Systems and methods for providing improved TCAS bearing measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8965680-B2
Application number	US-201113985189-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2011
Priority date	Feb 25, 2011
Publication date	Feb 24, 2015
Grant date	Feb 24, 2015

Abstract

Systems and methods for improving bearing accuracy in a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) environment. An interrogation signal is transmitted from an array of antenna elements. A response to the transmitted interrogation signal from a target is received at a first pair of elements of the array. The first pair of elements is separated by at most ½λ of the response signal. A processor determines coarse bearing of the received response. A second pair of elements of the array of antenna elements receives a response to the interrogation signal. The second pair of elements is separated by approximately Nλ of the response signal. N is an integer not equal to zero. A first bearing value to the target is determined based on the determined coarse bearing and the received response at the second pair of elements. The array is mounted on an aircraft or on a ground installation.

First claim

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A method for determining bearing in a traffic collision avoidance system, the method comprising:
transmitting a first interrogation signal from at least a portion of an array of antenna elements;
receiving, by at least a first pair of elements of the array of antenna elements, a first response to the transmitted first interrogation signal from a target, the at least…

Assignees

• Wang Guoqing
• Xuan Jianqiang
• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Wang Guoqing
• Xuan Jianqiang

Classifications

• H01Q21/20

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01Q3/267

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01Q21/293

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01Q1/28 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01S13/74

  Physics · mapped topic