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A formation collision avoidance system includes a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) having a passive mode and an active mode. The passive mode enables several members of an aircraft formation to fly without actively interrogating using TCAS while only one or few formation members a

A formation collision avoidance system includes a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) having a passive mode and an active mode. The passive mode enables several members of an aircraft formation to fly without actively interrogating using TCAS while only one or few formation members are actively interrogating. Formation members in passive mode maintain awareness of current air and ground traffic conditions using networked surveillance information provided over a communications link between formation members in active mode and formation members in passive mode. The networked surveillance information includes positional and intent information of current air/ground traffic obtained from ADS-B broadcasts and replies to the actively interrogating members of the formation. The communications link utilizes Station Keeping Equipment (SKE) already existing on certain aircraft.

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A formation collision avoidance system includes a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) having a passive mode and an active mode. The passive mode enables several members of an aircraft formation to fly without actively interrogating using TCAS while only one or few formation members a

A formation collision avoidance system includes a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) having a passive mode and an active mode. The passive mode enables several members of an aircraft formation to fly without actively interrogating using TCAS while only one or few formation members are actively interrogating. Formation members in passive mode maintain awareness of current air and ground traffic conditions using networked surveillance information provided over a communications link between formation members in active mode and formation members in passive mode. The networked surveillance information includes positional and intent information of current air/ground traffic obtained from ADS-B broadcasts and replies to the actively interrogating members of the formation. The communications link utilizes Station Keeping Equipment (SKE) already existing on certain aircraft. xer, the data signal multiplexers receive the signal in a selected configuration after processing by the shift and inversion mechanisms and the constant data multiplexer receives the lower vertical axis bounds of the plurality of linear line segments, and wherein the aggregation mechanism aggregates selected outputs from the data signal multiplexers and the constant data multiplexer to form the approximation of the sinusoidal amplitude. 6. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a signal generator for generating the signal. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the signal generator includes a frequency control unit for generating a multiple bit frequency control word; a phase accumulator for accumulating the frequency control word to provide an accumulator output word; a partitioner for partitioning the accumulator output word to a first control signal, a second control signal and a phase word; and an inverter for inverting the phase word when signaled by the second control signal, wherein output of the inverter includes the signal. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a digital-to-analog converter for converting the approximation of the sinusoidal amplitude into an analog waveform and a low pass filter for filtering and buffering the analog signal. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first control signal is received by the digital-to-analog converter and includes a value of zero when the sign of the approximation of the sinusoid amplitude is positive and a value of one when the sign of the approximation of the sinusoid amplitude is negative. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second control signal has a value of zero when the given phase angle is in the first quadrant and a third quadrant of the sinusoid function and a value of one when the given phase angle is in a second and a fourth quadrant of the sinusoid function. 11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein a combination of the calculation mechanism and the selector mechanism are divided into a sine generation module for generating a sine output data based on the signal and a cosine generation module for generating a cosine output data based on the signal. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a first multiplexer for multiplexing the sine output data and the cosine output data to generate a sine waveform responsive to the first and second control signals and a third control signal derived from the signal and a second multiplexer for multiplexing the sine output data and the cosine output data to generate a cosine waveform responsive to the first, second, and third control signals. 13. In a phase-to-sinusoid-amplitude converter, a method of determining an approximation of a sinusoidal amplitude for a prescribed phase angle from a signal representing a quadrant of a sinusoid function defined by a plurality of linear line segments of substantially equal length, each linear line segment being defined by: a lower horizontal-axis bound; a lower vertical-axis bound; and a slope represented as a sum of a plurality of slope elements, the method comprising: (f) evaluating a set of values for each one of the plurality of linear line segments as a product of (i) a horizontal displacement representing a difference between the prescribed phase angle and the lower horizontal-axis bound and (ii) each one of the plurality of slope elements; and (g) aggregating a selected set of values determined in step (a) and a selected one of the lower vertical-axis bounds for a selected linear line segment to form the approximation of the sinusoidal amplitude for the prescribed phase angle. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of linear line segments has a value equal to 2a,where a ε{0, 1, 2, 3, . . . } and each one of the plurality of slope elements has a value selected from a group consisting of ±2band zero, where b ε{. . . , -2,-1, 0, 1, 2, . . . }. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of evaluating includes shiftin g the signal to generate a shifted data signal having a sign and inverting the sign of the shifted data signal as prescribed by the plurality of slope elements of the slope of each one of the plurality of linear line segments. 16. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for determining an approximation of a sinusoidal amplitude for a prescribed phase angle from a signal representing a quadrant of a sinusoid function defined by a plurality of linear line segments of substantially equal length, each linear line segment being defined by: a lower horizontal-axis bound; a lower vertical-axis bound; and a slope represented as a sum of a plurality of slope elements, the computer-executable instructions comprising the steps for: (a) step for evaluating a set of values for each one of the plurality of linear line segments as a product of (i) a horizontal displacement representing a difference between the prescribed phase angle and the lower horizontal-axis bound and (ii) each one of the plurality of slope elements; and (b) step for aggregating a selected set of values determined in step (a) and a selected one of the lower vertical-axis bounds for a selected linear line segment to form the approximation of the sinusoidal amplitude for the prescribed phase angle. 17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the number of linear line segments has a value equal to 2a,where a ε{0, 1, 2, 3, . . . } and each one of the plurality of slope elements has a value selected from a group consisting of ±2band zero, where b ε{. . . -2,-1, 0, 1, 2, . . . }. 18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the step for evaluating includes a step for shifting the signal to generate a shifted data signal having a sign and a step for inverting the sign of the shifted data signal as prescribed by the plurality of slope elements of the slope of each one of the plurality of linear line segments. 19. An apparatus comprising: (a) means for generating a signal approximating a quadrant of a sinusoid function defined by a plurality of linear line segments of substantially equal length, each linear line segment being defined by: a lower horizontal-axis bound; a lower vertical-axis bound; and a slope represented as a sum of a plurality of slope elements; (b) generator means receiving the signal for generating a set of outputs for each one of the plurality of linear line segments as a product of a horizontal displacement representing a difference between the given phase angle and the lower horizontal-axis bound and each one of the plurality of slope elements; (c) selector means for selecting one of the set of outputs from the generator means and one of the lower vertical-axis bounds based on a selected one of the plurality of linear line segments; (d) means for evaluating an approximation of a sinusoidal amplitude as an aggregate of the selected one of the set of outputs from the selector mechanism and the one of the lower vertical-axis bounds; and (e) means for converting the approximation of the sinusoidal amplitude from the adder means into an analog signal. 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for generating includes a frequency control unit for generating a multiple bit frequency control word; a phase accumulator for accumulating the frequency control word to provide an accumulator output word; a partitioner for partitioning the accumulator output word to a first control signal, a second control signal and a phase word; and an inverter for inverting the phase word when signaled by the second control signal, wherein output of the inverter includes the signal. 21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising an error-correcting module for detecting an error of the accumulator output word for application to the approximation of the sinusoid amplitude, the error representing the difference between the approximation of the sinusoid amplitude and an ideal sinuso id of identical frequency and amplitude. 22. In a direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS), a method of determining an approximation of a sinusoidal amplitude for a prescribed phase angle, the method comprising: (a) generating a signal approximating a quadrant of a sinusoid function defined by a plurality of linear line segments of substantially equal length, each linear line segment being defined by: a lower horizontal-axis bound; a lower vertical-axis bound; and a slope represented as a sum of a plurality of slope elements; (b) generating a set of outputs for each one of the plurality of linear line segments as a product of a horizontal displacement representing a difference between the given phase angle and the lower horizontal-axis bound and each one of the plurality of slope elements; (c) selecting one of the set of outputs generated from step (b) and one of the lower vertical-axis bounds based on a selected one of the plurality of linear line segments; and (d) evaluating an approximation of a sinusoidal amplitude as an aggregate of the selected one of the set of outputs from step (c) and the one of the lower vertical-axis bounds; and (e) converting the approximation of the sinusoidal amplitude into an analog signal. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of generating a signal includes generating a multiple bit frequency control word; accumulating the frequency control word to provide an accumulator output word; partitioning the accumulator output word to a first control signal, a second control signal and a phase word; and inverting the phase word when signaled by the second control signal, wherein output of the inverter includes the signal.