Method and apparatus for reporting a missle threat to a commercial aircraft

• US 20090189785A1
• Filed: 11/05/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Zablocki, Edward, Clemence, George, Kravitz, Arnold, Stockwell, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 8,179,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/945
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 7/224 Deceiving or protecting means jamming or anti-jamming of radio-wave systems in general G01S7/36, G01S7/38; defense installations in general F41H11/02; chaff dispensers F42B12/70
• CPC Class Codes: F41H 11/02 Anti-aircraft or anti-guided missile or anti-torpedo defence installations or systems cartridges or missiles for producing smoke or for dispensing radar chaff or infrared material F42B5/15, F42B12/48, F42B12/70; informative reference: details of radar or sonar systems G01S7/00; jamming or electronic countermeasures G01S7/38, G01S7/495, H04K3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0056 in an emergency situation, e.g. hijacking
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/22 for communication related to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/24 for communication related to weapons
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/45 characterized by including monitoring of the target or target signal, e.g. in reactive jammers or follower jammers for example by means of an alternation of jamming phases and monitoring phases, called "look-through mode"
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/825 by jamming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security

Abstract

An automatic system is provided for alerting ground personnel as to the existence of a threat to commercial aircraft in which the threat is determined by a classified system, but in which the local area network employed by the military missile warning is isolated from an unclassified local network coupled to the aircraft'"'"'s transponder which transmits the threat existence and status to ground personnel. The barrier to transmitting classified information involves both filtering between the classified LAN and unclassified LAN, the use of only discrete signaling lines in the classified LAN isolated by opto-electronics to provide physical separation between the two local area networks, and communications formatting which precludes the transmission of classified information across the barrier between the classified local area network and the unclassified local area network.

Claims

1. A method for reporting a missile threat to a commercial aircraft, comprising the steps of:

providing the commercial aircraft with a missile warning system in which the warning system operates at a classified level and has internal buses which in part carry classified information from one module to another within the missile warning system;

from the output of the missile warning system generating and transmitting an emergency notification signal to the ground reporting a missile threat; and

,

preventing the classified information contained within the missile warning system from appearing on the transmission of the emergency notification signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein either inadvertently or advertently coupling of classified information from the missile warning system to the transmitted emergency notification signal is prevented by filtering any signal transmitted from the missile warning system to the emergency notification signal transmission.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the filtering step includes providing an interface between the missile warning system and the generated and transmitted emergency notification signal having a predefined format that permits only data having the format to be transmitted to ground.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the classified information carried between the modules of the missile warning system is carried solely on discrete signaling lines between the modules, thereby avoiding the use of a general purpose bus.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the discrete signaling lines is provided with opto-couplers to provide separation between a source of a signal on a discrete signaling line and the detector on the signaling line, thus to provide physical separation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the opto-couplers have a narrow bandwidth thus to suppress inadvertent broadband signals from passing along the discrete signaling lines.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein discrete signal lines within the modules of the missile warning system comprise a local area network carrying classified information, and wherein the transmission of the emergency notification signaling includes the utilization of an unclassified local area network.

8. The method of claim 7, and further including the step of filtering information from the classified local area network to the unclassified local area network to effectively form a barrier between the two networks incapable of passing classified information therebetween.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the filtering step includes providing communication formatting of the information transmitted from the classified local area network to the unclassified local area network by an interface that precludes transmission of classified information from the classified to unclassified network across the interface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the formatting is in accordance with an interface control document that specifies the allowable data to be transferred through the interface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the interface control document includes a truth table.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the interface control document includes a stable table.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the missile warning system includes one of an operational flight program and jam codes utilized to modulate a laser for projecting a jamming transmission towards an incoming missile, the operational flight program and the jam codes incorporating classified information, and wherein the filtering step prevents operational flight program information and jam code information from being embedded in the transmission of the emergency notification signal.

14. Apparatus for reporting a missile threat to a commercial aircraft, comprising:

a missile warning system having modules interconnected with a classified local area network;

an emergency notification warning system utilizing the aircraft'"'"'s transponder system for transmitting an emergency notification signal to the ground indicating the detection of an incoming missile as determined by said missile warning system;

an unclassified local area network connecting an output of said missile warning system to said unclassified local area network; and

,

a filter system for preventing classified information from being transmitted from the missile warning system to said unclassified local area network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said filter system includes an interface between said missile warning system and said unclassified local area network that prevents classified information from being transmitted thereacross.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said interface includes a predetermined format for the information to be transmitted thereacross, the format precluding transmission of data representing classified information across said interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said classified local area network includes only discrete signaling lines between the modules of said missile warning system, and further includes electro-optical isolators at either end of said discrete signaling lines, thus to provide physical isolation between a signal source on a discrete signaling line and a detector coupled to said signaling line.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said electro-optical isolators have a narrow bandwidth, thus to preclude broadband signals from transiting the associated discrete signal line.

19. The method for preventing classified data carried on a classified local area network from being disseminated to an unclassified local area network, comprising:

providing at least one of a physical partition between the classified local area network and the unclassified local area network only discrete signal lines for the management of the classified data, optical isolators at the ends of each line, the frequency response of the optical isolators being a narrow band frequency response, a predefined interface which controls the format of and response to the classified data, the predefined interface constituting a barrier between the classified data and data to be transmitted on the unclassified channel.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the classified data is that associated with a missile warning system, and wherein data on the unclassified local area network is utilized to report the detection of an incoming missile toward an aircraft.