EP2251850B1 - Device for determining the bearing of aircrafts - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for determining the position of vehicles having a plurality of transmitters, which are arranged for emitting signals and arranged on a vehicle whose position is to be determined.

To avoid collisions between two vehicles, it is important that in addition to known technical aids the driver as a human being is able to detect the location of another vehicle located in its vicinity, so as to be able to estimate whether the own vehicle with the other vehicle is on a collision course or who is liable to avoidance. Especially with vehicles that can be perceived only very vague because of their distance, it is often difficult to determine without further technical aids, in which position the vehicle is in the room.

In order to assist vehicle orientation by humans, vehicles, such as aircraft or watercraft, have lamps mounted on the fuselage which emit a corresponding red, green or white light signal. Depending on which color signal is visible, can then be closed to the location of the vehicle in the room. Thus, in the case of vessels on the starboard side (right) a green light and on the port side (left) a red light, so that can be determined depending on recognizable color, which side of the vessel faces the viewer, in this way can then the direction of travel is closed become.

For aircraft, each pilot must also actively observe the airspace. Although electronic methods are available for the early detection and treatment of collision risks, visual observation of the environment by the pilot must continue. This principle known as "sea and avoid" is currently also required by unmanned aerial vehicles in addition to electronic methods based on satellite navigation and radio communication.

From the US 3,706,968 is a signal light for aircraft known, which has a different color depending on the angle of view of the viewer, so that it can be determined by the viewer, which side is facing him, which can roughly estimate the direction of flight of the aircraft. Due to the circular arrangement of the color filters of both lamps and a staggered arrangement of the color filters, position angles <90 ° can also be determined by means of different color codes.

The US 5,337,047 discloses a device for aircraft, with which the aircraft type can be determined from far away. For this purpose, the device has a laser device which, depending on the type of aircraft (size, number of engines) emits a different number of light signals with different frequencies and thus encodes the corresponding properties of the aircraft.

From the US 3,846,746 A A system is known with which the height and direction of flight of another aircraft can be determined by the other aircraft coding its height and flight direction in a light pattern. This light pattern with the coded information is transmitted by the aircraft permanently and can be received and decoded by other aircraft. The distances between the individual light signals is the

Base of coding.

Furthermore, from the US 4,755,818 A a device known in which the aircraft have a lighting system that emit light in a 360 ° angle. The emission of the light takes place with the aid of a corresponding lens, which is fed with a laser light.

A disadvantage of the device known from the prior art is the fact that an automatic detection of the attitude based on the "sea and avoid" method is difficult, especially for distant flying objects.

Object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved device for determining the location of a distant vehicle.

The object is achieved with the invention of the type mentioned in the present invention that the transmitter for emitting a respective transmitter relevant individual signal pattern are arranged within a signal pattern sequence and the device comprises a provided for installation in other vehicles position determination unit which is adapted by means of a receiving unit for receiving the signal pattern, wherein the attitude determination unit for determining the position of the vehicle is formed in response to the signal pattern sequence containing signal pattern.

This makes it possible that the position of a vehicle can be determined even if the vehicle is located at a great distance from the viewer and the light signals emitted by the vehicle can only be perceived as a single light source. For this purpose, transmitters are arranged on the vehicle whose position is to be determined, which transmit a signal pattern that is unique to the transmitter within a signal pattern sequence. The signal pattern sequence results from the set of all signal patterns that can be transmitted by the transmitters; for example, only one transmitter transmits its individual signal pattern at a time, or is it, for example, that the transmitters transmit their individual signal pattern partially interleaved,

According to the invention, the device further comprises a position determination unit which can be installed in other vehicles which are to determine the position of the one vehicle. The position determination unit is connected to a receiver which can receive the signal pattern emitted by the transmitters and forwards it to the position determination unit. The position determination unit is set up in such a way that it can evaluate the received signals and determine which signal pattern was received within the signal pattern sequence. Due to the fact that each transmitter emits a unique, individual signal pattern, the attitude determination unit can now determine the position of the vehicle, in particular the relative position of the vehicle with respect to the viewer. For example, with aircraft it can be determined which octant of the vehicle faces the viewer.

This makes it possible that even with unmanned vehicles, especially in unmanned aerial vehicles, the "sea and avoid" principle can be applied, as required by human pilots.

The transmitters are advantageously arranged on the vehicle in such a way that at least one signal pattern of a transmitter can be received independently of the angle of the viewer, that is to say no matter in which position the vehicle is located, at least one signal pattern of a transmitter can always be received. This ensures that there are no receive gaps at certain viewing angles. In one embodiment, at least three signal patterns of three different transmitters can always be received, so that a much more accurate position determination can be carried out. It is obvious that the accuracy of the orientation is proportional to the number of receivable signal patterns and vice versa.

It is particularly advantageous if at least one transmitter is arranged at each end of a spatial axis X, Y and Z. This results in an advantageous arrangement of the transmitter with a transmission direction to the front and back, left and right and up and down. By a corresponding transmission angle of more than 45 °, starting from the solder, each transmitter more than one signal pattern within the signal pattern sequence can be received in certain situations, so that a much more detailed orientation of the vehicle is possible. By additional transmitter, each with individual signal patterns while the accuracy of the orientation can be further increased.

Preferably, the transmitters are light sources that are set up to emit light or infrared signals. The individual signal patterns of the respective transmitters are then emitted in the form of light patterns, which advantageously have a binary coding. Thus, the individual encoding of the transmitter is independent of a corresponding wavelength and thus not due to a color coding. A binary signal pattern of a transmitter can be the sequence of a pattern sequence of switched on and off light.

In order to be able to receive the light patterns emitted by the optical transmitters, the receiving unit has an optical transmitter which can be used for receiving and for

Recording the light signals is set up. Such a receiving unit may be, for example, a video camera, in particular a digital video camera. If one assumes a conventional industrial camera with a temporal resolution of about 50 images per second, then 20 bits per second can be safely transmitted. In this case, the sampling frequency is more than twice the bit rate emitted by the transmitters in the form of the light patterns.

In order to determine the exact chronological sequence of the individual signal patterns within the signal pattern sequence, each transmitter is advantageously assigned a corresponding time slot within the signal pattern sequence in which the respective transmitter can transmit its signal pattern. Within this time slot, only the transmitter is allowed to transmit its signal pattern, which is assigned to the time slot is. This ensures that there is no overlap when transmitting the signal pattern sequence by all participating stations, which can then no longer be adequately identified by the location determination unit. Thus, it is uniquely determined which transmitter is allowed to send out its signal pattern at which time, with only each one a transmitter is allowed to send its signal pattern at a time.

It is also conceivable that each signal pattern is divided into individual parts, which are then distributed within the signal pattern sequence, the transmitter does not send their signal pattern in one piece. Similar to the interleaving method in which the order of z. B. bits to be transmitted or information interchanged and interleaved, and the parts of the individual signal pattern sequence are distributed nested, so that a signal pattern of a particular station is not sent in one piece from the corresponding station. For example, one or more other parts of other transmitters and their corresponding signal pattern parts may be located between two parts of a signal pattern of a particular transmitter. This interleaving can ensure a correspondingly higher reliability during reception. The position determination unit can then recognize the parts of the received signal patterns as a function of the received patterns and assign them to the transmitters.

Thus, the beginning of the signal pattern sequence by the attitude determination unit can be detected, the device is preferably designed such that at least one transmitter at the beginning of the signal pattern sequence emits a start sequence signal pattern. By the simultaneous transmission of the start sequence signal pattern by all transmitters ensures that regardless of the position of the vehicle, the start sequence is always receivable and thus the beginning of the signal pattern sequence can be determined. The position determination unit is set up in such a way that it can recognize the start sequence signal pattern. Only after the start sequence signal pattern has been transmitted, the transmitters transmit their individual signal patterns within the signal pattern sequence.

Furthermore, it is particularly advantageous if, in addition to the signal patterns for position determination, the transmitters also emit signal patterns with which certain information about the vehicle can be transmitted. Such information can be, for example, the transponder code, the direction of travel, the speed, the altitude and the descent. / Climb rate of the vehicle. Preferably, these information signal patterns are transmitted by each transmitter at the end of the signal pattern sequence, so that here again, regardless of the position of the vehicle, the information signal pattern can be received. In this case, the position determination unit is set up in such a way that it extracts the corresponding information from the received signal patterns of the signal pattern sequence.

In order to increase the transmission reliability, it is particularly advantageous if, in addition to the signal patterns, corresponding check, parity and / or correction information are sent, with the aid of which the position determination unit can then check the integrity of the received signal patterns. For example, it can be determined whether certain signal patterns were not fully received by the receiving unit due to weather conditions. With the help of corresponding correction information within the signal pattern sequence, even smaller bit errors can then be corrected.

Furthermore, it is particularly advantageous if the device is set up for the automatic determination of an avoidance duty or risk of collision as a function of the position of the vehicle determined by the position determination unit. Thus, can in the vehicles in which the attitude determination unit is installed, it is ascertained with the aid of the device according to the invention how great a risk of collision with the faraway vehicle whose position is to be determined is and can optionally select or initiate a suitable avoidance maneuver. Such collision detection can then further support the "See and Avoid" principle.

In manned vehicles, it may be particularly advantageous if the attitude determination unit is connected to a display device on which the spatial position of the vehicle determined by the attitude determination unit can be displayed. Thus, the spatial position of the vehicle can be intuitively displayed to the appropriate driver, even if the vehicle is located at a distance with which a purely visual recognition of the spatial position is no longer possible.

The invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figur 1

- schematische Darstellung der Vorrichtung;

Figur 2a, 2b

- schematische Darstellung der Senderanordnung an einem Flugzeug;

Figur 3

- Ausführungsbeispiel eines Signalmustercodes;

Figur 4

- Ausführungsbeispiel eines Signalmustercodes mit Paritätbits;

Figur 5a, 5b

- Ausführungsbeispiel einer empfangenen Signalmustersequenz;

Figur 6

- Ausführungsbeispiel einer interleaving Signalmustersequenz

Show it:

FIG. 1

- Schematic representation of the device;

Figure 2a, 2b

schematic representation of the transmitter arrangement on an aircraft;

FIG. 3

Embodiment of a signal pattern code;

FIG. 4

Embodiment of a signal pattern code with parity bits;

Figure 5a, 5b

Embodiment of a received signal pattern sequence;

FIG. 6

Embodiment of an interleaving signal pattern sequence

FIG. 1 schematically shows the device 1 of the present invention. On an aircraft 2, whose position in space is to be determined with the aid of the device 1, a plurality of transmitters 3 are arranged, which emit a signal pattern that is individual for the respective transmitter 3. In this embodiment, the transmitters 3 are arranged to emit a corresponding non-color-coded light pattern according to their arrangement on the fuselage,

In a further aircraft 4, which is to determine the position of the aircraft 2, a position determination unit 5 is installed, which is connected to a corresponding receiver 6. In this exemplary embodiment, the receiver 6 is set up to receive the light patterns emitted by the transmitters 3. Such a receiver 6 can be, for example, a video camera with a usual temporal resolution of approximately 50 frames per second.

The optical receiver 6 of the device 1 now receives the light patterns emitted by the transmitters 3 and forwards them to the position determination unit 5, which then determines the relative position of the aircraft 2 as a function of the received light pattern within the signal pattern sequence.

FIGS. 2a and 2b schematically show once again a preferred arrangement of the transmitter 3, wherein at least at each end of a spatial axis, such a transmitter is arranged. FIG. 2a shows a side view of the aircraft 2. At the bow of the aircraft 2, a transmitter 31 is arranged, which emits its light pattern in the direction of flight. At the rear of the aircraft is a transmitter 32, which emits its light pattern against the direction of flight. At the top, a corresponding light pattern with the aid of the transmitter 33 and downwards a corresponding light pattern with the transmitter 34 is emitted. All transmitters transmit with an opening angle of min. 160 °.

Because of the wide opening angle of the transmitter is the receivable signal pattern (E _31,33) overlap in certain areas, so that both the signal pattern of the transmitter 31 and the signal pattern of the transmitter 33 can be received at this point. Thus, the location of the vehicle can be determined much more accurately. In the airspace even three or more signal patterns can be received simultaneously.

FIG. 2b shows a plan view of the aircraft 2, the location of which is to be determined in space, Here, a further transmitter 35 is arranged on the left wing, which emits a corresponding light pattern to the left. On the right wing a transmitter 36 is arranged, which also emits a corresponding light pattern to the right.

To increase the accuracy of the orientation of the aircraft 2, located in this embodiment in the front region of the aircraft left and right two transmitters 37 and 38, which also emit a corresponding coded light signal, the beam angle of the two transmitters 37 and 38 is such chosen to intersect with the beam angle of the front transmitter 31 as well as with the side transmitters 35 and 36 in a certain area. If a corresponding light pattern of the transmitters 37 or 38 is received, then either the forwardly emitted light pattern of the transmitter 31 or one of the light patterns of the lateral transmitters 35 or 36 can be received, so that a much more accurate orientation of the aircraft 2 is possible.

FIG. 3 shows by way of example the schematic representation of a signal pattern sequence S, as they of an arrangement of the transmitter in FIG. 2a or 2b is sent out. The individual signal patterns are binary coded light patterns, one bit being represented by the states light on (1) or light off (0).

At the beginning of the signal pattern sequence S, a start sequence X is first sent out simultaneously by all transmitters, so that the position determination unit 5 can determine the beginning of the signal pattern sequence S. The start sequence X consists of a 6-bit code, wherein the first three bits have the state 1 (light on) and the last three bits the state 0 (light off).

Following this, the first individual light pattern F is emitted exclusively by the forwardly directed transmitter 31, which is coded in this embodiment with binary 101. If the light pattern F of the transmitter 31 has been transmitted, in this exemplary embodiment, the downwardly pointing transmitter 34 next transmits its corresponding signal pattern D, which in this example is encoded with binary 010. This is followed by the left transmitter 35 with its signal pattern L (binary 100), followed by the rear-facing transmitter 32 with the signal pattern B (binary 110). Towards the end of the signal pattern sequence S, the upwardly directed transmitter 33 then transmits its signal pattern U with binary 001 and finally the right transmitter 36 its signal pattern R (binary 011).

If all transmitters have transmitted their corresponding signal pattern from the signal pattern sequence S in succession, the signal pattern sequence starts again with the start sequence X, possibly with a short break in between.

However, after the last individual signal pattern R of the transmitter 36, further light patterns can advantageously follow, which are transmitted simultaneously by all transmitters and contain corresponding information I coded in binary form via the aircraft 2. Thus, among other things, the transponder code, the direction of flight, the speed and the sink and climb rate of the aircraft 2 at the end of the signal pattern sequence S transmitted.

FIG. 4 indicates based on the signal pattern sequence S FIG. 3 a signal pattern sequence S1, which in addition to the individual in FIG. 3 described light pattern has a parity bit P for each light pattern. In this case, by way of example, each light pattern of the transmitters 31 to 38, which are binary-coded by three bits, is extended by a further parity bit, so that now each individual light pattern is represented by four bits. Such a parity bit P in the simplest form indicates how many even or odd bits are contained in the corresponding message, so that a integrity check can be carried out by the position determination unit 5 with the least possible effort. This integrity check is therefore particularly advantageous so that faulty transmissions or short-term occlusion or other disturbances can be detected in good time and thus does not lead to incorrect calculations of the situation.

The individual high levels of a single signal light can be distributed in the code so that, for example, sufficient time is available for charging an energy store for a lightning discharge. Should this time be insufficient for an attitude transmission of, for example, 0.5 Hz (every 2 seconds), several lamps can each be accommodated in one coded light.

Lower powers can be used to transmit the additional information I.

Between each two signal pattern sequences, a pause of, for example, one second can be maintained.

The code described here by way of example contains enough redundancy to detect simple mis-transmissions. However, it is also possible to use codes which not only detect any incorrect transmission of individual bits, but can also correct them.

FIGS. 5a and 5b show by way of example a received signal code.

In FIG. 5a In this case, in addition to the start sequence X, the signal patterns F, L and U are received, wherein the signal pattern F is transmitted by the transmitter 31, the signal pattern U by the transmitter 33 and the signal pattern L by the transmitter 35. The other signal patterns within the signal pattern sequence S are not receivable, so that a binary 000 is determined by the position determination unit in these areas.

On the basis of the received signal patterns, it can now be determined which transmitters are facing the viewer, in this case the aircraft 4, so that ultimately the position of the aircraft 2 in space can be concluded.

FIG. 5b shows a code sequence in which the signal patterns D, B and R were received. In this case, each signal pattern or light pattern has its own position within the signal pattern sequence, which is output sequentially distributed over all transmitters,

Another embodiment of how the signal pattern frequency S may be constructed is in FIG FIG. 6 shown. In this case, the individual parts of a single signal pattern of a transmitter are distributed over the signal pattern sequence, in which case only one part of a signal pattern can also be located at one point within the signal pattern sequence. As an example, in FIG. 6 the signal pattern sequence S shown above, as it would be received, if one could receive all signal patterns of the transmitter.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6 however, only the transmitters D, B and F are receivable, which is shown below the signal pattern sequence S. In this case, the individual parts of a signal pattern of a corresponding transmitter spread over the entire signal pattern sequence, so that similar to interleaving a complete signal pattern of a transmitter is not transmitted in its entire sequence. Thus, between the individual parts, which are hatched here, other parts of other transmitters and signal patterns lie, which then, as in the lower part of the FIG. 6 shown, can be received. There will be a total of five parts receive (E _{D, B, F} ), so that it can be found, for example, by means of a simple AND link with the stored signal patterns of each transmitter, which signal patterns were received which transmitter.

Of course, in this embodiment as well, it is of course conceivable that the transmitters emit a uniform start pattern at the beginning of each signal pattern sequence and, if appropriate, transmit information at the end of the signal pattern sequence. In this embodiment, the coding also takes place on the basis of the time at which the parts of the signal pattern are transmitted within the signal pattern sequence.

Claims (16)

1. Apparatus (1) for determining the orientation of vehicles (2) having a plurality of transmitters (31 to 38) which are designed to emit signals and are arranged on a vehicle (2) whose orientation is intended to be determined, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit an individual signal pattern, relating to the respective transmitter (31 to 38), within a signal pattern sequence (S), and the apparatus 1 has an orientation determining unit (5), which is intended to be installed in other vehicles (4) and is designed to receive the signal patterns by means of a receiving unit (6), with the orientation determining unit (5) being designed to determine the orientation of the vehicle (2) as a function of the signal patterns contained in the signal pattern sequence (S).
2. Apparatus (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are arranged on the vehicle (2) such that at least one signal pattern within the signal pattern sequence (S) can be received independently of the orientation of the vehicle (2) in space.
3. Apparatus (1) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit the signal patterns by means of electromagnetic signals, in particular light signals or infrared signals.
4. Apparatus (1) according to Claim 3, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit a light pattern as a signal pattern, in particular a binary light pattern.
5. Apparatus (1) according to Claim 4, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit a binary light pattern such that each binary light pattern has an individual binary coding relating to the respective transmitter (31 to 38).
6. Apparatus (1) according to one of Claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the receiving unit (6) is an optical sensor, in particular a video camera for receiving optical signals.
7. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one transmitter (31 to 38) is arranged at each end of a spatial axis (X, Y, Z) of the vehicle.
8. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit the signal patterns at an angle of at least 45° from the vertical.
9. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each transmitter (31 to 38) is designed to emit the respective signal pattern in a time slot, which is assigned to the respective transmitter (31 to 38), within the signal pattern sequence (S).
10. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each transmitter (31 to 38) is designed to emit the respective signal pattern such that parts of the respective signal pattern are interleaved with one another within the signal pattern sequence (S).
11. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit a start sequence signal pattern (X) at the start of the signal pattern sequence (S), and the orientation determining unit (5) is designed to identify the start sequence signal pattern (X) as the start of the signal pattern sequence (S).
12. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the transmitters (31 to 38) is designed to emit an information signal pattern (I), which contains information relating to the vehicle (2), within the signal pattern sequence (S), and the orientation determining unit (5) is designed to extract the information from the received information signal pattern (I).
13. Apparatus (1) according to Claim 12, characterized in that the information signal pattern (I) contains information relating to the transponder code, the direction of travel, the speed, the altitude and/or the rate of climb/descent of the vehicle (2).
14. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmitters (31 to 38) are designed to emit test, parity and/or correction information within the signal patterns, and the orientation determining unit is designed to monitor the integrity of the received signal patterns as a function of the test, parity and/or correction information.
15. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the apparatus (1) is designed to determine a risk of collision as a function of the determined orientation of the vehicle (2).
16. Apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the orientation determining unit (5) is connected to a display apparatus for displaying the orientation of the vehicle (2), in particular the relative orientation with respect to the other vehicle (4).

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