Method and device for limiting the number of alarms generated by an anti-collision system on board an airplane

1. A method for limiting alerts emitted by an anticollision system on board an airplane which performs a change-of-altitude maneuver, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting, by said anticollision system, an intruder aircraft situated in an aerial environment of said airplane, during a capture phase of a flight trajectory of the airplane, with the flight trajectory having a setpoint altitude (Zc);

calculating a theoretical collision time (t col ) between said airplane and said intruder aircraft; and

emitting at least one alert when the calculated theoretical collision time (t col ) is less than a predetermined threshold (S),

wherein, during said capture phase, the duration of flight of the airplane along the flight trajectory within said capture phase is adjusted so that said calculated theoretical collision time (t col ) is greater than said predetermined threshold (S).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , is

wherein the duration of the flight of the airplane in said capture phase is adjusted by controlling vertical speed (Vzo) of said airplane.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein the duration of the flight of the airplane in said capture phase is adjusted by advancing commencement of the capture phase of the flight trajectory of the airplane.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein the duration of the flight of said airplane in the capture phase is adjusted when an absolute value of a difference between said setpoint altitude (Zc) and a current altitude (Z(t)) of said airplane is less than a predetermined height threshold (S h ).

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of said duration of said capture phase of the airplane is triggered according to a capture configuration of said setpoint altitude (Zc), as a function of the intruder aircraft, and comparing the capture configuration with a reference capture configuration.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one alert is emitted when said calculated theoretical collision time (t col ) is less than said predetermined threshold (S) increased by a temporal margin (T), represented as t col <(S+T).

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one alert is emitted by said anticollision system of the airplane.

8. A system for limiting alerts emitted by an anticollision system on board an airplane which performs a change-of-altitude maneuver, the system comprising:

said anticollision system, wherein said anticollision s stem is configured:

to detect an intruder aircraft situated in an aerial environment of said airplane, during a capture phase of a flight trajectory of the airplane, with the flight trajectory having a setpoint altitude (Zc),

to calculate a theoretical collision time (t col ) between said airplane and said intruder aircraft during said capture, and

to emit at least one alert when the calculated theoretical collision time is less than a predetermined threshold (S), and

an alert limiting device connected to the anticollision system, which device comprises:

an activatable control unit configured to adjust duration of the capture phase so that the calculated theoretical collision time (t col ) is greater than said predetermined threshold (S), and

an activation unit configured to automatically receive information from said anticollision system and to activate said activatable control unit, during said capture phase, and intruder aircraft engagement conditions exist.

9. An airplane,

which comprises the system of claim 8 .