AIRCRAFT-ANTENNA CONTROLLING DEVICE, AIRCRAFT, AIRCRAFT-ANTENNA SELECTING PROGRAM, AND AIRCRAFT-ANTENNA CONTROLLING METHOD

• US 20150229376A1
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Published: 08/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kikuchi, Shota, Miyanishi, Ippei
• Granted Patent: US 10,205,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/28 Adaptation for use in or on aircraft, missiles, satellites, or balloons
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0608 Antenna selection according to transmission parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection

Abstract

A control unit of an aircraft includes a computer that predicts the current position of a wingman aircraft based on a temporal change in wingman-aircraft position information indicating the position of the wingman aircraft; an antenna selector that selects, from among multiple antennas, an antenna with which the elongation φt with respect to the center axis of the antenna at the predicted current position of the wingman aircraft predicted by the computer falls within a coverage angle θ; and a beam controller that executes communication with the wingman aircraft via the antenna selected by the antenna selector. Thus, the control unit of the aircraft can select an optimal antenna for communication with the wingman aircraft from among the multiple antennas.

Claims

1. An antenna controlling device for an aircraft having multiple antennas for communicating with a wingman aircraft, the multiple antennas being provided at different points on a fuselage, the aircraft-antenna controlling device comprising:

a wingman-aircraft-position predicting part for predicting the current position of the wingman aircraft based on a temporal change in position information indicating the position of the wingman aircraft;

a selecting part for selecting, from among the multiple antennas, an antenna with which the elongation with respect to the center axis of the antenna at the current position of the wingman aircraft predicted by the wingman-aircraft-position predicting part falls within a coverage angle; and

a communication controlling part for executing communication with the wingman aircraft via the antenna selected by the selecting part,

wherein, in the case where multiple antennas have been selected by the selecting part, one of the selected multiple antennas is selected based on the difference between the coverage angle and the elongation of each of the antennas.

2. An aircraft-antenna controlling device according to claim 1,

wherein the coverage angle of the antenna overlaps the coverage angle of an adjacent one of the other antennas, and

wherein, in the case where multiple antennas have been selected by the selecting part, one of the selected multiple antennas is selected based on the difference between the coverage angle and the elongation of each of the antennas.

3. An aircraft-antenna controlling device according to claim 2, wherein one antenna is selected from among the antenna with the greatest difference between the coverage angle and the elongation, the antennas with which the difference is greater than or equal to a predetermined constant, and the antennas with which the difference is greater compared with the last communication.

4. An aircraft-antenna controlling device according to claim 3, wherein the antenna with the greatest difference between the center axis and the elongation, the antennas with which the difference is greater than or equal to the constant, and the antennas with which the difference is greater compared with the last communication are weighted individually by predetermined values, and the antenna with the greatest total value of the results is selected.

5. An aircraft comprising:

multiple antennas for communicating with a wingman aircraft, the multiple antennas being provided at different points on a fuselage; and

an antenna controlling device according to claim 1.

6. An antenna selecting program for an aircraft having multiple antennas for communicating with a wingman aircraft, the multiple antennas being provided at different points on a fuselage,

wherein the aircraft-antenna selecting program is a program for causing a computer to function as a selecting means for selecting, from among the multiple antennas, an antenna with which the elongation with respect to the center axis of the antenna at the current position of the wingman aircraft predicted based on a temporal change in position information indicating the position of the wingman aircraft falls within a coverage angle.

7. An antenna controlling method for an aircraft having multiple antennas for communicating with a wingman aircraft, the multiple antennas being provided at different points on a fuselage, the aircraft-antenna controlling method comprising:

a first step of predicting the current position of the wingman aircraft based on a temporal change in position information indicating the position of the wingman aircraft;

a second step of selecting, from among the multiple antennas, an antenna with which the elongation with respect to the center axis of the antenna at the predicted current position of the wingman aircraft falls within a coverage angle; and

a third step of executing communication with the wingman aircraft via the selected antenna.