METHOD TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN AN AIRCRAFT AD-HOC COMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20090103473A1
• Filed: 10/19/2007
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Foster, Eric N., Kauffman, Donald C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,264,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/316
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18584 Arrangements for data networking, i.e. for data packet routing, for congestion control data switching networks H04L12/00

Abstract

An ad-hoc communication network including at least two vehicles such as at least two aircraft. Each vehicle includes surveillance equipment, a surveillance transmitter, a surveillance receiver, a communication management function (CMF), a communication transmitter, and a communication receiver. The surveillance equipment is configured to generate at least position and ID information. The surveillance transmitter is configured to transmit the at least position and ID information. The surveillance receiver is configured to receive at least position and ID information from other vehicles. The communication management function (CMF) is configured to determine a network topology based on the received at least position and ID information and determine a route for a communication signal based on the determined network topology and the communication transmitter is configured to transmit the communication signals to a select communication receiver pursuant to the determined route.

Claims

1. An ad-hoc communication network, the network comprising:

at least two vehicles, each vehicle including,

surveillance equipment configured to generate at least position and ID information,

a surveillance transmitter configured to transmit the at least position and ID information,

a surveillance receiver configured to receive at least position and ID information from other vehicles,

a communication management function (CMF) configured to determine a network topology based on the received at least position and ID information and determine a route for a communication signal based on the determined network topology, and

a communication transceiver configured to transmit the communication signals to a select communication receiver pursuant to the determined route.

2. The network of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one ground station, one of the ground stations including the select communication receiver.

3. The network of claim 1,

wherein the surveillance equipment of at least one vehicle is configured to further generate at least one of speed information, heading information and intended trajectory information;

wherein the surveillance receiver of at least one other vehicle is configured to receive the at least one of the speed information, heading information and intended trajectory information; and

wherein the CMF of the at least one other vehicle is further configured to determine the network topology based on the received at least one of the speed information, heading information and intended trajectory information.

4. The network of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one ground station, at least one of the ground stations including a ground surveillance source and a ground surveillance transmitter configured to transmit surveillance information to at least one of the vehicles.

5. The network of claim 1, wherein the surveillance equipment includes at least one of an automatic dependant surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) and automatic dependant surveillance-rebroadcast (ADS-R).

6. The network of claim 1, wherein determining the route for the communication signal based on the determined network topology by the CMU further comprises:

determining the most efficient and reliable route.

7. The network of claim 1, wherein the at least two vehicles are at least two aircraft.

8. An aircraft, the aircraft comprising:

surveillance equipment configured to generate surveillance information;

a surveillance transmitter configured to transmit the surveillance information,

a surveillance receiver configured to receive surveillance information about other aircraft,

a communication management unit (CMU) configured to determine a network topology based on the surveillance information and determine a route for a communication signal based on the determined network topology, and

a communication transmitter configured to transmit the communication signals to a select communication receiver pursuant to the determined route.

9. The aircraft of claim 8, wherein the surveillance information includes at least one of position, heading, speed, vehicle ID and intended trajectory information,

10. The aircraft of claim 8, wherein the surveillance equipment includes at least one of an automatic dependant surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) and automatic dependant surveillance-rebroadcast (ADS-R).

11. The network of claim 8, wherein determining the route for the communication signal based on the determined network topology by the CMU further comprises:

determining the most efficient and effective route.

12. A method of communicating a message in an ad-hoc aircraft network, the method comprising:

monitoring surveillance messages from other sources;

determining a topology of the ad-hoc aircraft network based on the monitored surveillance messages; and

based on the determined topology, transmitting the message to a select node in the ad-hoc aircraft network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the select node is one of another aircraft and a ground station.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining if the select node is a destination node for the message, and

if the select node is not the destination node for the message, with the select node,

monitoring surveillance messages from other sources indicating each aircraft'"'"'s position, heading and speed;

determining a then current topology of the ad-hoc aircraft network based on the monitored surveillance messages; and

based on the determined topology, transmitting the message to another select node in the ad-hoc aircraft network.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating the surveillance messages with surveillance equipment in each aircraft in the ad-hoc-aircraft network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the surveillance equipment includes at least one of an automatic dependant surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) and automatic dependant surveillance-rebroadcast (ADS-R).

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the surveillance messages include at least one of position, speed, heading vehicle ID and intended trajectory information.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting surveillance messages from at least one ground station.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

based on the surveillance data, predicting at least one of when existing communication links will break, when new communication links will become available, and estimating aircraft-to-aircraft communication link reliability based on proximity and flight intent information.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining the most efficient and reliable route for the message based on the prediction.