초록 ▼

An aircraft surveillance, navigation, landing, guidance and collision avoidance system is provided which takes the form of a two-way data communication link between each of a plurality of controlled aircraft and a ground station, and appropriate measuring equipment at the ground station which provid

An aircraft surveillance, navigation, landing, guidance and collision avoidance system is provided which takes the form of a two-way data communication link between each of a plurality of controlled aircraft and a ground station, and appropriate measuring equipment at the ground station which provides three-dimensional position data on the ground for air traffic control purposes; and which also provides three-dimensional position data in the aircraft for navigation, landing guidance and collision avoidance purposes, as well as a two-way air/ground data link for miscellaneous data and control purposes. The system of the invention comprises the combination of a ground transmitter/receiver station and airborne transponders mounted in the aircraft. The ground transmitter broadcasts discrete aircraft addressed interrogation pulses which are coded to contain position and/or other data. The transponders in all aircraft receive and decode the interrogation pulses, and the discretely addressed aircraft transmits appropriately timed reply pulses to the ground receiver which contain altitude and other data. Other aircraft utilize the received position information for collision avoidance purposes. The ground receiver measures the incident angles of the reply signal pulses and their precise time delays with respect to the interrogation pulses, so as to provide aircraft position and other data to the ground station, and to provide additional data for transmission to the aircraft on the following interrogation pulses.

대표청구항 ▼

In combination: a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omnidirectionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft; a transponder mounted in

In combination: a ground station including a first transmitter for transmitting omnidirectionally discretely addressed code interrogation pulses to each of a plurality of aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station containing position data concerning each of the aircraft; a transponder mounted in each of the aircraft including a receiver for receiving and decoding coded interrogation pulses from the ground station, and including a second transmitter for transmitting appropriately timed coded reply pulses to the ground station containing altitude, discrete address, and other data concerning each of the aircraft; and a receiving system included in the ground station for measuring the incident angles and time delay of the reply pulses with respect to the interrogation pulses, computer means included in the receiving system for determining slant-range correction and for providing navigational data including the latitude/longitude coordinates of the aircraft in the vicinity of the ground station thereby to provide data at the ground station relating to the position of each aircraft for use at the ground station and for transmission to each of the aircraft by said first transmitter.