Multilateration enhancements for noise and operations management

• US 20060191326A1
• Filed: 01/28/2006
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ERA Systems Corporation (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Alexander E., Breen, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,576,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/73
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 17/00 Measuring mechanical vibrations or ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves, not provided for in the preceding groups see provisionally also G01H1/00
• 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

Abstract

Multilateration techniques are used to provide accurate aircraft tracking data for aircraft on the ground and in the vicinity of an airport. From this data, aircraft noise and operations management may be enhanced. Aircraft noise may be calculated virtually using track data in real-time and provided to a user to determine noise violations. Tracking data may be used to control noise monitoring stations to gate out ambient noise. Aircraft emissions, both on the ground and in the air may be determined using tracking data. This and other data may be displayed in real time or generated in reports, and/or may be displayed on a website for viewing by airport operators and/or members of the public. The system may be readily installed in a compact package using a plurality of receivers and sensor packages located at shared wireless communication towers near an airport, and a central processing station located in or near the airport.

Claims

1. A method of performing real-time calculation of virtual noise levels caused by aircraft, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a plurality of locations, radio signals from the aircraft;

time-stamping received radio signals from the aircraft with a time value indicating a time a radio signal is received at one of the plurality of locations;

calculating aircraft position and track from time stamps from the plurality of locations;

identifying the aircraft from data in the radio signals; and

determining noise levels generated by the aircraft, from aircraft position and track in real time and outputting aircraft noise level data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of locations includes at least one shared wireless communication tower.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing aircraft position, identification, and track data and noise level data in a database;

receiving an aircraft noise query from a user;

searching the database; and

outputting at least one of aircraft identification information, aircraft position information, aircraft track information and noise level data in response to the aircraft noise query.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of

storing aircraft position, identification, and track data and noise level data in a database;

displaying, on a website, in at least one of real-time or delayed, at least one of aircraft identification information, aircraft position information, aircraft track information and noise level data.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a user of the website, noise complaint data including at least one of user location, user name, and time of complaint.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining noise levels comprises the step of virtually determining noise levels using a predetermined algorithm based upon at least aircraft track, and one or more of aircraft type, aircraft weight, and engine type.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

measuring aircraft noise using at least one physical noise monitor to measure actual aircraft noise at a predetermined location, and

comparing measured aircraft noise with virtually determined noise levels to validate the predetermined algorithm.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one physical noise monitor is located at a shared wireless communication tower.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of locations is the shared wireless communication tower.

10. A method of performing real-time calculation of virtual emission levels caused by aircraft, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a plurality of locations, radio signals from the aircraft;

time-stamping received radio signals from the aircraft with a time value indicating a time a radio signal is received at one of the plurality of locations;

calculating aircraft position and track from time stamps from the plurality of locations;

identifying the aircraft from data in the radio signals; and

determining emissions levels generated by the aircraft, from aircraft position and track in real time and outputting aircraft emissions level data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the plurality of locations is a shared wireless communication tower.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of

providing at least one of a real-time or delayed display of aircraft tracks and emission levels on an internet website.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining virtual emissions levels comprises the step of determining emissions levels using a predetermined algorithm based upon at least aircraft track, and one or more of aircraft type, aircraft weight, and engine type.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

measuring aircraft emissions levels using at least one physical emissions monitor to measure actual aircraft emissions at a predetermined location, and

comparing measured aircraft emissions with virtually determined emissions levels to validate the predetermined algorithm.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one physical emissions monitor is located at a shared wireless communication tower.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the plurality of locations is the shared wireless communication tower.

17. A method of measuring aircraft noise, comprising the steps of:

determining at least one aircraft flight track using multilateration of radio signals generated by at least one aircraft;

measuring at least one noise metrics, including one or more of single event level (SEL), maximum level (Lmax), noise level profile (noise level vs. time), effective perceived noise level (EPNL), perceived noise level with tone weighting (PNLT), and Equivalent Continuous Noise Level (Leq).

Correlating the at least one noise metric with the at least one flight track to identify the aircraft corresponding to the at least one noise metric.

18. A method of measuring aircraft noise, comprising the steps of:

determining in real-time, at least one aircraft flight track using multilateraion of radio signals generate by at least one aircraft;

determining, from the at least one aircraft flight track, when an individual physical noise monitor is exposed to no aircraft noise; and

measuring noise levels at the individual physical noise monitor.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of:

measuring true ambient noise at the individual physical noise monitor when no aircraft noise is present to corrupt measurement conditions.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

determining from the at least one flight track, when an aircraft is within the vicinity of the individual physical noise monitor; and

comparing noise levels when the aircraft is within the vicinity of the individual physical noise monitor with the measured true ambient measurement data to allow extraction of low-level aircraft noise events from actual noise data measured by the individual physical noise monitor.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the individual physical noise monitor is located at a shared wireless communication tower.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a multilateration sensor for determining flight track is located at the shared wireless communication tower.

23. A system for monitoring environmental conditions and environmental impact of vehicles, including at least one of noise and emissions levels of the vehicles, the system including:

a plurality of receiver packages located at a plurality of locations, the receivers including a radio receiver, and at least one of a physical noise monitor and a physical emissions monitor; and

a processing station, coupled to the plurality of receiver packages, the processing station receiving time-stamped signals from the radio receiver and determining track of a vehicle by multilateration of the time-stamped signals, the processing station calculating at least one of virtual noise levels based in part upon the vehicle track, virtual emissions levels based in part upon the vehicle track, measured noise levels from a physical noise monitor, and measured emissions levels from a physical emissions monitor.