Air traffic control antenna and system
OwnerJames HARVEYinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods relating to air traffic control and navigational aids for aircraft. An antenna system uses a multi-sector sensor that uses two vertical column antenna arrays per sector. Each pair of vertical column antenna arrays produces two beams that are off a boresight for each pair of antenna arrays. Wide angle monopulse processing is used to determine an azimuth or angle of arrival for an aircraft using at least one pair of the vertical column antenna arrays. Predetermined correction factors are applied to the azimuth for specific elevation values and, for elevation values without predetermined correction factors, interpolation between known predetermined correction values to arrive at the corrector factor to be applied.
Claims21
An antenna system for use in air traffic control, the system comprising:
- at least one pair of vertical column antenna arrays, said at least one pair producing two beams offset from boresight and said at least one pair covering a sector of a coverage of said antenna system;
- wherein said antenna system is used for wide angle monopulse processing of at least one signal from an aircraft to determine a two-dimensional azimuth of said aircraft relative to said at least one pair of said vertical column antenna arrays.
An antenna system for air traffic control applications, the antenna system comprising:
- a static, circular, multi-sector antenna sensor for use in wide angle monopulse processing of at least one signal originating from an aircraft to determine an angle of arrival or azimuth of said at least one signal relative to said antenna sensor;
- wherein said antenna sensor comprises at least one pair of vertical column antenna arrays, said at least one pair producing two beams offset from a boresight for said at least one pair and said at least one pair covering a sector of said multi-sector coverage of said antenna system.
-26. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.