Systems and methods for providing an ATC overlay data link
AssigneeAviation Communication & Surveillance Systems LLC
InventorGregory T. Stayton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention disclose systems and methods for providing an ATC Overlay data link. Through embodiments of the present invention, existing ATC (or other) modulated signals using existing standard frequencies may be utilized to transmit (e.g., from an aircraft transponder) additional information in a manner that does not render the transmitted signal unrecognizable by legacy ATC equipment. Legacy equipment will be able to demodulate and decode information that was encoded in the transmitted signal in accordance with preexisting standard modulation formats, and updated equipment can also extract the additional information that was overlaid on transmitted signals.
Claims23
A method for encoding an overlaid message onto a provided modulated air traffic control (ATC) signal, the method comprising:
- modulating respective pulse bits of the provided modulated ATC signal with an overlay message using D8PSK modulation, each respective phase change of the D8PSK modulation encoding three bits of the overlay message within each respective pulse bit of the provided ATC signal, wherein the ATC signal is independently demodulatable from the overlay message.
A method for decoding an overlaid message from an overlay modulated signal, the method comprising:
- demodulating the overlay modulated signal with a first modulation protocol to produce a first message;
- demodulating the overlay modulated signal with D8PSK modulation to produce an overlay message comprising three bits of data for each bit of the first message;
- and
- wherein:
- the first message and the overlay message is independently demodulatable from the overlay modulated signal;
- and
- the overlay modulated signal comprises an air traffic control (ATC) signal modulated with pulse position modulation protocol and further modulated with a D8PSK modulation protocol.
An air traffic control (ATC) overlay data link system comprising:
- a first modulator, the first modulator configured to modulate ATC data into a first modulated signal through a first modulation protocol comprising pulse position modulation protocol;
- a second modulator coupled to the first modulator, the second modulator configured to modulate an overlay message into respective pulse bits of the first modulated signal using D8PSK modulation to produce an overlay modulated signal;
- a transponder comprising a transmitter and an antenna wherein the transponder is coupled to the second modulator and the transponder is configured to transmit the overlay modulated signal;
- and
- a receiver coupled to an antenna, a first demodulator and a second demodulator, wherein:
- the first demodulator is configured to extract the ATC data by demodulating the overlay modulated signal with the first modulation protocol;
- the second demodulator is configured to extract the overlaid message from an overlay modulated signal wherein each respective phase change of the D8PSK modulation represents three bits of the overlay message encoded within each respective pulse bit of the first modulated signal;
- the ATC data and the overlay message is independently demodulatable from the overlay modulated signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.