Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080211709 | DEPLOYABLE PASSIVE BROADBAND AIRCRAFT TRACKING - In a first, preferred embodiment of the present invention, integrated tracking is provided using passive broadband. The invention takes the system for deployable passive broadband detection and extends it by incorporating the capability to decode position for ADS-B, SSR multilateration, and broadband multilateration. In a second embodiment, validation of a self-reported position is provided. The invention takes the system for deployable passive broadband detection and extends it by incorporating the capability to decode self-reported position for ADS-B, and compare it to line of calculated position, or line of precision, derived from multilateration techniques applied to various signals received from the aircraft. In a third embodiment, validation of a self-reported ADS-B position using independent surveillance is provided by the system. | 09-04-2008 |
20090009395 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO IMPROVE ADS-B SECURITY - Security of ADS-B transmissions is improved in a first embodiment to detect position spoofing. The annunciated position source may then be compared with the derived source and a determination is made regarding the difference between the results. Any position difference greater than an amount significantly greater than the combination of the error sources is then a cause for concern and can be used to generate an alert. In a second embodiment, alerting may be based on identification spoofing. From these sources a correlated ID is available which will have an associated confidence based on the number of sources and the level of agreement on the information. Aircraft dynamics may be correlated with the announced ID for consistency. A priori information on the aircraft and location, such as schedule information, and normal operations, may be used to assist in the confidence of aircraft identity. In a third embodiment, alerting may be based on spoofing of identity and position. | 01-08-2009 |
20090140925 | Multilateration Enhancements for Noise and Operations Management - Multilateration techniques are used to provide accurate aircraft tracking data for aircraft on the ground and in the vicinity of an airport. From this data, aircraft noise and operations management may be enhanced. Aircraft noise may be calculated virtually using track data in real-time and provided to a user to determine noise violations. Tracking data may be used to control noise monitoring stations to gate out ambient noise. Aircraft emissions, both on the ground and in the air may be determined using tracking data. This and other data may be displayed in real time or generated in reports, and/or may be displayed on a website for viewing by airport operators and/or members of the public. The system may be readily installed in a compact package using a plurality of receivers and sensor packages located at shared wireless communication towers near an airport, and a central processing station located in or near the airport. | 06-04-2009 |
20090157480 | INTELLIGENT BROADCAST TECHNIQUES TO OPTIMIZE WIRELESS DEVICE BANDWIDTH USAGE - A system and technique is described to enhance the use of limited bandwidth by intelligent broadcast, which would allow many more users to access content that was broadcast or downloaded by another user or group of users. While many users may download content that is specific to them, e.g., a flight itinerary, other users download the exact same content, e.g., a song or a movie, so the net result is that a significant portion of finite bandwidth is used repeatedly to download the same content. Furthermore, users, based on the type of user, or profiled users, will download the same content in the same general time period, for example, the release of a popular new album, movie or video. Content providers and wireless providers, who may be the same or different entities, may then share in the benefits of this approach, e.g., the savings in bandwidth usage and the improved distribution to the end user. | 06-18-2009 |
20090174540 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO DETERMINE VEHICLE INTENT - The present invention relates to the field of smart cars and automatic signaling of a vehicle's intent. The invention allows a driver to choose between manual or automatic signaling (turns, deceleration, acceleration) and a prominent feature is that the system is not cooperative and can be phased in over time, one car at a time and offer immediate benefits. Much of the prior art relating to newer automotive technologies relies on the use of cooperative technologies, such as transponders or beacons and the like, requiring all cars to equip in order to gain benefits. While this is technically achievable it is an institutional limitation, and therefore systems that do not rely on this extent of cooperation are more practical and can be introduced sooner. The invention has the capability of ensuring that many more cars on the road provide proper turn signals as well as acceleration and deceleration signals. This display of intent will lead to increased situational awareness for all drivers and will improve efficiencies on the roads leading to less congestion. Today, the car ahead may simply slow down leaving a following or approaching driver to wait and guess what is happening. With this invention the car ahead will declare its intentions in advance. The invention also allows for the broadcasting of the vehicles intentions over commercially available data links. | 07-09-2009 |
20090174572 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AN ADAPTIVE TARGET VEHICLE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM - Methods and apparatus are described to improve emergency vehicle deployment by automatically alerting all other nearby vehicles on the road as to the presence and intention of the emergency vehicle. Since the use of audible sirens has somewhat marked effectiveness, in selecting the most practical automated method to notify most drivers a review is given of the various data-links that are available today, including plans for new standards. The invention focuses on the ubiquitous cellular telephone and methods are described to relay an emergency vehicle's siren through the device to help clear the road ahead for the emergency services vehicle. Furthermore, the method uses techniques to determine which cell users are in the path of the vehicle and targets only those cell devices to relay the siren. The relaying is virtual as it may use siren or similar ring-tones that respond to the emergency notification to the user's cell phone number. The invention makes use of calls, broadcasts, SMS messaging, text messaging, Push to Talk (PTT), e mails, and other means of cell phone communication. | 07-09-2009 |
20090174573 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO IMPROVE VEHICLE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AT INTERSECTIONS - The present invention includes a number of embodiments for improving vehicle situational awareness at intersections. A first embodiment may comprise a lens fitted at the top of the windshield or outside the vehicle, for refracting the light to the driver, so the driver may more easily see signals, signage and other features of an intersection, as well as other traffic. A second embodiment of the invention is used as an aid to prompt the driver that a light has changed. In a third embodiment, the light change sensor may be combined with other vehicle status information. As the car comes to a stop, the route guidance system may determine if the vehicle is at or in the vicinity of an intersection. Depending on the route guidance database, the system may also know whether or not there are traffic lights at the intersection. Using the vehicle's on board forward-looking radar sensor, the system may then determine if it is first in line at the intersection. In a fourth embodiment the system may be part of a portable after-market routing device. In a fifth embodiment the system, either portable or fixed, may be used to detect changes in the intensity of the brake lights of the vehicle ahead. | 07-09-2009 |
20100079342 | MULTILATERATION ENHANCEMENTS FOR NOISE AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT - Multilateration techniques are used to provide accurate aircraft tracking data for aircraft on the ground and in the vicinity of an airport. From this data, aircraft noise and operations management may be enhanced. Aircraft noise may be calculated virtually using track data in real-time and provided to a user to determine noise violations. Tracking data may be used to control noise monitoring stations to gate out ambient noise. Aircraft emissions, both on the ground and in the air may be determined using tracking data. This and other data may be displayed in real time or generated in reports, and/or may be displayed on a website for viewing by airport operators and/or members of the public. The system may be readily installed in a compact package using a plurality of receivers and sensor packages located at shared wireless communication towers near an airport, and a central processing station located in or near the airport. | 04-01-2010 |
20100149019 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADS-B VALIDATION, ACTIVE AND PASSIVE MULTILATERATION, AND ELLIPTICAL SURVEILLANCE - A system and method are disclosed to track aircraft or other vehicles using techniques including multilateration and elliptical surveillance. Unlike conventional approaches that use time difference of arrival for multilateration at a fixed set of reception points, this technique allows targets to be tracked from a number of dynamic or moving reception points. This allows for triangulation/multilateration and elliptical surveillance of targets from combinations of fixed, fixed and moving or only moving ground-based receivers, sea-based receivers, airborne receivers and space-based receivers. Additionally this technique allows for ADS-B validation through data derived from only two receivers to assess the validity and integrity of the aircraft self-reported position by comparing the time of arrival of the emitted message at the second receiver to the predicted time of message arrival at the second receiver based on the self-reported position of the aircraft and the time of arrival at the first receiver. The benefits of using less than three receivers for validation include greater validation coverage areas using a smaller set of ground stations at a lower infrastructure cost. | 06-17-2010 |
20100198490 | EXTENSION OF AIRCRAFT TRACKING AND POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION FROM MOVEMENT AREAS INTO NON-MOVEMENT AREAS - At most airports, responsibility of air traffic control starts and stops at the entrance or exit to the runway movement areas, which are taxiways and runways. In the non-movement areas, such as hangers, ramps, and aprons, aircraft movements and separation are no longer the responsibility of air traffic control, but is the responsibility of other parties such as the airport itself, airlines, or other parties. The use of tracking technologies for air traffic control is therefore focused on the movement areas, not the non-movement areas, where there are limitations in aircraft tracking. Furthermore, many of the aircraft transmitting devices are switched off in non-movement areas exacerbating tracking problems in these areas. The present invention includes several methods including broadband multilateration, to extend aircraft tracking from the movement areas into non-movement areas without the need to extend special air traffic control equipment into those areas. | 08-05-2010 |
20110196758 | INTELLIGENT BROADCAST TECHNIQUES TO OPTIMIZE WIRELESS DEVICE BANDWIDTH USAGE - A system and technique is described to enhance the use of limited bandwidth by intelligent broadcast, which would allow many more users to access content that was broadcast or downloaded by another user or group of users. While many users may download content that is specific to them, e.g., a flight itinerary, other users download the exact same content, e.g., a song or a movie, so the net result is that a significant portion of finite bandwidth is used repeatedly to download the same content. Furthermore, users, based on the type of user, or profiled users, will download the same content in the same general time period, for example, the release of a popular new album, movie or video. Content providers and wireless providers, who may be the same or different entities, may then share in the benefits of this approach, e.g., the savings in bandwidth usage and the improved distribution to the end user. | 08-11-2011 |
20120139789 | TRANSMITTER INDEPENDENT TECHNIQUES TO EXTEND THE PERFORMANCE OF PASSIVE COHERENT LOCATION - Methods to improve the performance of passive coherent location by non-reliance on a direct view of the signal source are described. Passive Coherent Location, or PCL, has become a promising technology as more computer-processing power has become generally available. Basically, most PCL techniques rely on comparing signal sources with their reflections from an object in order to determine the location of the object. However, this requires line of sight access from the receiver system to the signal source which may not always be practical and may limit the performance of the system overall. The techniques described herein do not require line of sight to the transmitter sources. | 06-07-2012 |
20130093625 | Deployable intelligence and tracking system for homeland security and search and rescue - This invention builds on previous industry techniques to correlate data from a variety of sources for the purposes of tracking and identifying aircraft, vehicles, and marine vessels in real time over a variety of different areas including oceans and mountainous terrain. Passive broadband tracking of aircraft emitters, and electronic fingerprinting of emitters, correlated with audio, video, infrared, primary radar and other information is employed to provide a comprehensive assessment of an aircraft's position, track and identification for a variety of applications including homeland security and search and rescue. | 04-18-2013 |