Airport surface traffic control system

• US 5,670,961 A
• Filed: 11/22/1995
• Issued: 09/23/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Kimura, Koichi, Moriwaki, Shinichi, Tomita, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John B.
• Application Number:
  US08/562,064
• Time in Patent Office: 671 Days
• Field of Search: 342/36, 342/30, 342/32, 342/37
• US Class Current: 342/36
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/765 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/781 Secondary Surveillance Radar [SSR] in general
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/91 for traffic control G01S13/93 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• 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

An airport surface traffic system is provided which detects targets moving on an airport surface and automatically adds ID codes thereby reduces the controlling duties of an air traffic controller and elevates safety of an aviation control. An airport surface traffic system comprises airport surface monitoring radars which detects targets moving on an airport surface, ASDE target detector which detects targets by an output signal of the airport surface monitoring radars, a second monitoring radar which receives response signals from airplanes and from an airport monitoring radar which controls airport, ASR/SSR target detector which detects targets, ID code addition apparatus which adds an ID code to targets based on a signal from FDP which stores flight schedule data of airplanes and a multi-function display which displays targets.

Claims

1. An airport surface traffic control system, comprising:

an airport surface detection radar for receiving reflected radar signals from targets moving in an airport;

a first target detector for outputting location information of targets by calculating target locations obtained from a signal outputted from the airport surface detection radar;

a first monitoring radar for receiving reflected radar signals from airborne targets in an area around said airport;

a second monitoring radar for receiving response signals including beacon codes from said airborne targets;

a second target detector for outputting location information and beacon code information of targets in response to target location information from the first monitoring radar and signals from the second monitoring radar;

a flight schedule information processor for outputting aircraft flight schedule information;

an ID code addition apparatus for identifying targets and their locations in response to location information outputted from the first and the second target detectors and developing target display data signals corresponding to said targets and their locations, adding ID codes to said display data signals according to the beacon code information and the flight schedule information, and outputting said display data signals; and

a display apparatus for indicating locations of targets moving on the airport surface and symbols and ID codes corresponding to the targets in response to said display data signals from the ID code addition apparatus.

2. The airport surface traffic control system of claim 1, further comprising:

a GPS (Global Positioning System) transmitter carried on target airplanes for transmitting location information and ID code information of the targets which are calculated in response to signals received from the GPS satellite; and

a third target detector for receiving location information and ID code information of targets from GPS transmitter and decoding, and outputting said target locations and said ID code information to the ID code addition apparatus;

where, the system determines targets and their locations according to location information of the first and the third target detectors, adds ID codes according to said code information received from the third target detector, and outputs location information and ID codes of the targets as display data.

3. The airport surface traffic control system of claim 2, further comprising:

an optical sensor for detecting areas where the airport surface detection radar can not detect; and

a fourth target detector for outputting location information of targets to the ID code addition apparatus according to said optical sensor;

where, the system determines targets and their locations according to location information of the first and the fourth target detectors.

4. The airport surface traffic control system of claim 3, further comprising:

a collision forecasting apparatus for calculating possibility of future collision according to location change of the targets obtained from display data which are displayed on the ID code adding apparatus, and outputting a collision warning signal to the multi-function display when there is a risk of a collision;

where, the system forecasts collision warning according to the collision forecasting warning signal.

5. The airport surface traffic control system of claim 4, further comprising:

at least three SSR mode-S receivers for receiving SSR mode-S responses from the targets which are taking off and outputting reception signals; and

a location determination apparatus for determining location of targets according to reception signals from SSR mode-S receivers, and outputting location information and beacon code information of the targets to ID code addition apparatus;

where, the system determines targets and their locations according to location information and the first target detector, and adds ID codes according to said beacon code information from the location determination apparatus.

6. An airport surface traffic control system according to claim 1, wherein said first target detector calculates target location by detecting peaks of magnitudes as targets, comparing magnitudes of distance direction and azimuth direction with given data, and calculating central locations of each target.

7. An airport surface traffic control system according to claim 1, wherein said display apparatus comprises a multi-window display for digitally displaying multiple windows corresponding to airport surface traffic activity together with ID codes.