Apparatus for aiding a pilot in avoiding a midair collision between aircraft

Abstract

Verbatim from NASA NTRS. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

An apparatus for aiding a pilot in avoiding a midair collision between aircraft is described. A protected aircraft carries a transmitter, a transponder, a receiver, and a data processor; and an intruding cooperating aircraft carries a transponder. The transmitter of the protected aircraft continuously transmits a signal to the transponders of all intruding aircraft. The transponder of each of the intruding aircraft adds the altitude of the intruding aircraft to the signal and transmits it back to the receiver of the protected aircraft. The receiver selects only the signal from the most hazardous intruding aircraft and applies it to the data processor. From this selected signal the data processor determines the closing velocity between the protected and intruding aircraft, the range between the two aircraft, their altitude difference and the time to a possible collision.

Authors

• Schrader, J. H. NASA Langley Research Center
• Couch, R. H. NASA Langley Research Center