Ground guidance system for airplanes

• US 5,027,114 A
• Filed: 08/15/1988
• Issued: 06/25/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kiroshi Kawashima, Koichi Futsuhara, Wada, Fumio
• Original Assignee: Kiroshi Kawashima, Koichi Futsuhara, Wada, Fumio
• Inventors: Wada, Fumio, Futsuhara, Koichi, Kawashima, Kiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Orsino, Joseph A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SWARTHOUT, BRENT
• Application Number:
  US07/249,173
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• Field of Search: 340/933, 340/941, 340/945, 340/958, 340/961, 340/989, 342/36, 342/29, 342/63, 364/424.01, 364/439, 364/441, 364/460, 244/114 R, 73/178 R, 180/168
• US Class Current: 340/941
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

A ground guidance system for airplanes in which loop coils of a predetermined shape are continuously buried in a specific section of a taxiway for airplanes, an airplane is continuously detected based on changes of self-inductances of the loop coils with movement of the airplane while discriminating airplanes from other objects and admission or inhibition of advance in the specific section to a subsequent airplane according to the presence or absence of the airplane in the specific section and which has a fail-safe structure not generating an output at the time of a system or circuit failure or accident.

Claims

1. A ground guidance system for airplanes in an airplane taxiway divided in a plurality of control sections, which comprises a plurality of loop coils in which the side parallel to the direction of advance of airplanes has a length larger than the length of an automobile but smaller than the length of an airplane and which are arranged in the direction of advance of airplanes in the control sections at intervals smaller than the length of an airplane, a plurality of airplane-detecting means arranged for the respective loop coils to generate detection outputs indicating the presence or absence of an airplane based on changes of self-inductances of the corresponding loop coils, display means for displaying admission of advance or inhibition of advance in the control sections for an airplane, and control means of controlling said display means based on detection outputs of a plurality of said airplane-detecting means,

wherein the airplane-detecting means is constructed so that a high-level output is generated at the time of non-detection of an airplane and a low-level output is generated at the time of detection of an airplane, and at the time of a failure, the output errs to a voltage corresponding to said low-level output at the time of detection of an airplane,

said airplane-detecting means comprising a high-frequency signal generator, a bridge circuit including three resistors and a resonance circuit consisting of one said loop coil and a capacitor, which becomes substantially resonant with the output frequency of the high-frequency signal generator, an alternating current amplifier for amplifying the output of the bridge circuit, a wave-detecting circuit for detecting an envelope of the amplified output of the alternating current amplifier, a window comparator having such a window characteristic that the output signal of the wave-detecting circuit is received as the input signal, the output level of the wave-detecting circuit obtained when an airplane is not present in the taxiway is within the window and the output level of the wave-detecting circuit obtained when an airplane is present and the self-inductance of the loop coil is changed is outside the window, and generating an output when an input signal of the level within the window is put in, and a voltage multiplying rectifying circuit for rectifying the output of the window comparator.

2. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 1, wherein the window comparator is constructed by connecting first and second input terminals of a logical product-computing oscillating means which generates an oscillating output when input signals of a predetermined high level higher than the level of a power source voltage are simultaneously applied to the first and second input terminals.

3. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 2, wherein the logical product-computing oscillating means comprises a first transistor having a collector connected o the first input terminal of the logical product-computing oscillating means through a first collector resistor and an emitter connected to an input terminal of the power source, a second transistor having an emitter connected to the input terminal of the power source and a collector connected to a reference voltage source through second and third collector resistors connected in series, in which the collector voltage of the first transistor divided by a potential-dividing resistor formed by said second and third collector resistors arranged between the collector and the reference voltage source is put into a base of said second transistor, and a third transistor having a collector connected to the second input terminal of the logical product-computing oscillating means through fourth and fifth collector resistors and an emitter connected to said reference voltage source, in which the collector voltage of the second transistor divided by the second and third collector resistors is put into the base, and the input signal voltage applied to the second input terminal divided by the fourth and fifth collector resistors is put into the base of the first transistor through a resistor and the collector of the third transistor is connected to the output terminal of the logical product-computing oscillating means,.

4. A ground guidance system for airplanes in an airplane taxiway divided in a plurality of control sections, which comprises a plurality of loop coils in which the side parallel to the direction of advance of airplanes has a length larger than the length of an automobile but smaller than the length of an airplane and which are arranged in the direction of advance of airplanes in the control sections at intervals smaller than the length of an airplane, a plurality of airplane-detecting means arranged for the respective loop coils to generate detection outputs indicting the presence or absence of an airplane based on changes of self-inductances of the corresponding loop coils, display means for displaying admission of advance or inhibition of advance in the control sections for an airplane, and control means for controlling said display means based on detection outputs of a plurality of said airplane-detecting means,

wherein the control means comprises a direction- and object-discriminating circuit for detecting the advance direction of an airplane and discriminating an airplane from an automobile based on an output from the airplane-detecting means corresponding to the loop coil within the control section in which an airplane advances and a display-instructing circuit for generating a signal for instructing admission of advance of an airplane or a signal for inhibition of advance of an airplane in the control section in the rear of the control section in which an airplane advances, based on the output of the airplane-detecting means corresponding to the loop coil of said rear control section and the output of the direction- and object-discriminating circuit.

5. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 4, wherein the direction- and object-discriminating circuit generates a direction detection output of a high voltage only when an airplane moves from the inlet side to the exit side in the control section.

6. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 5, wherein the direction- and object-discriminating circuit comprises a first AND gate connected to adjacent loop coils, in which the output of the airplane-detecting means is put through an inverter, first self-retention means for feeding back the rectified output of the first AND gate through a resistor to the input terminal of the first AND gate in which the output of the airplane-detecting means connected to the loop coil located on the inlet side of the control section is put and self-retaining the output of the first AND gate, a second AND gate in which the output of the first AND gate and the output of the airplane-detecting means connected to the loop coil on the inlet side of the control section are put, a third AND gate in which the rectified output of the second AND gate and the output of the airplane-detecting means connected to the loop coil located on the exit side of the control section are put, and a second self-retention means for feeding back the rectified output of the third AND gate through a resistor to the input terminal of the third AND gate in which the output of the second AND gate is put and self-retaining the output of the third AND gate.

7. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 6, wherein the first, second and third AND gates constitute a logical product-computing oscillating means which generates oscillating outputs from the output terminals when input signals of a predetermined level higher than a power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

8. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 6, wherein the display-instructing circuit comprises an advance-admitting signal generating means for generating an advance-admitting signal of a high voltage when a direction-setting signal fed from a manual operating device operated by an air traffic controller is in agreement with the output signal of the direction- and object-discriminating circuit and a running-admitting signal is supplied from the manual operating device, an advance-inhibiting signal-generating means for generating an advance-inhibiting signal of a low level for inhibiting advance of an airplane in the control section in the rear of the control section in which an airplane advances when an airplane-detecting signal is generated from at least one of the airplane-detecting means connected to the loop coils in said rear control sections and emitting an advance-inhibiting display-instructing signal of a low level to said display means, and an advance-admitting instructing means for emitting an advance-admitting display-instructing signal of a high level to said display means when the advance-admitting signal-generating means generates the advance-admitting signal and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means does not generate the advance-inhibiting signal.

9. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 8, wherein the advance-admitting signal-generating means comprises a fourth AND gate in which the output of the direction- and object-discriminating circuit and the direction-setting signal of the manual operating device are put and a fifth AND gate in which the rectified output of the fourth AND gate and the running-admitting signal of the manual operating device are put.

10. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 9, wherein the fourth and fifth AND gates constitute a logical product-computing means generating oscillating outputs from the output terminals when input signals of a predetermined level higher than the level of a power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

11. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 9, wherein the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means comprises a sixth AND gate receiving the outputs of the airplane-detecting means as inputs.

12. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 11, wherein the sixth AND gate constitutes the logical product-computing oscillating means generating an oscillating output when input signals of a predetermined level higher than the level of power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

13. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 12, wherein the advance-admitting instructing means comprises a seventh AND gate receiving the outputs of the advance-admitting signal-generating means and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means as inputs.

14. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 13, wherein the seventh AND gate constitutes a logical product-computing oscillating means generating an oscillating output from the output terminal when input signals of a predetermined level higher than the level of a power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

15. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 8, wherein the manual operating device comprises a changeover switch for effecting changeover between automatic control and manual control of the display means, a direction-setting switch for generating the direction-setting signal for setting the advance direction of an airplane in the taxiway, a manual running-admitting instructing switch for optionally generating the running-admitting signal to the control section by an air traffic controller when the changeover switch is on the manual control side, and a running-inhibiting instructing changeover switch for cancelling the instruction signals of the changeover switch, the directionsetting switch and the manual running-admitting instructing switch and generating a running-inhibiting instructing signal.

16. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 4, wherein the display-instructing circuit comprises an advance-admitting signal-generating means for generating an advance-admitting signal of a high level when a direction-setting signal supplied from a manual operating device operated by an air traffic controller is in agreement with the output signal from the direction- and object-discrimination circuit and a non-detection signal is generated from the airplane-detecting means connected to one said loop coil arranged in a predetermined area of the control section in the rear of the control section in which the running-admitting signal is put from the manual operating device, said ground guidance system further comprising an advance-inhibiting signal-generating means emitting an airplane advance-inhibiting signal of a low level to the control section in the rear of the control section when an airplane detection signal is generated from at least one of the airplane-detecting means connected to loop coils arranged in said predetermined area in the rear of said control section and emitting a signal of a low level for instructing display of inhibition of advance to said display means, and an advance-admitting instructing means for emitting a signal of a high level for instructing display of admission of advance only when the advance-admitting signal-generating means generates the advance-admitting signal and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means generates the advance-inhibiting signal.

17. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 8, wherein the display means comprises an advance-admitting signal lamp having a constant current source as a power source and displaying admission of advance to an airplane, an advance-admitting lamp controlling switch means for performing on-off control of the advance-admitting signal lamp based on instructions from an advance-admitting instructing means, an advance-inhibiting signal lamp having a constant current source as a power source and displaying inhibition of advance in a front control section to an airplane, and an advance-inhibiting lamp-controlling switch means for performing on-off control of the advance-inhibiting signal lamp based on instructions from the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means.

18. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 17, wherein the advance-admitting lamp-controlling switch means comprises said constant current power source, said advance-admitting signal lamp connected to said constant current power source, a switch element connected in parallel to the advance-admitting signal lamp to control supply of an electric current to the advance-admitting signal lamp according to the input signal, a current-detecting means for detecting the electric current supplied to the advance-admitting signal lamp, which is controlled by said switch element, a watch means for determining normal and abnormal states of the advance-admitting lamp-controlling switch means based on the input signal and the detection output of the current-detecting means, and a current cut-off means for cutting the connection between the constant current power source and the advance-admitting signal lamp when said watch means detects the abnormal state.

19. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 17, wherein the advance-inhibiting lamp-controlling switch means comprises said constant current power source, said advance-inhibiting signal lamp connected to said constant current power source and a switch element connected in parallel to said advance-inhibiting signal lamp, which is turned off when an input signal of a low level including an output at the time of a circuit failure is supplied and is turned on when an input signal of a high level not including an output at the time of a circuit failure is supplied.

20. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 4, wherein the display-instructing means comprises a plurality of AND gates having, as a reset signal, a logical sum output of adjacent airplane-detecting means generating airplane-detecting outputs in sequence with the movement of an airplane and, as a present signal, the rising component of the output signal of the airplane-detecting means located, in the airplane advance direction, between one of said adjacent airplane-detecting means and an advance-admitting signal to a subsequent airplane in the airplane-advancing control section, which is generated in the control section in front of the airplane-advancing control section a plurality of self-retention circuits for feeding back the rectified outputs of the respective AND gates to preset input terminals of the AND gates and self-retaining the outputs of respective AND gates, and an advance-inhibiting signal-generating redundant control means having other AND gates which receive the outputs of said plurality of AND gates for generating an advance-inhibiting signal of a low level including a failure output when any one of the AND gates does not generate an output.

22. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 4, wherein the display-instructing circuit comprises an advance-admitting signal generating means for generating an advance-admitting signal of a high voltage when a direction-setting signal fed from a manual operating device operated by an air traffic controller is in agreement with the output signal of the direction- and object-discriminating circuit and a running-admitting signal is supplied from the manual operating device, an advance-inhibiting signal-generating means for generating an advance-inhibiting signal of a low level for inhibiting advance of an airplane in the control section in the rear of the control section in which an airplane advances when an airplane-detecting signal is generated from at least one of the airplane-detecting means connected to the loop coils in said rear control sections and emitting an advance-inhibiting display-instructing signal of a low level to said display means, and an advance-admitting instructing means for emitting an advance-admitting display-instructing signal of a high level to said display means when the advance-admitting signal-generating means generates the advance-admitting signal and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means does not generate the advance-inhibiting signal.

23. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 22, wherein the advance-admitting signal-generating means comprises a first AND gate in which the output of the direction-and object-discriminating circuit and the direction-setting signal of the manual operating device are put and a second AND gate in which the rectified output of the first AND gate and the running-admitting signal of the manual operating device are put.

24. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 23, wherein the first and second AND gates constitute a logical product-computing means generating oscillating outputs from the output terminals when input signals of a predetermined level higher than the level of a power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

25. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 23, wherein the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means comprises a third AND gate receiving the outputs of the airplane-detecting means as inputs.

26. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 25, wherein the third AND gate constitutes the logical product-computing oscillating means generating an oscillating output when input signals of a predetermined level higher than the level of a power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

27. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 26, wherein the advance-admitting instructing means comprises a fourth AND gate receiving the outputs of the advance-admitting signal-generating means and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means as inputs.

28. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 27, wherein the fourth AND gate constitutes a logical product-computing oscillating means generating an oscillating output from the output terminal when input signals of a predetermined level higher than the level of a power source voltage are applied to the first and second input terminals.

21. In a ground guidance system for airplanes having an airplane taxiway divided into a plurality of control sections, each control section having a plurality of loop coils for detecting vehicles on said taxiway, the improvement comprising:

said loop coils having a dimension parallel to the direction of advance of airplanes which is smaller than the length of an airplane to be detected and said loop coils being arranged in the direction of advance of airplanes on said taxiway in the control sections at intervals smaller than the length of an airplane, said length of said dimension of said loop coils in said direction of advance of airplanes being larger than the length of an automobile;

each said loop coil being directly connected to airplane-detecting means to generate detection outputs indicating the presence or absence of an airplane in the vicinity of each said loop coil,

wherein said airplane-detecting means comprises a high-frequency signal generator, a bridge circuit including three resistors and a resonance circuit consisting of one said loop coil and a capacitor, which becomes substantially resonant with the output frequency of the high-frequency signal generator, an alternating current amplifier for amplifying the output of the bridge circuit, a wave-detecting circuit for detecting an envelope of the amplified output of the alternating current amplifier, a window comparator means responsive to said wave-detecting circuit having a window characteristic such that the output level of the wave-detecting circuit obtained when an airplane is not present in the taxiway is within the window and the output level of the wave-detecting circuit obtained when an airplane is present and the self-inductance of the loop coil is changed is outside the window, for generating an output when an input signal of the level within the window is put in, and a voltage multiplying rectifying circuit for rectifying the output of the window comparator.

29. A ground guidance system having an airplane taxiway divided into a plurality of control sections, each control section having a plurality of loop coils for detecting vehicles on said taxiway, wherein

said loop coils have a dimension parallel to the direction of advance of airplanes which is smaller than the length of an airplane to be detected and said loop coils are arranged in the direction of advance of airplanes on said taxiway in the control sections at intervals smaller than the length of an airplane, said length of said dimension of said loop coils in said direction of advance of airplanes being larger than the length of an automobile;

each said loop coil being directly connected to vehicle-detecting means to generate detection outputs indicating the presence or absence of an airplane in the vicinity of each said loop coil,

wherein said vehicle-detecting means comprises a high-frequency signal generator, a bridge circuit including three resistors and a resonance circuit consisting of one said loop coil and a capacitor, which becomes substantially resonant with the output frequency of the high-frequency signal generator, an alternating current amplifier for amplifying the output of the bridge circuit, a wave-detecting circuit for detecting an envelope of the amplified output of the alternating current amplifier, a window comparator means responsive to said wave-detecting circuit having a window characteristic such that the output level of the wave-detecting circuit obtained when an airplane is not present in the taxiway is within the window and the output level of the wave-detecting circuit obtained when an airplane is present and the self-inductance of the loop coil is changed is outside the window, for generating an output when an input signal of the level within the window is put in, and a voltage multiplying rectifying circuit for rectifying the output of the window comparator.

30. A ground guidance system according to claim 29, further including control means including a direction- and object-discriminating circuit for detecting the advance direction of an airplane and means for discriminating an airplane from an automobile based on an output from the vehicle-detecting means corresponding to the loop coil within the control section in which an airplane advances and a display-instructing circuit for generating a signal for instructing admission of advance of an airplane or a signal for inhibition of advance of an airplane in the control section in the rear of the control section in which an airplane advances, based on the output of the vehicle-detecting means corresponding to the loop coil of said rear control section and the output of the direction- and object-discriminating circuit.

31. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 30, wherein said display-instructing circuit comprises an advance-admitting signal generating means for generating an advance-admitting signal of a high voltage when a direction-setting signal fed from a manual operating device operated by an air traffic controller is in agreement with the output signal of the direction- and object-discriminating circuit and a running-admitting signal is supplied from the manual operating device, an advance-inhibiting signal-generating means for generating an advance-inhibiting signal of a low level for inhibiting advance of an airplane in the control section in the rear of the control section in which an airplane advances when a vehicle-detecting signal is generated from at least one of the vehicle-detecting means connected to the loop coils in said rear control sections and emitting an advance-inhibiting display-instructing signal of a low level to said display means, and an advance-admitting instructing means for emitting an advance-admitting display-instructing signal of a high level to said display means when the advance-admitting signal-generating means generates the advance-admitting signal and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means does not generate the advance-inhibiting signal.

32. A ground guidance system according to claim 31, wherein the manual operating device comprises a changeover switch for effecting changeover between automatic control and manual control of the display means, a direction-setting switch for generating the direction-setting signal for setting the advance direction of an airplane in the taxiway, a manual running-admitting instructing switch for optionally generating the running-admitting signal to the control section by an air traffic controller when the changeover switch is on the manual control side, and a running-inhibiting instructing changeover switch for cancelling the instruction signals of the changeover switch, the direction-setting switch and the manual running-admitting instructing switch and generating a running-inhibiting instructing signal.

33. A ground guidance system according to claim 30, wherein the display-instructing circuit comprises an advance-admitting signal-generating means for generating an advance-admitting signal of a high level when a direction-setting signal supplied from a manual operating device operated by an air traffic controller is in agreement with the output signal from the direction- and object-discrimination circuit and a non-detection signal is generated from the airplane-detecting means connected to one said loop coil arranged in a predetermined area of the control section in the rear of the control section in which the running-admitting signal is put from the manual operating device, said ground guidance system further comprising an advance-inhibiting signal-generating means emitting an airplane advance-inhibiting signal of a low level to the control section in the rear of the control section when an airplane detection signal is generated from at least one of the vehicle-detecting means connected to the loop coils arranged in said predetermined area in the rear of said control section and emitting a signal of a low level for instructing display of inhibition of advance to said display means, and an advance-admitting instructing means for emitting a signal of a high level for instructing display of admission of advance only when the advance-admitting signal-generating means generates the advance-admitting signal and the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means generates the advance-inhibiting signal.

34. A ground guidance system according to claim 31, wherein the display means comprises an advance-admitting signal lamp having a constant current source as a power source and displaying admission of advance to an airplane, an advance-admitting lamp controlling switch means for performing on-off control of the advance-admitting signal lamp based on instructions from an advance-admitting instructing means, an advance-inhibiting signal lamp having a constant current source as a power source and displaying inhibition of advance in the front control section to an airplane, and an advance-inhibiting lamp-controlling switch means for performing on-off control of the advance-inhibiting signal lamp based on instructions from the advance-inhibiting signal-generating means.

35. A ground guidance system according to claim 29, wherein the control means comprises a plurality of direction- and object-discriminating circuits receiving an input signals the output signals of adjacent vehicle-detecting means in the control sections for generating airplane detection outputs in sequence with movement of an airplane and detecting the direction of advance of the airplane, a plurality of AND gates receiving the outputs of a plurality of the direction- and object-discriminating circuits as one input signal and receiving as another input signal wired OR outputs of vehicle-detecting means in to the rear of said control section, in the range from the last vehicle-detecting means to the vehicle-detecting means located just ahead of the vehicle-detecting means located on the opposite side to the airplane advance direction, the signal of which is put in the direction- and object-discriminating circuits, a wired OR circuit for computing the logical sum of the outputs of said AND gates, and a direction- and object-discriminating signal-generating redundant control means for converting the output of the wired OR circuit to a direction- and object-discriminating signal for forming an advance-admitting signal to the control sections to the rear of said control section.

36. A ground guidance system for airplanes according to claim 30, wherein the display-instructing means comprises a plurality of AND gates having, as a reset signal, a logical sum output of adjacent vehicle-detecting means generating vehicle-detecting outputs in sequence with the movement of an airplane and, as a present signal, the rising component of the output signal of the vehicle-detecting means located ,in the airplane advance direction, between one of said adjacent vehicle-detecting means and an advance-admitting signal to a subsequent airplane in the airplane-advancing control section, which is generated in the control section in front of the airplane-advancing control section, a plurality of self-retention circuits for feeding back the rectified outputs of the respective AND gates to preset input terminals of the AND gates and self-retaining the outputs of respective AND gates and an advance-inhibiting signal-generating redundant control means having other AND gates which receive the outputs of said plurality of AND gates for generating an advance-inhibiting signal of a low level including a failure output when any one of the AND gates does not generate an output.