METHOD FOR VALIDATING AIRCRAFT TRAFFIC CONTROL DATA

• US 20110057830A1
• Filed: 07/22/2010
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Bushnell, Linda, Poovendran, Radha, SAMPIGETHAYA, Radhakrishna G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,052,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/36
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/30 the synchronised signals being continuous waves or intermittent trains of continuous waves, the intermittency not being for the purpose of determining direction or position line and the transit times being compared by measuring the phase difference
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/08 using synchronised clocks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/22 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service

Abstract

A method for group travel and group communications, wherein the group travel parameters and group communications are combined for verifying and validating ADS-B data on aircraft. The full connectivity within a navigating group of aircraft allows all the group members to communicate spatial/temporal observations and collaborate in group protocols, e.g., majority voting protocol, which can determine if a received ADS-B message is corrupted or from a false target aircraft. Well-established distributed protocols based on group communications and majority voting exist for (1) detecting compromised members, i.e., false target aircraft, and (2) verifying message integrity, i.e., ADS-B data, given a minority fraction of members are compromised/colluding. Such protocols can be based on IP multicast communications over the IP networking data links available on the aircraft.

Claims

1. A system for group aircraft communications comprising:

a plurality of aircraft,

each of the plurality of aircraft configured to receive a position indicator message from a source;

each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft comprising an in-aircraft control network configured to;

verify and validate position indicator data included in the position indicator message based on communication of travel parameters between a source aircraft and at least one additional aircraft of the plurality of aircraft;

estimate the relative distance to the source aircraft; and

verify a claimed position of the source aircraft through the travel parameters communicated between the source aircraft and the at least one additional aircraft.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-aircraft control network is further configured to verify the claimed position of the source aircraft through received data communicated by the plurality of aircraft and collaborated by the plurality of aircraft;

and determine if the position indicator message received from the source aircraft is authentic, based on the verified and collaborated data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the in-aircraft control network for each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft is further configured to collaborate travel parameters using a group protocol.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the group protocol is a majority voting protocol.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the group protocol is selected from one of:

a group formation protocol in which at least one aircraft of the plurality of aircraft initiates a group;

a group join protocol in which at least one aircraft joins the plurality of aircraft;

a group leave protocol in which at least one aircraft exits the plurality of aircraft, and a group leader election protocol for periodic randomized election of a leader wherein the leader is selected from the plurality of aircraft.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the group protocol is based on an Internet Protocol multicast communications over an Internet Protocol networking data link.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-aircraft control network comprises at least one of:

a global positioning system, an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast, a radio frequency identification tag, a sensor, or an IEEE 802.1x compatible application.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein travel parameters of each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft comprises at least one of:

a position, an altitude, a velocity, a time, an intent, and other location parameters associated with the aircraft, which parameters combined describe the motion in airspace of aircraft.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of aircraft is equipped with a receiver configured to receive one or more position indicator messages.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the travel parameters and communications between the plurality of aircraft are combined for verifying and validating a position indicator data on each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-aircraft control network of each aircraft is configured to estimate a relative distance to the source aircraft by measuring a received signal strength indicator associated with a signal comprising the position indicator messages.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the in-aircraft control network of each aircraft is also configured to estimate a time of arrival of the received signal, wherein the relative distance to the source aircraft, the received signal strength indicator associated with a signal, and the position indicator messages estimates are used to verify a claimed position of the position indicator message source.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the claimed position of the source aircraft is a three-dimensional position.

14. A method for verification and validation of position indicator message data on aircraft, the method comprising:

mapping positions of a plurality of aircraft using group communications and position indicator message data;

enabling at least one collaborative distributed protocol based on communications within the plurality of aircraft;

applying the at least one collaborative distributed protocol; and

detecting a compromised aircraft of the plurality of aircraft based on the applied at least one collaborative distributed protocol, or verifying the integrity of the position indicator message data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

moving the plurality of aircraft in a geographical proximity and in a similar direction; and

navigating the plurality of aircraft at an average velocity.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising subjecting each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft to redundant measurements and observations in a traversed airspace.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

navigating the plurality of aircraft within a distance r/2, where r is approximately equal to an ADS-B data link range,

receiving the position indicator message data by each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft; and

forming a connected one-hop network graph within the plurality of aircraft.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving by each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft of geographically proximate aircraft the position indicator message data from a prover.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

communicating the times of arrival of the position indicator message data;

verifying the position indicator message data position.

20. A method for position verification of a source aircraft by a plurality of aircraft, comprising:

receiving a broadcast message including position indicator data from the source aircraft and recording a time of arrival of the broadcast message and position indicator data;

composing a message including time of arrival, position indicator position and GPS time of the source aircraft, and a time stamp;

generating a keyed hash using a group key, and broadcasts message and keyed hash to other members;

verifying received messages by at least one aircraft in the plurality of aircraft;

estimating an actual position of an aircraft by each aircraft of the plurality of aircraft;

determining whether the actual position estimated by the plurality of aircraft, and a claimed position of the source aircraft in the broadcast message are approximately equivalent, and;

(1) in response to the actual estimated position and the claimed position of the source aircraft being approximately equivalent, determining whether the source aircraft is a member of the group and initiating a group join protocol to enable share group secrets in response to determining that the source aircraft is not a member;

or

(2) in response to determining that the actual estimated position and the claimed position of the source aircraft are not approximately equivalent, entering a distributed voting protocol; and

deciding if the source aircraft is a compromised aircraft in response to the distributed voting protocol.