Discrete address beacon, navigation and landing system (DABNLS)
First Claim
1. In combination:
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omnidirectionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
a transponder mounted in each of the aircraft including a receiver for receiving and decoding coded interrogation pulses from the ground station, and including a second transmitter for transmitting appropriately timed coded reply pulses to the ground station containing altitude, discrete address, and other data concerning each of the aircraft; and
a receiving system included in the ground station for measuring the incident angles and time delay of the reply pulses with respect to the interrogation pulses, computer means included in the receiving system for determining slant-range correction and for providing navigational data including the latitude/longitude coordinates of the aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station thereby to provide data at the ground station relating to the position of each aircraft for use at the ground station and for transmission to each of the aircraft by said first transmitter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An aircraft surveillance, navigation, landing, guidance and collision avoidance system is provided which takes the form of a two-way data communication link between each of a plurality of controlled aircraft and a ground station, and appropriate measuring equipment at the ground station which provides three-dimensional position data on the ground for air traffic control purposes; and which also provides three-dimensional position data in the aircraft for navigation, landing guidance and collision avoidance purposes, as well as a two-way air/ground data link for miscellaneous data and control purposes. The system of the invention comprises the combination of a ground transmitter/receiver station and airborne transponders mounted in the aircraft. The ground transmitter broadcasts discrete aircraft addressed interrogation pulses which are coded to contain position and/or other data. The transponders in all aircraft receive and decode the interrogation pulses, and the discretely addressed aircraft transmits appropriately timed reply pulses to the ground receiver which contain altitude and other data. Other aircraft utilize the received position information for collision avoidance purposes. The ground receiver measures the incident angles of the reply signal pulses and their precise time delays with respect to the interrogation pulses, so as to provide aircraft position and other data to the ground station, and to provide additional data for transmission to the aircraft on the following interrogation pulses.
129 Citations
26 Claims
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1. In combination:
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omnidirectionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
a transponder mounted in each of the aircraft including a receiver for receiving and decoding coded interrogation pulses from the ground station, and including a second transmitter for transmitting appropriately timed coded reply pulses to the ground station containing altitude, discrete address, and other data concerning each of the aircraft; and
a receiving system included in the ground station for measuring the incident angles and time delay of the reply pulses with respect to the interrogation pulses, computer means included in the receiving system for determining slant-range correction and for providing navigational data including the latitude/longitude coordinates of the aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station thereby to provide data at the ground station relating to the position of each aircraft for use at the ground station and for transmission to each of the aircraft by said first transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omnidirectionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
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11. In combination:
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omni-directionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
a transponder mounted in each of the aircraft including a receiver for receiving and decoding coded interrogation pulses from the ground station, and including a second transmitter for transmitting appropriately timed coded reply pulses to the ground station containing altitude, discrete address, and other data concerning each of the aircraft; and
a receiving system included in the ground station for measuring the incident angles and time delay of the reply pulses with respect to the interrogation pulses, computer means included in the receiving system for determining slant range correction and for providing navigational data including the coordinates of the aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station thereby to provide data at the ground station relating to the position of each aircraft for use at the ground station and for transmission to each of the aircraft by said first transmitter, in which said computer means provides data for forming three-dimensional position offsets for landing guidance of all of the aircraft, and said computer means further provides horizontal and vertical course softened data as the aircraft approaches a runway by converting from angular to lineal course deviations.
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omni-directionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
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12. In combination:
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omni-directionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
a transponder mounted in each of the aircraft including a receiver for receiving and decoding coded interrogation pulses from the ground station, and including a second transmitter for transmitting appropriately timed coded reply pulses to the ground station containing altitude and other data concerning each of the aircraft; and
a receiving system included in the ground station for measuring the incident angles and time delay of the reply pulses with respect to the interrogation pulses, computer means included in the receiving system for determining slant-range correction and for providing navigational data including the coordinates of the aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station thereby to provide data at the ground station relating to the position of each aircraft for use at the ground station and for transmission to each of the aircraft by said first transmitter, in which said computer means provides automatic flare guidance in response to wheel-to-antenna height signals and other data signals received from the aircraft.
- a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omni-directionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft;
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13. An aircraft surveillance and navigation system including:
- a ground station including an omni-directional antenna, an interrogator sub-system including a transmitter coupled to said omni-directional antenna for transmitting coded interrogation pulses discretely addressed to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station, an azimuth receiving interferometer antenna array for receiving signals from said plurality of aircraft, a receiver array coupled to the interferometer receiving antenna array for respectively receiving discretely addressed coded reply pulses from respective ones of said aircraft, means including an angle processor coupled to the receiver array and responsive to angular data signals from the respective individual receivers of the receiver array for computing the azimuth angle of each of the aircraft, means including a receiver coupled to said omni-directional antenna for measuring the timing between the leading edges of the interrogation pulses and the reply pulses of each of the aircraft, range circuitry coupled to said receiver and responsive to signals therefrom to determine the range of each of the aircraft, decoder circuitry coupled to said receiver for providing signals representative of the identification address and altitude of all of the aircraft and of other data of all of the aircraft, and a coordinate and off-set course computer responsive to azimuth angle signals from said angle processor, and to range signals from said range circuitry, and to altitude signals from said decoder circuitry, to provide slant-range corrected signals, latitude/longitude coordinate signals and off-set course deviation signals for all requesting aircraft; and
a transponder located in each of the aircraft for receiving the coded interrogation pulses from the interrogator sub-system and for transmitting the coded reply pulses thereto. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
- a ground station including an omni-directional antenna, an interrogator sub-system including a transmitter coupled to said omni-directional antenna for transmitting coded interrogation pulses discretely addressed to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station, an azimuth receiving interferometer antenna array for receiving signals from said plurality of aircraft, a receiver array coupled to the interferometer receiving antenna array for respectively receiving discretely addressed coded reply pulses from respective ones of said aircraft, means including an angle processor coupled to the receiver array and responsive to angular data signals from the respective individual receivers of the receiver array for computing the azimuth angle of each of the aircraft, means including a receiver coupled to said omni-directional antenna for measuring the timing between the leading edges of the interrogation pulses and the reply pulses of each of the aircraft, range circuitry coupled to said receiver and responsive to signals therefrom to determine the range of each of the aircraft, decoder circuitry coupled to said receiver for providing signals representative of the identification address and altitude of all of the aircraft and of other data of all of the aircraft, and a coordinate and off-set course computer responsive to azimuth angle signals from said angle processor, and to range signals from said range circuitry, and to altitude signals from said decoder circuitry, to provide slant-range corrected signals, latitude/longitude coordinate signals and off-set course deviation signals for all requesting aircraft; and
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18. An aircraft surveillance and navigation system including:
- a ground station including an omni-directional antenna, an interrogator sub-system including a first transmitter coupled to said omni-directional antenna for transmitting coded interrogation pulses discretely addressed to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station, an azimuth receiving antenna array for receiving signals from said plurality of aircraft, a receiver array coupled to the receiving antenna array for respectively receiving discretely addressed coded reply pulses from respective ones of said aircraft, means including an angle processor coupled to the receiver array for computing the azimuth angle of each of the aircraft, means including a receiver coupled to said omni-directional antenna for measuring the timing between the leading edges of the interrogation pulses and the reply pulses of each of the aircraft, range circuitry coupled to said receiver and responsive to signals therefrom to determine the range of each of the aircraft, decoder circuitry coupled to said receiver for providing signals representative of the identification address and altitude of all of the aircraft and of other data of all of the aircraft, and a coordinate and off-set course computer responsive to azimuth angle signals from said angle processor, and to range signals from said range circuitry, and to altitude signals from said decoder circuitry, to provide slant-range corrected signals, position coordinate signals and off-set course deviation signals for all requesting aircraft; and
a transponder located in each of the aircraft for receiving the coded interrogation pulses from the interrogator sub-system and for transmitting coded pulses thereto, said transponder including a second transmitter and a second receiver, altitude sensing means for producing signals indicative of the altitude of the aircraft, and encoder means coupled to the sensing means for producing altitude-coded pulses and for introducing such pulses to said second transmitter for transmission to the ground signal, and which includes decoding means coupled to said second receiver for producing signals representative of the latitude, longitude and altitude of all of the aircraft. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
- a ground station including an omni-directional antenna, an interrogator sub-system including a first transmitter coupled to said omni-directional antenna for transmitting coded interrogation pulses discretely addressed to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station, an azimuth receiving antenna array for receiving signals from said plurality of aircraft, a receiver array coupled to the receiving antenna array for respectively receiving discretely addressed coded reply pulses from respective ones of said aircraft, means including an angle processor coupled to the receiver array for computing the azimuth angle of each of the aircraft, means including a receiver coupled to said omni-directional antenna for measuring the timing between the leading edges of the interrogation pulses and the reply pulses of each of the aircraft, range circuitry coupled to said receiver and responsive to signals therefrom to determine the range of each of the aircraft, decoder circuitry coupled to said receiver for providing signals representative of the identification address and altitude of all of the aircraft and of other data of all of the aircraft, and a coordinate and off-set course computer responsive to azimuth angle signals from said angle processor, and to range signals from said range circuitry, and to altitude signals from said decoder circuitry, to provide slant-range corrected signals, position coordinate signals and off-set course deviation signals for all requesting aircraft; and
Specification