Air vehicle landing/takeoff area mapping system and method

An air vehicle landing/takeoff area mapping system comprising:

• a plurality of transmitters located in the landing/takeoff area, each transmitter propagating an effectively unmodulated signal having a frequency indicative of transmitter location;
• a non-camera receiver having a scanning antenna located on the air vehicle and operative to scan the landing/takeoff area, the receiver being further operative to process a received transmitter signal to produce an output based on the received transmitter signal frequency;
• a display device located within the air vehicle;
• and
• control logic for processing receiver information including a sequence of receiver outputs, corresponding receiver azimuth scan angles, and corresponding receiver elevation scan angles to produce an image of the landing/takeoff area on the display device to assist a pilot during landings and takeoffs of the air vehicle.

A method of mapping an air vehicle landing/takeoff area, the method comprising:

• propagating a plurality of effectively unmodulated signals from a corresponding plurality of locations in the landing/takeoff area, each signal having a frequency indicative of the corresponding location;
• scanning the landing/takeoff area with a non-camera receiver from an air vehicle to provide a plurality of received signals;
• processing each received signal to produce an output based on the frequency of each received signal;
• and
• processing a sequence of outputs to produce an image of the landing/takeoff area on a display device located within the air vehicle to assist a pilot during landings and takeoffs of the air vehicle.