Location of aircraft with time difference of arrival
AssigneeL-3 Communications Corporation
InventorsLamar K. Timothy, Keith R. Branning, Michael L. Ownby
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for determining the position of an aircraft. An aircraft signal is received by a first antenna and a second antenna, the first antenna being at a known baseline distance from the second antenna. A processor is used to calculate the time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft using a common time reference signal. The position of the aircraft is determined by a position determinator based upon the baseline distance between the first and second antennas, the range between the first antenna and the aircraft, and the time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft.
Claims20
A system for determining a position of an aircraft comprising:
- a first antenna at a first position adapted to receive an aircraft signal;
- a second antenna at a second position adapted to receive the aircraft signal, the second antenna being positioned at a known baseline distance from the first antenna;
- a processor coupled to the first and second antennas, the processor adapted to calculate a time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft using a common time reference signal;
- and
- a position determinator adapted to determine the position of the aircraft based upon the distance between the first and second antenna, a range between the first antenna and the aircraft, and the time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft.
A method for determining a position of an aircraft comprising the steps of:
- positioning a first antenna at a spaced baseline distance from a second antenna;
- receiving an aircraft signal at each of the first and second antennas;
- sending a first signal from the first antenna and a second signal from the second antenna to a processor, the first and second signals corresponding to the aircraft signal;
- determining a time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft using a sampled data set produced by time sampling the first signal from the first antenna and the second signal from the second antenna with a common time reference signal;
- and
- determining the position of the aircraft based upon the baseline distance between the second antenna and the first antenna, a range between the first antenna and the aircraft, and the time difference of arrival range between the second antenna and the aircraft.
A method of using a time difference of arrival processor to determine a position of an aircraft transmitting a signal comprising the steps of:
- determining a range (R1) between a second antenna and the aircraft by measuring a range (R2) between a first antenna and the aircraft and calculating a time difference of arrival between the signal from the aircraft received by the second antenna and the signal from the aircraft received by the first antenna using a common time reference signal, the time difference of arrival being adjusted for a time slippage correlation delay and speed of light;
- and
- determining the position of the aircraft based on a baseline distance (R3) between the first antenna and the second antenna, the range (R2) between the first antenna and the aircraft and the range (R1) between the second antenna and the aircraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.