Employing local, opportunistic automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) information processed by an unmanned aerial vehicle ground control station to augment other source “knowledge” of local aircraft position information for improving situational awareness

• US 9,274,521 B1
• Filed: 02/02/2015
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Stefani, Rolf R., Cooper, James Gary Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US14/612,273
• Time in Patent Office: 393 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0044 by providing the operator with a computer generated representation of the environment of the vehicle, e.g. virtual reality, maps maps used for automatic navigation G05D1/0274; flight directors G01C23/005
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91

Abstract

A system and method are provided for employing local, opportunistic Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) information to augment other source “knowledge” of local aircraft position information for improving situational awareness in areas lacking ADS-B coverage provided by other aircraft control agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), other Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs), and/or other Air Traffic Control (ATC) entities. Locally-received, e.g., in a vicinity of a UAV or sUAS, ADS-B positional information is received by a UAV, sUAS or associated ground control station and integrated on a display component of the ground control station, e.g., a pilot display, for the UAV or sUAS. Received positional information is forwarded to other interested users/systems, including those associated with agencies or entities in overall tactical, operational or surveillance control of a particular area of operations, as appropriate as an integrated situational awareness map display picture.

Claims

1. A Ground Control Station (GCS) that controls flight operations of at least one small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) platform, comprising:

a first communication unit that receives at least one of flight telemetry data and position reference data from the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls;

a second communication unit that receives Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) messages from ADS-B-equipped aircraft;

an information extraction unit that extracts (1) a geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls from the at least one of the received flight telemetry data and position reference data for the sUAS platform and (2) a geographic position of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft from the ADS-B message; and

a third communication unit that reports the geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls and the geographic position of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft to at least one other GCS that does not control the at least one sUAS platform for display on the at least one other GCS and a remote facility for display on a situational awareness display device in the remote facility.

2. The GCS of claim 1, further comprising a position data integration device that integrates the geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls and the geographic position of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft as a single geographic position map representing the geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls and the geographic position of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft for display.

3. The GCS of claim 2, further comprising a data translation device that translates the single geographic position map to a format that is compatible for direct integration into a display component of the at least one other GCS and the situational awareness display device in the remote facility.

4. The GCS of claim 1, the second communication unit being mounted on the GCS.

5. The GCS of claim 1, the second communication unit being mounted on the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls, and forwarding the received ADS-B messages to the GCS via the first communication unit.

6. The GCS of claim 1, the second communication unit receiving ADS-B messages communicated via a 1090 MHz signal.

7. The GCS of claim 1, the second communication unit receiving ADS-B messages communicated via a 978 MHz signal.

8. The GCS of claim 7, the ADS-B messages including weather information.

9. The GCS of claim 1, the third communication unit reporting the geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls and the geographic position of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft using Web Services.

10. The GCS of claim 9, the Web Services including HTTP/HTTPS over TCP/IP.

11. The GCS of claim 1, the third communication unit being a mobile communicating device.

12. The GCS of claim 11, the mobile communicating device operating according to one of 3G, a 4G or an LTE communication protocol.

13. An aerial vehicle situational awareness display system, comprising:

a communication interface that establishes communication with at least one sUAS, the at least one sUAS including a GCS that controls operation of at least one sUAS platform, the at least one sUAS including an ADS-B receiver;

an aircraft information server that is located remotely from the at least one sUAS, the aircraft information server being programmed to;

receive at least one of flight telemetry data and position reference data for the sUAS platform that the GCS controls from the GCS;

extract a geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls from the at least one of the received flight telemetry data and position reference data for the at least one sUAS platform;

receive ADS-B messages from ADS-B-equipped aircraft operating in a vicinity of the at least one sUAS via the ADS-B receiver included with the at least one sUAS;

extract geographic positions of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft from the received ADS-B messages;

integrate the extracted geographic position for the at least one sUAS platform and the extracted geographic positions for the ADS-B equipped aircraft into a graphical representation of aerial vehicles in a vicinity of the at least one sUAS; and

a situational awareness display device that displays the graphical representation of the aerial vehicles.

14. The system of claim 13, the aircraft information server being further programmed to:

receive a planned route of flight for the at least one sUAS platform; and

integrate a graphical depiction of the planned route of flight for the at least one sUAS platform into the graphical representation of the aerial vehicles in a vicinity of the at least one sUAS for display on the situational awareness display device.

15. The system of claim 13, the aircraft information server being further programmed to:

translate the graphical representation of the aerial vehicles in a vicinity of the at least one sUAS to a format that is compatible for direct integration into a display component of at least one of another sUAS and a situational awareness display device in a remote facility; and

export the translated graphical representation of the aerial vehicles in a vicinity of the at least one sUAS to the at least one of the another sUAS and the situational awareness display device in a remote facility.

16. The system of claim 13, the ADS-B receiver included with the at least one sUAS being mounted on the GCS.

17. The system of claim 13, the ADS-B receiver included with the at least one sUAS being mounted on the at least one sUAS platform that the GCS controls, the received ADS-B messages being forwarded to the GCS via a separate communication device in the GCS.

18. The system of claim 13, the ADS-B receiver receiving ADS-B messages communicated via both a 1090 MHz signal and a 978 MHz signal, the 978 MHz signal including ADS-B messages with weather information.

19. The system of claim 13, the communication interface communicating with the at least one sUAS using Web Services including HTTP/HTTPS over TCP/IP.

20. The system of claim 13, the communication interface communicating with the at least one sUAS via a mobile communicating device, the mobile communicating device operating according to one of 3G, a 4G or an LTE communication protocol.

21. A method for remotely tracking aerial vehicles on an aerial vehicle situational awareness display, comprising:

receiving, in an sUAS GCS, at least one of flight telemetry data and position reference data from at least one sUAS platform that the sUAS GCS controls;

receiving, in the sUAS GCS, ADS-B messages from ADS-B-equipped aircraft operating in a vicinity of the sUAS GCS;

extracting, by a processor, a geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform that the sUAS GCS controls from the at least one of the received flight telemetry data and position reference data for the sUAS platform;

extracting, by the processor, a geographic position of the ADS-B-equipped aircraft operating in a vicinity of the sUAS GCS from the ADS-B messages;

integrating the extracted geographic position for the at least one sUAS platform and the extracted geographic positions for the ADS-B equipped aircraft operating in a vicinity of the sUAS GCS into a graphical representation of aerial vehicles in a vicinity of the at least one sUAS;

reporting the extracted geographic position of the at least one sUAS platform and the extracted geographic position for the ADS-B-equipped aircraft to at least one other GCS that does not control the at least one sUAS platform for display on the at least one other GCS and to a remote facility for display on a situational awareness display device in the remote facility; and

displaying the graphical representation of the aerial vehicles on the at least one other GCS and the situational awareness display device in the remote facility.