AIRCRAFT ANTI-COLLISION SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. An system (10) for avoiding aircraft and airport collisions comprising:
- a ground based monitoring station (16) serving as one port of a wireless LAN operating according to a wireless communications protocol compatible with the IEEE 802.16e standard and derivatives thereof;
a database (17) containing static position data of an infrastructure of said airport;
a respective mobile unit (12) associated with each mobile object authorized to operate within a monitored area of airspace for producing respective position-dependent signals and for communicating said signals to the ground based monitoring station and to respective mobile units associated with other mobile units via said wireless LAN;
a collision prediction unit (16) in communication with the ground based monitoring station and each being responsive to respective position-dependent signals received from all of said mobile units as well as to said static position data for predicting collisions between mobile objects or between a mobile object and said infrastructure; and
a warning unit (35, 36, 37, 38, 39) coupled to the collision prediction unit and responsive to a predicted collision involving one or more mobile objects for conveying a respective warning to the one or more mobile objects for allowing evasive action.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for avoiding aircraft collisions wherein a ground based monitoring station serves as one port of a wireless LAN operating according to a wireless communications protocol compatible with the IEEE 802.16e standard and derivatives thereof. A mobile unit associated produces respective position-dependent signals of an authorized object that are conveyed to the ground based monitoring station and to respective mobile units associated with other mobile units via the wireless LAN. A collision prediction unit is responsive to the position-dependent signals and to static position data of the airport infrastructure for predicting collisions between mobile objects or between a mobile object and the infrastructure. A warning unit coupled to the collision prediction unit and responsive to a predicted collision involving one or more mobile objects conveys a respective warning to the one or more mobile objects for allowing evasive action.
87 Citations
42 Claims
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1. An system (10) for avoiding aircraft and airport collisions comprising:
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a ground based monitoring station (16) serving as one port of a wireless LAN operating according to a wireless communications protocol compatible with the IEEE 802.16e standard and derivatives thereof; a database (17) containing static position data of an infrastructure of said airport; a respective mobile unit (12) associated with each mobile object authorized to operate within a monitored area of airspace for producing respective position-dependent signals and for communicating said signals to the ground based monitoring station and to respective mobile units associated with other mobile units via said wireless LAN; a collision prediction unit (16) in communication with the ground based monitoring station and each being responsive to respective position-dependent signals received from all of said mobile units as well as to said static position data for predicting collisions between mobile objects or between a mobile object and said infrastructure; and a warning unit (35, 36, 37, 38, 39) coupled to the collision prediction unit and responsive to a predicted collision involving one or more mobile objects for conveying a respective warning to the one or more mobile objects for allowing evasive action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for avoiding aircraft and airport collisions, the method comprising:
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maintaining a database (17) containing static position data of an infrastructure of said airport; periodically communicating a respective position signal from a respective mobile unit associated with each mobile object authorized to operate within a monitored area of airspace to a ground based monitoring station serving as one port of a wireless LAN operating according to a wireless communications protocol compatible with the IEEE 802.16e standard and derivatives thereof; using respective position-dependent signals received from all of said mobile units as well as said static position data to predict collisions between mobile objects or between a mobile object and said infrastructure; and responsive to a predicted collision involving one or more mobile objects to conveying a respective warning to the one or more mobile objects for allowing evasive action. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification