Automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) system for ownership and traffic situational awareness

• US 9,405,005 B1
• Filed: 03/05/2013
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration
• Original Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration
• Inventors: Arteaga, Ricardo A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US13/785,661
• Time in Patent Office: 1,246 Days
• Field of Search: 342/29, 342/37
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/933 of aircraft or spacecraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933

Abstract

The present invention proposes an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) architecture and process, in which priority aircraft and ADS-B IN traffic information are included in the transmission of data through the telemetry communications to a remote ground control station. The present invention further proposes methods for displaying general aviation traffic information in three and/or four dimension trajectories using an industry standard Earth browser for increased situation awareness and enhanced visual acquisition of traffic for conflict detection. The present invention enable the applications of enhanced visual acquisition of traffic, traffic alerts, and en-route and terminal surveillance used to augment pilot situational awareness through ADS-B IN display and information in three or four dimensions for self-separation awareness.

Claims

1. An ADS-B system coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle for increased situational awareness and self-separation assurance comprising:

a telemetry system in said unmanned aerial vehicle, said telemetry system including a transceiver for wireless communication with a ground control station;

at least one GPS/WAAS antenna disposed on said unmanned aerial vehicle;

at least an upper and lower UAT antenna disposed on said unmanned aerial vehicle;

at least one altitude encoder,

a Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) in said unmanned aerial vehicle and in communication with said telemetry system for compiling ownship ADS-B Out messages and for receiving air-to-air ADS-B In messages from nearby aircraft and ADS-R and TIS-B messages from ground based transceivers, said UAT further comprising a digital computer programmed with control software comprising computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for storing said ADS-B In messages and consolidating said ADS-B In messages with said ADS-B Out messages, and for communicating said consolidated ADS-B Out messages to said telemetry system for transmission to a ground control station; and

a ground control station (GCS) comprising a digital computer programmed with control software stored on non-transitory computer memory, said software including,

a loss link redundancy module to compensate for a lost telemetry link,

a translation module for generating KML scripts from ADS-B Out and ADS-B In data, and

a synthetic display management user-interface for providing a synthetic user-configurable three-dimensional display of said ADS-B Out and ADS-B In data on a geobrowser.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the GCS digital computer is programmed with control software further including a self-separation assurance alerting module for detection and alerting of potential collisions using a plurality of geometric and concentric collision zones of UAS with traffic during airborne and ground operations.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a first converter in said unmanned aerial vehicle for converting said consolidated ADS-B Out messages from a first serial transmission protocol output from said UAT into a second serial transmission protocol for communication to said telemetry system.

4. The system according to claim 3, further comprising a second converter in said GCS for converting said second serial transmission protocol from said telemetry system to a third serial transmission protocol for the GCS digital computer.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said first converter comprises an RS-232/422 converter and said second converter comprises an RS-422/232 converter to convert between the second data communication protocol of the telemetry system to the third serial transmission protocol for the GCS digital computer.

6. The system according to claim 3, wherein said first converter comprises an RS-232/422 converter.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the UAT digital computer control software includes computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for compiling ownship ADS-B Out messages, ADS-B In messages from aircraft nearby, and air-to-ground ADS-R and TIS-B messages from ADS-B ground based transceiver(s) into ADS-B/ADS-R/TIS-B message reports.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the UAT digital computer includes memory for temporarily storing said ADS-B In message reports, and said computer control software includes computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for encoding said ADS-B In message reports in packet-based ADS-B messages for transmission via said telemetry system by serial asynchronous communications to the GCS.

9. An ADS-B system coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

a Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) for compiling ownship ADS-B Out messages and for receiving air-to-air ADS-B In messages from nearby aircraft and ADS-R and TIS-B messages from ground based transceivers, said UAT comprising a digital computer programmed with control software comprising computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for storing said ADS-B In messages and consolidating said ADS-B In messages with said ADS-B Out messages,

a transceiver for telemetering said consolidated ADS-B Out messages in said UAS serial protocol to a ground control station; and

a ground control station (GCS) comprising a digital computer programmed with control software for compensating for a lost telemetry link with UAS, said loss link software including instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for determining when radio telemetry with said UAS has failed and automatically arbitrating to a backup redundant data source for the ADS-B data.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said loss link software determines when radio telemetry with said UAS has failed by performing a CRC checksum on the ADS-B data.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said loss link software automatically arbitrates back to the UAS data source for the ADS-B data when said CRC checksum passes.

12. An ADS-B system coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

a Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) for compiling ownship ADS-B Out messages and for receiving air-to-air ADS-B In messages from nearby aircraft and ADS-R and TIS-B messages from ground based transceivers, said UAT further comprising a digital computer programmed with control software comprising computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for storing said ADS-B In messages and consolidating said ADS-B In messages with said ADS-B Out messages,

a transceiver for telemetering said consolidated ADS-B Out messages in UAS serial protocol to a ground control station; and

a ground control station (GCS) comprising a digital computer programmed with control software stored on non-transitory computer having a loss link redundancy module to compensate for a lost telemetry link and a translation module for generating KML scripts from ADS-B Out and ADS-B In data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the GCS further comprises memory for establishing a plurality of geometric collision zones about a moving UAS, each representing the actual position of the UAS within a defined region of interest wherein each of said regions of interest are separated by a pre-determined distance to allow time for UAS self-separation via direct control by the GCS.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein all of said regions of interest are concentric.

15. An ADS-B system coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

a telemetry system in said unmanned aerial vehicle;

a Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) for compiling ownship ADS-B Out messages and for receiving air-to-air ADS-B In messages from nearby aircraft and ADS-R and TIS-B messages from ground based transceivers,

a digital computer programmed with control software comprising computer instructions stored on non-transitory computer memory for storing said ADS-B In messages and consolidating said ADS-B In messages with said ADS-B Out messages,

a transceiver for telemetering said consolidated ADS-B Out messages in UAS serial protocol to a ground control station (GCS); and

a ground control station (GCS) comprising a digital computer programmed with control software stored on non-transitory computer memory for receiving said ADS-B Out messages and interpreting ownship and traffic data therefrom, for converting said ownship and traffic data into a geobrowser-compatible file format, and for displaying a synthetic 2D/3D display with said ownship and traffic data wherein said display color codes nearby aircraft with specific colors dependent upon a selected nearby aircraft distance from said ownship.

16. The system according to claim 15, further comprising a loss link redundancy module to compensate for a lost telemetry link and a translation module for generating KML scripts from ADS-B Out and ADS-B In data.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said synthetic display management user-interface displays a plurality of 3D models each representing an airborne or surface vehicle.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein said GCS software comprises a translation software module for converting said ownship and traffic data into geobrowser-compatible KML scripts.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein said synthetic display management user-interface displays weather data on overlayed on said synthetic 2D/3D display.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said synthetic display management user-interface displays restricted airspace data overlayed on said synthetic 2D/3D display.

21. The system according to claim 16, wherein said synthetic display management user-interface displays a plurality of simulated viewpoints for traffic situational awareness, said viewpoints comprising any one from among a group consisting of an egocentric (perspective) view, exocentric (god eye) view, out-the-window (cockpit) view.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein said synthetic display management user-interface includes a suite of user controls for allowing panning and zooming for increased situational awareness.

23. An ADS-B system for a manned vehicle, for increased situational awareness and self-separation assurance, comprising:

a Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) in said manned vehicle to receive air-to-air ADS-B In messages direct from aircraft nearby, as well as ADS-R and TIS-B messages from ground based transceivers;

a portable computing device in a cockpit of said manned vehicle having software including a translation module for generating KML scripts from ADS-B Out and ADS-B In data comprising a digital computer programmed with control software stored on non-transitory computer memory, said software including a synthetic display management user-interface for providing a synthetic user-configurable three-dimensional display of said ADS-B data on a geobrowser wherein said display color codes nearby aircraft with specific colors dependent upon a selected nearby aircraft distance from said ownship;

at least one UAT antenna;

at least one GPS/WAAS antenna;

a converter for converting said UAT serial protocol into a serial or Ethernet protocol suitable for said portable computing device.

24. The ADS-B system according to claim 23 wherein said portable computing device further comprises a loss link redundancy module to compensate for lost telemetry link.

25. The ADS-B system according to claim 24, wherein said portable computing device comprises a tablet computer with touch screen display.

26. The ADS-B system according to claim 23, wherein said manned vehicle comprises an aerial vehicle.

27. The ADS-B system according to claim 23, wherein said manned vehicle comprises a ground-based vehicle carrying said UAT, said at least one or more UAT antennas, and said at least one GPS/WAAS antenna.