Method and apparatus for monitoring vehicle ground movement in the vicinity of an airport
First Claim
1. Apparatus for processing radar return video signals in the vicinity of an airport including at least one runway and at least one vehicle roadway intersecting said runway, said apparatus comprising:
- first means responsive to a command input representing a selected function and a selected runway to select a set of geographical monitored locations from plural sets of monitored locations,second means responsive to a real time video signal from a radar apparatus for repeatedly isolating radar returns from each geographic monitored location in said selected set,third means for repeatedly comparing radar returns from each of plural geographic monitored locations with a simulated return for each corresponding location to detect a moving object at any of said geographical monitored locations, andalarm means responsive to detection of a moving object by said third means for alerting an operator to the presence of said moving object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides an apparatus for processing radar returned video signals in the vicinity of an airport including at least one runway and at least one vehicle roadway intersecting the runway, in order to assist air traffic controllers in detecting potential hazardous situations. Radar returns from each of plural geographic monitored locations are compared with a simulated return for each corresponding location to detect a moving object at any of said geographic monitored locations. The presence of a moving object at one of such locations may be indicative of a hazardous situation, and in that event, the air traffic control operator may be warned by an alarm or the like.
104 Citations
17 Claims
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1. Apparatus for processing radar return video signals in the vicinity of an airport including at least one runway and at least one vehicle roadway intersecting said runway, said apparatus comprising:
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first means responsive to a command input representing a selected function and a selected runway to select a set of geographical monitored locations from plural sets of monitored locations, second means responsive to a real time video signal from a radar apparatus for repeatedly isolating radar returns from each geographic monitored location in said selected set, third means for repeatedly comparing radar returns from each of plural geographic monitored locations with a simulated return for each corresponding location to detect a moving object at any of said geographical monitored locations, and alarm means responsive to detection of a moving object by said third means for alerting an operator to the presence of said moving object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. Apparatus for processing radar return video signals for providing signals indicative of potentially hazardous situations in response to operator input commands comprising:
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command means for designating at least one function/runway pair identifying a specific runway reserved for a specific function, selecting means for selecting those time slices of said video signals which are identified by a particular function/runway pair designation for processing, first means for digitizing and storing representations of said time slices selected by said selecting means, processing means for comparing said digitized representations for identifying evidence of a moving object, and alarm means responsive to said processing means for manifesting said moving object. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of monitoring vehicle ground movements to detect violations of protected roadways comprising the steps of:
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a. sweeping an area encompassing said protected roadways with microwave energy in a cyclical pattern, b. deriving a video signal from reflected microwave energy, c. selecting predetermined time slices of said video signal corresponding to intersections of a protected roadway with other roadways, in each of a number of said cyclical sweeps, d. comparing at least one of said predetermined time slices of said video signal in one sweep with a first simulated signal related to said predetermined time slices in a prior sweep, and e. producing an alarm in the event said predetermined time slices of said video signal differs from said simulated signal by more than a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification