Air traffic situational awareness using HF communication

• US 10,650,688 B1
• Filed: 07/22/2016
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: DeRoche, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): Adnan, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US15/217,914
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• 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: G08G 5/04 Anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service

Abstract

A system for reporting aircraft situational awareness information associated with a first aircraft can include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver configured to receive positioning signals and determine a position of the first aircraft. The system can also include a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) configured to receive collision avoidance information from one or more second aircrafts. The system can also include a processor, coupled to the GPS receiver and the TCAS, configured to generate a situational awareness message using the determined position of the first aircraft and the collision avoidance information received from the one or more second aircrafts. The system can include a high frequency (HF) transceiver coupled to the processor and configured to transmit the generated situational awareness message, through a HF channel, to one or more HF ground stations.

Claims

1. A system for reporting aircraft situational awareness information, the system comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of a first aircraft, the GPS receiver configured to receive positioning signals and determine a position of the first aircraft;

a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) of the first aircraft configured to receive collision avoidance information from one or more second aircrafts;

a processor of the first aircraft coupled to the GPS receiver and the TCAS, and configured to generate a situational awareness message using the determined position of the first aircraft and the collision avoidance information from the one or more second aircrafts; and

a high frequency (HF) transceiver of the first aircraft coupled to the processor and configured to transmit, while no air traffic control ground station is within automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) broadcast coverage range from the first aircraft and during a time slot assigned by a HF-capable air traffic control ground station to the HF transceiver according to a time division multiplexing scheme, the generated situational awareness message in a single data packet through a HF channel to one or more HF-capable air traffic control ground stations, the HF transceiver having an operational bandwidth including a frequency band extending from 3 MHz to 30 MHz, and HF signals representing the single data packet reflecting off one or more ionosphere layers before reaching the one or more HF ground stations,

the generated situational awareness message transmitted in the single data packet allowing a ground air traffic control system including the one or more HF-capable air traffic control stations to track the first aircraft while no air traffic control ground station is within ADS-B broadcast coverage range from the first aircraft.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the HF transceiver is configured to:

receive periodic signals from the HF-capable air traffic control ground station, the periodic signals for synchronizing with time slots defined by the HF-capable air traffic control ground station;

send a request to the HF-capable air traffic control ground station for the time slot to transmit the generated situational awareness message; and

receive, from the HF-capable air traffic control ground station responsive to the request, an indication of the time slot assigned to the HF transceiver.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the request is also a request for a transmission frequency for transmitting the generated situational awareness message.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a transponder configured to broadcast information indicative of the position of the first aircraft to one or more aircrafts in proximity to the first aircraft.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the HF transceiver is configured to receive one or more situational awareness messages from one or more third aircrafts, wherein for each third aircraft, a respective situational awareness message includes at least an indication of a position of that third aircraft and information indicative of positions of other aircrafts.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to generate a positioning map representative of positions of a plurality of aircrafts based on the one or more situational awareness messages received from the one or more third aircrafts and the collision avoidance information received by the TCAS.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the HF transceiver is configured to receive information indicative of positions of a plurality of aircrafts from the HF ground station.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the HF channel is configured to support a transmission or reception rate of at least 1800 baud and up to 120 kilobits per second (Kbps).

9. A method for reporting aircraft situational awareness information, the method comprising:

receiving, by a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of a first aircraft, positioning signals and determining a position of the first aircraft;

receiving, by a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) of the first aircraft, collision avoidance information from one or more second aircrafts;

generating, by a processor of the first aircraft coupled to the GPS receiver and the TCAS, a situational awareness message using the determined position of the first aircraft and the collision avoidance information from the one or more second aircrafts; and

transmitting, by a high frequency (HF) transceiver of the first aircraft coupled to the processor, while no air traffic control ground station is within automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) broadcast coverage range from the first aircraft and during a time slot assigned by a HF-capable air traffic control ground station to the HF transceiver according to a time division multiplexing scheme, the generated situational awareness message in a single data packet through a HF channel to one or more HF-capable air traffic control ground stations, the HF transceiver having an operational bandwidth including a frequency band extending from 3 MHz to 30 MHz, and HF signals representing the single data packet reflecting off one or more ionosphere layers before reaching the one or more HF ground stations,

the generated situational awareness message transmitted in the single data packet allowing a ground air traffic control system including the one or more HF-capable air traffic control stations to track the first aircraft while no air traffic control ground station is within ADS-B broadcast coverage range from the first aircraft.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving, by the HF transceiver, periodic signals from the HF-capable air traffic control ground station, the periodic signals for synchronizing with time slots defined by the HF-capable air traffic control ground station;

sending, by the HF transceiver, a request to the HF ground station for the time slot to transmit the generated situational awareness message; and

receiving, by the HF transceiver from the HF-capable air traffic control ground station, an indication of the time slot assigned to the HF transceiver.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the request is also a request for a transmission frequency for transmitting the generated situational awareness message.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

broadcasting, by the transponder, information indicative of the position of the first aircraft to one or more aircrafts in proximity to the first aircraft.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving, by the HF transceiver, one or more situational awareness messages from the one or more third aircrafts, wherein for each third aircraft, a respective situational awareness message includes at least an indication of a position of that third aircraft and information indicative of positions of other aircrafts.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

generating, by the processor, a positioning map representative of positions of a plurality of aircrafts based on the one or more situational awareness messages received from the one or more third aircrafts and the collision avoidance information received by the TCAS transponder.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving, by the high frequency (HF) transceiver, information indicative of positions of a plurality of aircrafts from the HF ground station.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the HF channel is configured to support a transmission or reception rate of at least 1800 baud and up to 120 kilobits per second (Kbps).

17. A system for monitoring aircraft positioning, the system comprising:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of a first aircraft, the GPS receiver configured to receive positioning signals and determine a position of the first aircraft;

a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) of the first aircraft configured to receive collision avoidance information from one or more second aircrafts;

a processor of the first aircraft coupled to the GPS receiver and the TCAS, and configured to generate a situational awareness message using the determined position of the first aircraft and the collision avoidance information from the one or more second aircrafts;

a high frequency (HF) transceiver of the first aircraft coupled to the processor and configured to transmit, while no air traffic control ground station is within automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) broadcast coverage range from the first aircraft and during a time slot assigned by a first HF-capable air traffic control ground station to the HF transceiver according to a time division multiplexing scheme, the generated situational awareness message in a single data packet through a HF channel, the HF transceiver having an operational bandwidth including a frequency band extending from 3 MHz to 30 MHz; and

a network of communicatively coupled HF-capable air traffic control ground stations, including the first ground station, configured to;

receive one or more HF signals representing the single data packet including the generated message, the one or more HF signals reflecting off one or more ionosphere layers before reaching at least one of the HF-capable air traffic control ground stations; and

transmit information associated with the generated situational awareness message to a server for generating a positioning map indicative of positions of a plurality of aircrafts, the positioning map allowing a ground air traffic control system including the network of communicatively coupled HF-capable air traffic control ground stations to track aircrafts while not within ADS-B broadcast coverage range from air traffic control ground stations.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the HF transceiver is configured to:

receive periodic signals from the first HF-capable air traffic control ground station, the periodic signals for synchronizing with time slots defined by the first HF-capable air traffic control ground station;

send a request to the first HF-capable air traffic control ground station for the time slot to transmit the generated situational awareness message; and

receive, from the first HF-capable air traffic control ground station responsive to the request, an indication of the time slot assigned to the HF transceiver.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the HF transceiver is configured to receive information indicative of positions of a plurality of aircrafts from one or more of the HF HF-capable air traffic control ground stations.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the HF channel is configured to support a transmission or reception rate of at least 1800 baud and up to 120 kilobits per second (Kbps).