Position Determining Method and System Using Surveillance Ground Stations

摘要

An aircraft avionics system and method for automatically determining an aircraft position. The system and method determine distances to UAT or SSR ground stations. The system and method then determine the position of an aircraft by determining true bearings to SSR or UAT ground stations and determining the possible positions for the aircraft at which the aircraft is at respective bearings to each SSR or UAT ground station. An alternative system and method may determine distances based on timing signals in transmissions from the ground stations and determine one or more possible positions for the aircraft at which the aircraft is at the determined distances from respective ground stations. The system and method also may use dead reckoning or VOR or ADF signals to reduce the possible positions for the aircraft to a single possible position.

主权项

1. A computer system for determining aircraft position comprising:
a compass onboard an aircraft; a directional antenna onboard the aircraft configured to receive transmissions from a plurality of ground stations; a database containing locations of said ground stations in the plurality; and a computer processor onboard the aircraft, in communication with the compass, the directional antenna, and the database, the computer processor configured to:
receive transmissions from at least two ground stations;identify each of the at least two ground stations based on information from the received ground station transmissions;extract from the database locations of each of the at least two ground stations;determine a true bearing to each of the at least two ground stations; anddetermine at least one location at which the aircraft is at the determined bearing to each of the at least two ground stations.