Aircraft and conductive bodies

摘要

An aircraft, or other conductive body, (10) comprises transmission means for transmitting information to at least one other aircraft, said transmission means comprising: means (13) for generating an electric field external to the aircraft such that said field can control electrical charge (12) on at least one other aircraft; and means (40) for varying the electric field in accordance with information to be transmitted to said at least one other aircraft so that said at least one other aircraft can determine such information by detection of the control of electrical charge. The conductive body (10) comprises receiver means for receiving information from the transmission means of a similar conductive body, said receiver means comprising: electrical charge storage means (13) for storing electrical charge responsive to control by said transmission means; and detection means (34) for detecting the control of such electrical charge so as to determine information transmitted by said transmission means.

主权项

1. An aircraft having an aircraft structure comprising an external skin forming a conductive body with high electrical conductivity but finite internal resistivity for storing charge by generation of an electrical dipole in the conductive body, the aircraft being arranged to transmit and receive information to and from at least one other aircraft in close proximity and separated by a dielectric, the aircraft comprising:
a transmitter comprising: a transmitter electrical charge storage means formed by the conductive body of the aircraft structure; means for controlling the electrical dipole in the transmitter electrical charge storage means for generating an electrical potential across the dielectric by an electrostatic field for controlling the electrical dipole in a receiver electrical charge storage means formed by a conductive body of an aircraft structure of a receiver aircraft; and means for varying the electrical dipole in the transmitter electrical charge storage means in accordance with information to be transmitted to a receiver aircraft so that a receiver aircraft can determine such information by detection of the variation of the electrical dipole in the receiver electrical charge storage means; and a receiver comprising: a receiver electrical charge storage means formed by the conductive body of the aircraft structure; means for detecting the electrical dipole in the receiver electrical charge storage means controlled by such an electrical potential across the dielectric by an electrostatic field generated by a transmitter aircraft; means for determining from a variation in the electrical dipole in the receiver electrical charge storage means store information transmitted from the transmitter aircraft.