Method for guiding aircraft on taxiways
First Claim
1. A method for guiding an aircraft on a taxiway of an airport apron comprising:
- a. providing a plurality of lights fixed along a taxiway path;
b. determining a first set of indices indicating a first position of a taxiing aircraft, the first set of indices being determined by an aircraft navigation system and exhibiting a first precision;
c. determining a second set of indices indicating a second position of the taxiing aircraft, the second position being detected by a sensor arranged on the taxiing aircraft and being relative to one of the lights, the second set of indices exhibiting a second precision that is more accurate than the first precision;
d. providing reference information comprising a definition of the taxiway path and a reference position for each of the lights relative to the taxiway path; and
e. generating guidance information based on the first set of indices, the second set of indices, and the reference information.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention refers to a method for the guidance of aircraft on the taxiways (R) of the airport apron with position lights (FE) located on the taxiways (R) and, possibly, other locations on the apron. It comprises the following steps:
determination of the current aircraft position with a defined precision by means of a navigation system (NAV);
position detection and measurement of the lights by means of a sensor (SEN) arranged on the aircraft,
provision of reference information (REF) including the positions of the individual lights (FE),
comparison of the path pursued by the navigation system (NAV) with the reference information (REF) and utilization of the detected lights (FE) as waypoints for the navigation system (NAV), and therefrom
determination of the current aircraft position with a higher precision than that of the original position determination by the navigation system (NAV);
generation of guidance information (FRG) based on the determined aircraft position.
81 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for guiding an aircraft on a taxiway of an airport apron comprising:
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a. providing a plurality of lights fixed along a taxiway path;
b. determining a first set of indices indicating a first position of a taxiing aircraft, the first set of indices being determined by an aircraft navigation system and exhibiting a first precision;
c. determining a second set of indices indicating a second position of the taxiing aircraft, the second position being detected by a sensor arranged on the taxiing aircraft and being relative to one of the lights, the second set of indices exhibiting a second precision that is more accurate than the first precision;
d. providing reference information comprising a definition of the taxiway path and a reference position for each of the lights relative to the taxiway path; and
e. generating guidance information based on the first set of indices, the second set of indices, and the reference information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification