Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g. – Directive – Including a satellite
Patent
1993-12-23
1996-04-09
Issing, Gregory C.
Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g.,
Directive
Including a satellite
342454, 342386, 3701041, 370 93, G01S 502, G01S 108, H04J 312, H04J 324
Patent
active
055065872
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention regards a system for indicating the positions of movable objects, which enables for a population of movable objects or stations to keep trace of one another and for a central station or a number of central stations, in some cases, to keep trace of the positions of individual and/or all the members of that population.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems for the determination of position are well-known since a very long time, e.g. the DECCA system, the LORAN system, the VLF OMEGA system, NDB, VOR and DME. For the use of central stations, there are known different types of radar systems, such as primary radar (PSR) and secondary surveillance radar (SSR). The SSR radar system includes a ground based interrogator and SSR Transponders in the movable objects.
In recent times has been created the American GPS (Global Positioning SYSTEM) and a Russian corresponding system called GLONASS, which both build on time signals sent from satellites having known orbit elements. When at least four such satellites are above the horizon, it is possible to obtain locally an unequivocal position with a very high accuracy. Devices for obtaining such position information are well-known and commercially available, making it superfluous here to describe them in more detail than is necessary for the description of the present invention.
The fact that a precise position can be obtained with equipment having a reasonable price has led to its proposed use for navigating and surveillance for e.g. aviation, the congestion of which has become notorious in recent years. According to GB-A-2 155 720, it has been proposed to include in an aircraft Transponder response to an interrogation from a control station, not only its usual identification response, but also the position determined by GPS of the movable object carrying the transponder.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,537, hereby included by reference, it is proposed to obtain an anti-collision system where aircraft, runways, fixed obstacles and land vehicles on airports signal their positions to all participants. Thereby, the signaling is made in a single radio channel for all participants, each participant seeking a moment when the channel is unoccupied and starting signalling its message after the lapse of a random wait time. The transmitting power is held at a low level in order not to exceed an air volume radius of a monitored airspace.
At present, the responsibility to monitor and control the air traffic around the earth is divided into a number of Area Control Centers (ACC) or Flight Information Centers (FIC), each of them having responsibility over dedicated regions (Flight Information Regions--FIRs) within which ground monitoring and control of air traffic operating in certain or all parts of the airspace and/or to provide certain services to aircraft which have filed a flight plan. Each time an aircraft leaves one of those FIRs, the control center of the next FIR is notified about the trajectory taken, so that the aircraft can be detected or identified. Before entering into the next FIR the crew of the aircraft is ordered to establish radio contact with the control center which FIR the aircraft is about to enter.
The air traffic must follow a limited number of air corridors, often called "airways", or predetermined routes. The airways are established along ground based radio navigation beacons or by a combination of the locations of such radio navigation beacons and "fixed points" determined by the distance and bearing to/from such ground based beacons. The aircraft are navigating by means of receivers on board which can detect the signals from the ground based radio navigation beacons and has a display unit which shows the location of the aircraft in relation to the ground based beacon. Over and in the vicinity of land also the control centers are monitoring and controlling the movements of aircraft by radar. The minimum lateral separation between aircraft flying at the same altitude in these radar controlled area
REFERENCES:
patent: 3566404 (1971-02-01), Sorkin
patent: 5153836 (1992-10-01), Fraughton et al.
patent: 5325302 (1994-06-01), Tzidon et al.
patent: 5367524 (1994-11-01), Rideout, Jr. et al.
GP & C Systems International AB
Issing Gregory C.
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