a process claim tied to that specific calculation structure, not a blanket claim over trajectory prediction generally. Anyone building a trajectory-prediction module should review its specific input-variable set and flight-phase structure rather than assume the whole prediction concept is blocked.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.