Mobile multilateration systems and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016309291-A1
Application number	US-201615098118-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 13, 2016
Priority date	Apr 20, 2015
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Mobile multilateration systems and related methods are disclosed. An example method includes accessing multilateration data relating to a first aircraft using a time-difference-of-arrival determiner of a second aircraft; processing the multilateration data at the second aircraft to determine a calculated position of the first aircraft; comparing the calculated position of the first aircraft to an asserted position of the first aircraft stored at the second aircraft; and in response to the comparison, determining if the calculated position and the asserted position are within a threshold of one another using the time-difference-of-arrival determiner of the second aircraft to determine an authenticity of the first aircraft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
accessing multilateration data relating to a first aircraft using a time-difference-of-arrival determiner of a second aircraft; processing the multilateration data at the second aircraft to determine a calculated position of the first aircraft; comparing the calculated position of the first aircraft to an asserted position of the first aircraft stored at the second aircraft; and in response to the comparison, determining if the calculated position and the asserted position are within a threshold of one another using the time-difference-of-arrival determiner of the second aircraft to determine an authenticity of the first aircraft.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further including, prior to accessing the multilateration data, determining at the second aircraft if a quantity of the multilateration data satisfies a threshold.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further including, in response to the quantity of the multilateration data not satisfying the threshold, transmitting a multilateration data request from the second aircraft to aircraft within a range of the second aircraft, where the range includes the first aircraft.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the multilateration data request is a first multilateration data request, and prior to transmitting the first multilateration data request, waiting for a time period to deter the first multilateration data request from interfering with a second multilateration data request.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the multilateration data includes first multilateration data, and further including receiving a response from a third aircraft including second multilateration data.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the first and second multilateration data correspond to a time window.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the processing of the multilateration data at the second aircraft includes processing the first and second multilateration data to determine the calculated position of the first aircraft.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multilateration data includes first multilateration data, and further including:
receiving transmitted data from the first aircraft at the second aircraft, the transmitted data including an aircraft identification and positional information; and time stamping the transmitted data at the second aircraft to form second multilateration data.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the processing of the multilateration data at the second aircraft includes processing the first and second multilateration data to determine the calculated position of the first aircraft.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further including identifying the first aircraft as being authenticate in response to determining that the calculated position is within the threshold of the asserted position.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further including identifying the first aircraft as not being authenticate in response to determining that the calculated position is outside of the threshold of the asserted position.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further including receiving a multilateration data request at the second aircraft from the first aircraft, and transmitting the multilateration data in response to the multilateration data request.

13 . An apparatus, comprising:
a database of a first aircraft storing multilateration data, the multilateration data associated with a second aircraft; a processor to access the multilateration data, the processor to:
process the multilateration data using a time-difference-of-arrival determiner of the processor to determine a calculated position of the second aircraft;
compare the calculated position of the second aircraft to an asserted position of the second aircraft; and
in response to the comparison, determine if the calculated position is within a threshold of the asserted position to determine an authenticity of the second aircraft.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is to determine if a quantity of the multilateration data satisfies a threshold to determine the authenticity of the second aircraft.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , further including a requester to transmit a multilateration data request from the first aircraft to aircraft within a range of the first aircraft in response to the quantity of the multilateration data not satisfying the threshold.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the multilateration data request is a first multilateration data request, and further including a random request delayer to delay the transmission of the multilateration data request for a time period to deter the first multilateration data request from interfering with a second multilateration data request.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the multilateration data includes first multilateration data, further including a receiver to receive a response from a third aircraft including second multilateration data.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the processor is to process the first multilateration data and the second multilateration data using the time-difference-of-arrival determiner to determine the calculated position of the second aircraft.

19 . An article of manufacture comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:
access multilateration data relating to a first aircraft at a second aircraft; process the multilateration data at the second aircraft to determine a calculated position of the first aircraft; compare the calculated position of the first aircraft to an asserted position of the first aircraft stored at the second aircraft; and in response to the comparison, determine if the calculated position and the asserted position are within a threshold of one another to determine an authenticity of the first aircraft.

20 . A method, comprising:
receiving a message from a first aircraft at a second aircraft, the message including an aircraft identification of the first aircraft and an asserted position of the first aircraft; time stamping the message to form first multilateration data associated with the first aircraft; storing the first multilateration data in a database at the second aircraft; receiving second multilateration data from a third aircraft in response to transmitting a multilateration data request; storing the second multilateration data in the database at the second aircraft; associating the first multilateration data and the second multilateration data in response to the first and second multilateration data being associated with a time period and the first aircraft; determining a calculated position of the first aircraft at the second aircraft based on the first multilateration data and the second multilateration data; and identifying the first aircraft as not being authenticate in response to the asserted position and the calculated position being outside of a threshold.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• RODRIGUEZ MONTEJANO Rosa Maria
• Taboso Ballesteros Pedro
• Perez Villar Victor
• Cano Serrano Florencio
• COSTAS David
• Garcia Javier

Classifications

• G01S2205/03

  Airborne · CPC title

• G08G5/25

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft · CPC title

• H04B7/18506

  Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W4/021 Primary

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title