Method and system for assisting in the landing or the decking of a light aircraft

• US 8,768,542 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2010
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Garrec, Patrick, Cornic, Pascal
• Primary Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US12/783,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20110130898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,503 Days
• Field of Search: 701 13- 14
• US Class Current: 701/14
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/20 Arrangement of optical beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/825 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/913 for landing purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0676 specially adapted for landing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a system for assisting in the landing or the decking of a light aircraft, the method being implemented by a system comprising a device on the ground for locating the aircraft, the aircraft having an onboard signal sender, the method comprising at least the following steps: the locating device on the ground uses signals sent by the sender to determine the position and/or movement of the aircraft; said device transmits the previously determined aircraft position and/or movement data to the aircraft; display means show at least some of said data made accessible to the pilot of the aircraft. The invention applies in particular to the field of civil light aeronautics, notably for facilitating the landing of pleasure aeroplanes, small transport aeroplanes and helicopters.

Claims

1. A method for assisting in the landing or the decking of a manned aircraft, the aircraft being of the engine-powered light aircraft type suitable for visual flight, the method being implemented by a system comprising a device on the ground for locating the aircraft, comprising at least one passive sensor and a reference beacon, the aircraft having an onboard sender sending signals asynchronously to the device on the ground, the method comprising at least the following steps:

providing a locating device on the ground that receives the signals with the at least one passive sensor and uses the signals sent by the sender to determine at least one of a position and a movement of the aircraft;

transmitting from said device on the ground at least one of a previously determined aircraft position and movement data to the aircraft; and

displaying, with a display means in the aircraft or a radio communication means in the aircraft, to a pilot of the aircraft at least some of said aircraft position and movement data received from said device on the ground to assist in the landing or the decking.

2. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 1, in which an onboard sender in the aircraft sends a continuous sinusoidal signal.

3. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 1, further comprising a step of correlating data obtained from the device for locating the aircraft from the ground with the data produced by onboard instruments, the results of this correlation step being utilized on board the aircraft.

4. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 3, in which a data consistency index is determined from the correlation step, and in that an alarm is raised for the pilot when said index is below a set threshold.

5. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 1, a bidirectional radiofrequency data link being set up between the locating device on the ground and the aircraft, in which measurements obtained from instruments on board the aircraft are transmitted to the locating device on the ground via said data link, said device on the ground utilizing said measurements to refine its determination of the data relating to the position and/or the movement of the aircraft.

6. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 5, in which the aircraft inserts, from the data sent to the locating device on the ground, an identifier specific to the aircraft, said device inserting in return said identifier from the data transmitted to the aircraft.

7. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the at least one passive sensor comprises an optical sensor.

8. The method for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 1, wherein the locating device determines the location of the aircraft by triangulation based on the signals.

9. A system for assisting in the landing or the decking of a manned aircraft, the aircraft being of the engine-powered light aircraft type suitable for visual flight, the system comprising

a device on the ground for locating the aircraft provided with a passive sensor and a reference beacon, the device on the ground configured to determine at least one of a position and a movement of the aircraft,

the system further comprising at least one onboard sender sending signals asynchronously to the device on the ground,

means for transmitting data comprising at least one of the position and the movement of the aircraft from the locating device on the ground to the aircraft, and,

in the cockpit of the aircraft, means for displaying at least some of said data comprising at least one of the position and the movement of the aircraft transmitted to the aircraft.

10. The system for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 9, the system further comprising an onboard processing module connected to the data transmission means, to the display means and to onboard measuring instruments, the processing module being suitable for correlating the measurements obtained from said onboard instruments with the measurements obtained from said data transmission means.

11. The system for assisting in the landing or the decking of an aircraft according to claim 9, wherein the display means are a screen associated with a standby instrument integrated in the aircraft.

12. The system according to claim 9, comprising onboard data sending means in the aircraft, said sending means coupled with the transmission means being used to set up a bidirectional link between the locating device on the ground and the aircraft.

13. The system according to claim 9, wherein the onboard data transmission means and the onboard sender are integrated in one and the same multifunction beacon.

14. The system according to claim 9, in which the locating device on the ground comprises at least two passive sensors that are spaced apart, fixed close to the decking surface and able to receive the signals sent by the aircraft.

15. The system according to claim 9, in which the aircraft does not include any instrument landing system.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein the passive sensor comprises an optical sensor.

17. The system according to claim 9, wherein the locating device determines the location of the aircraft by triangulation based on the signals.