Method and system for aircraft positioning—automated tracking using onboard global voice and high-speed data

• US 10,102,755 B1
• Filed: 09/05/2014
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Satcom Direct, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Satcom Direct, Inc.
• Inventors: Hamilton, Darryl Scott, Morgan, David R., Jensen, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Heinle, Courtney D
• Application Number:
  US14/478,551
• Time in Patent Office: 1,502 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service

Abstract

Methods, systems and devices for real position reports between an aircraft and a terrestrial network using SwiftBroadband and a set of calculation instructions which identifies the specific aircraft and calculates multiple variables including, but not limited to, Speed, Heading, Departure Airport, and Arrival Airport. Once all variables have been calculated the system tracks the aircraft status on a map for multiple platforms. The position tracking system generates position reports that can be integrated into combined mapping system of other source data to give the most accurate position data possible.

Claims

1. An aircraft positioning and automated real time aircraft tracking system for providing an “

always on”

automatic real time tracking of the aircraft anywhere at all times, comprising;

an aircraft communication system on an aircraft for transmitting position data of an on-board satellite communications terminal and identity of the aircraft;

a satellite constellation for receiving the transmitted terminal position data and the aircraft identity and retransmitting the terminal position data and the aircraft identity; and

a ground network for;

receiving the aircraft identity and the terminal position data;

receiving real time flight related data from at least one data base, the real time flight related data comprises speed of the aircraft, altitude of the aircraft, status of the aircraft, flight distance, flight plan path and actual flight path;

comparing the aircraft identity and the flight related data;

calculating speed and heading based on the terminal position data; and

storing and recording the terminal position data and the real time flight related data when an aircraft identification match is found at the ground based network and discarding the terminal position data when no aircraft identification match is found, wherein the system provides for an “

always on”

automatic real time tracking of the aircraft anywhere at all times.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the ground network comprises:

a lookup table for matching the received aircraft identity with another aircraft database.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the satellite constellation is a satellite system constellation that includes an IP-based packet-switched communications network that provides a symmetric ‘

always-on’

data connection of up to 432 kbit/s per channel.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the flight related data further comprises:

one or more of aircraft departure airport and aircraft arrival airport.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the another aircraft database includes data from at least one of:

a GPS (global position satellite), FAA (United States Federal Aviation Authority) and Canadian Aviation Authority.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the set of instructions further comprises:

a sub set of tracking instructions for viewing aircraft geographic position on a map.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an interface to integrate automated real time aircraft tracking into one or more service offerings including flight operations management tools, in-flight mobile applications and for global flight tracking tools.

8. The system of claim 4 wherein the terminal position data is transmitted from an onboard aircraft avionics module using an IP-based packet-switched communications network that provides a symmetric ‘

always-on’

data connection of up to 432 kbit/s per channel.

9. A method for aircraft positioning and automated real time aircraft tracking that provides an “

always on”

automatic real time tracking of the aircraft anywhere at all times, comprising the steps of;

establishing an aircraft communication link between an aircraft and a satellite constellation;

transmitting an aircraft position data of an on-board satellite communications terminal and aircraft identifier to the aircraft communication link from the aircraft to the satellite constellation;

retransmitting the terminal position data and the aircraft identity to a ground based network;

receiving the aircraft identity and the terminal position data at the ground based network;

receiving real time flight related data from at least one data base at the ground based network, the real time flight related data comprises speed of the aircraft, altitude of the aircraft, status of the aircraft, flight distance, flight plan path and actual flight path;

comparing the aircraft identifier and the flight related data at the ground based station;

calculating speed and heading based on the terminal position data;

storing and recording the terminal position data and the real time flight related data when an aircraft identification match is found at the ground based network;

discarding the terminal position data when no aircraft identification match is found, wherein the method provides for an “

always on”

automatic real time tracking of the aircraft anywhere at all times.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

automatically determining one or more of aircraft departure airport and aircraft arrival airport from the real time flight related data.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

automatically mapping aircraft position.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

determining a priority of the real time flight related data.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiving of the real time flight related data comprises the step of

receiving the flight related data from one of:

a GPS (global position satellite), FAA (United States Federal Aviation Authority) and Canadian Aviation Authority.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

communicating with avionics equipment on-board the identified aircraft to collect the aircraft terminal position data.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of:

using a mobile application downloadable to a mobile communication device for accessing the automatic real time tracking of the aircraft anywhere at all times on a moving map.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of establishing the communication link includes the step of:

using an IP-based packet-switched communications network that provides a symmetric ‘

always-on’

data connection of up to 432 kbit/s per channel.