DE102016110691A1 - Apparatus and method for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface - Google Patents

Abstract

A device (10) for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft (1-4) located on an airport area (21) is proposed. The device (10) comprises a first sensor device (11) for providing a respective current position information on the airport area (21) for each of the plurality of aircraft (1-4) by means of tracking, a second sensor device (12 ) for determining identification information (I1-I4) of the respective aircraft (1-4) on the airport area (21), and a linking unit (13), which is adapted to the determined identification information (I1-I4 ) of the respective aircraft (1-4) with the provided position information (P1-P4) of the respective aircraft (1-4) for providing aircraft-specific position data (PD1-PD4) to link.

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface.

In particular, in the environment of larger airports, it is of enormous importance for the pilots to be able to precisely determine and track the position of an aircraft at the airport area, such as on the apron, at any time.

There are various conventional systems on the market to perform the positioning of aircraft, especially on airport areas, such as the apron or taxiways. These conventional systems include, for example, ground radar, MLAT (Multilateration), ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) and electro-optical methods. Such an electro-optical method is for example in the document US 8,942,425 B2 described.

The known methods are associated with specific disadvantages, for example, the ground radar suffers from multipathing effects and unwanted ground echoes. The methods MLAT and ADS-B are both cooperative methods which are not applicable to all aircraft, since feedback from the aircraft is required in each case. The known electro-optical methods are very susceptible to errors and above all they lack the ability to reliably and uniquely identify an aircraft. In the electro-optical method, the aircraft are usually treated only as abstract, moving objects.

Against this background, an object of the present invention is to improve the determination of a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface.

Accordingly, an apparatus for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface is proposed. The apparatus comprises a first sensor device for providing a respective current position information on the airport area for each of the plurality of aircraft by means of tracking, a second sensor device for determining an identification information of the respective aircraft on the airport area and a linkage A unit which is adapted to link the determined identification information of the respective aircraft with the provided position information of the respective aircraft for the provision of aircraft-specific position data.

The position information uniquely indicates a position of the aircraft on the airport area. The aircraft in the respective position is uniquely identified by the identification information. The identification information comprises in particular the aviation identifier of the aircraft. The aviation identifier can also be referred to as a tail number.

The identification information and the position information associated with the identification information thus form the aircraft-specific position data for the respective aircraft on the airport area.

The following example may illustrate the functionality of the present device: First, the airport area to be observed is observed with the first sensor device. Due to this observation of the entire airport area, the first sensor device can also be referred to as a panoramic sensor device. The first sensor device may comprise a number of panoramic sensors or panoramic cameras. The first sensor device may also comprise only a single panoramic sensor for providing respective current partial position information, the first sensor device receiving further partial position information for determining the position information from an external source. Examples of the external source include MLAT, ADS-B, ground radar and also the second sensor device.

The first sensor device provides a respective current position information for each aircraft located on the airport area and can track this in particular on the airport area, for example by means of optical flow as a tracking. Very advantageously, this tracking can be performed by a feature-based object recognition and supplemented with a link with a-priori knowledge in order to increase the uniqueness of recognition and tracking and in particular to facilitate recognition.

Since it is not uncommon for many identical objects, for example many Airbus 320, to operate at an airport, the use of the second sensor device is advantageous. The second sensor device determines an identification information for the respective aircraft on the airport area. The position of the respective aircraft is already detected by the first sensor device. In other words, each aircraft detected by the first sensor device is identified on the airport area by the second sensor device Identification verified. Consequently, the second sensor device may also be referred to as a verification sensor. For this purpose, the verification sensor comprises, for example, a swiveling camera with telezoom optics.

As already stated above, the parameter used for the identification information in particular is the aviation tag (tail number). Other criteria or parameters for the identification information may include the size of the aircraft, the shape of the aircraft, the speed of the aircraft, and the pattern of movement of the aircraft on the airport surface.

The aircraft is for example an aircraft, a drone or a helicopter. The airport area includes, for example, the apron, at least one runway and / or at least one taxiway of the airport.

According to one embodiment, the second sensor device has a camera for recording images of the respective aircraft on the airport surface and a determination unit for determining the identification information of the aircraft from the recorded images.

According to a further embodiment, the respective identification information is unique to the respective aircraft. In particular, the mapping between the aircraft and its identification information is unambiguous.

According to a further embodiment, the identification information comprises an aviation identifier of the aircraft.

According to a further embodiment, the determination unit is configured to determine the aviation identifier from the recorded images by means of an optical text recognition. An example of optical character recognition is OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

According to a further embodiment, the camera of the second sensor device is designed as a pivotable camera with a telephoto lens.

The swiveling camera can be aligned to the respective aircraft. If the camera is aligned with an aircraft to be identified, the telephoto lens can be used to zoom in on this aircraft, for example to read the aviation flag.

According to a further embodiment, the first sensor device has a camera for taking pictures of the airport area and a tracking unit. In this case, the tracking unit is set up to track the respective aircraft by means of the images of the airport area taken by the camera for providing a respective object track of the aircraft on the airport area.

According to a further embodiment, the tracking unit for providing the respective object lane is set up to track the respective aircraft by means of an object recognition in the images captured by the camera on the airport area. The object recognition is, for example, a feature-based object recognition.

In accordance with a further embodiment, the identification unit for determining the identification information is configured to use the images recorded by the camera of the first sensor device and / or the images recorded by the camera of the second sensor device to identify the aviation mark of the aircraft, determine a size of the aircraft, a shape of the aircraft, a speed of the aircraft on the airport area and / or a movement pattern of the aircraft on the airport area.

According to a further embodiment, the camera of the first sensor device has a wide-angle lens.

According to a further embodiment, the device comprises a receiving unit for receiving a linking information provided by a pilot. The link information is suitable for assigning a specific identification information of an aircraft to a current position information of an aircraft.

Thus, the pilot, for example, the apron pilot, support the linkage. This link can also be requested, for example, by a tower pilot.

According to a further embodiment, the linking unit is adapted to link the determined identification information of the respective aircraft with the provided position information of the respective aircraft by means of the link information received by the receiving unit.

According to a further embodiment, the device comprises a transmission unit, which is set up to provide the provided aircraft-specific position data of the respective aircraft in at least one predetermined format to format and transmit the formatted position data over a communication network to an ATM (Air Traffic Management) system. The predetermined format is, for example, the ASTERIX format.

According to a further embodiment, the second sensor device comprises a NIR sensor (near infrared). The NIR sensor is particularly advantageous for increasing the contrast in determining the identification information on the aircraft.

The respective unit, for example the linking unit, can be implemented in terms of hardware and / or software. In a hardware implementation, the unit may be implemented as a device or as part of a device, for example as a computer or as a microprocessor. In a software implementation, the unit may be embodied as a computer program product, as a function, as a routine, as part of a program code, or as an executable object.

Furthermore, a method for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface is proposed. The method comprises the following steps:
Providing each current position information on the airport area for each of the plurality of aircraft by means of tracking,
Determining an identification information of the respective aircraft on the airport area, and
Linking the determined identification information of the respective aircraft with the provided position information of the respective aircraft for the provision of aircraft-specific position data.

Furthermore, a computer program product is proposed, which causes the execution of the method as explained above on a program-controlled device.

A computer program product, such as a computer program means may, for example, be used as a storage medium, e.g. Memory card, USB stick, CD-ROM, DVD, or even in the form of a downloadable file provided by a server in a network or delivered. This can be done, for example, in a wireless communication network by transmitting a corresponding file with the computer program product or the computer program means.

The embodiments and features described for the proposed device apply accordingly to the proposed method.

Further possible implementations of the invention also include not explicitly mentioned combinations of features or embodiments described above or below with regard to the exemplary embodiments. The skilled person will also add individual aspects as improvements or additions to the respective basic form of the invention.

Further advantageous embodiments and aspects of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims and the embodiments of the invention described below. Furthermore, the invention will be explained in more detail by means of preferred embodiments with reference to the attached figures.

1 shows a schematic view of a first embodiment of an apparatus for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport area;

2 shows a schematic representation of an example of the aircraft-specific position data of the four aircraft after 1 ;

3 shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of an apparatus for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport area;

4 shows a schematic representation of an example of identification information of one of the aircraft after 3 ;

5 shows a schematic view of a third embodiment of an apparatus for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport area; and

6 FIG. 12 shows a schematic flow diagram of one embodiment of a method for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface.

In the figures, the same or functionally identical elements have been given the same reference numerals, unless stated otherwise.

In 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of a device 10 for determining a respective position of a plurality of on an airport area 21 located aircraft 1 - 4 shown. Without restriction of generality shows 1 four on the airport area 21 located aircraft 1 - 4 , The airport area 21 For example, the apron includes at least one runway and / or at least one taxiway of the airport. Each of the aircraft 1 - 4 has a unique identification information I1-I4, which in particular as an aviation license plate of the aircraft 1 - 4 is trained.

For the example of 1 have the planes 1 - 4 the following aviation marks I1-I4:
plane 1 : D-AIPA
plane 2 : D-AITF
plane 3 : D-AIPT
plane 4 : N276UP

The device 10 is suitable for the positions of the four aircraft 1 - 4 on the airport area 21 to determine. For this purpose, the device comprises 10 a first sensor device 11 and a second sensor device 12 ,

The first sensor device 11 is adapted to a respective current position information P1-P4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 on the airport area 21 provide. In the example of 1 is the position information P1 to the aircraft 1 assigned, the position information P2 is the aircraft 2 assigned, the position information P3 is the aircraft 3 assigned and the position information P4 is the aircraft 4 assigned.

The second sensor device 12 is for determining the identification information I1-I4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 on the airport area 21 set up. As already explained above, the identification information I1-I4 comprises in particular the aviation code of the aircraft 1 - 4 and is unique to the particular aircraft 1 - 4 , For example, the aviation identifier D-AIPA (identification information I1 for the aircraft 1 ) unique to the aircraft 1 ,

In addition, the device includes 10 a linking unit 13 , which is adapted to the determined identification information I1-I4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 with the provided position information P1-P4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 to associate with the provision of aircraft-specific position data PD1-PD4. For example, the shortcut unit links 13 the identification information I1 for the aircraft 1 with the provided position information P1 for the aircraft 1 ,

This shows the 2 a schematic representation of an example of the aircraft-specific position data PD1-PD4 of the four aircraft 1 - 4 to 1 , According to the 2 include the vehicle-specific position data PD1 for the aircraft 1 the identification information I1 and the position information P1 assigned to this identification information I1. In other words, the position data gives PD1 for the aircraft 1 to that exact plane 1 with the aviation label D-AIPA at position P1 on the airport area 21 is.

Next shows 2 in that the position data PD2 for the aircraft 2 the identification information I2 for the aircraft 2 and the associated position information P2. Accordingly, the position data includes PD3 for the aircraft 3 the identification information I3 of the aircraft 3 and the assigned position information P3 and the position data PD4 for the aircraft 4 include the identification information I4 of the aircraft 4 and the associated position information P4.

In 3 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of a device 10 for determining a respective position of a plurality of on an airport area 21 located aircraft 1 - 4 shown. The second embodiment of the 3 includes all the features of the first embodiment of 1 and more detailed designs for the first sensor device 11 and the second sensor device 12 ,

According to 3 includes the second sensor device 12 a camera 14 for taking pictures of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 on the airport area 21 and a detection unit 15 for determining the identification information I1-I4 of the aircraft 1 - 4 from the camera 14 recorded pictures. In particular, the investigation unit 15 configured to determine the aviation identifier I1-I4 by means of an optical text recognition from the recorded images. An example of optical character recognition is OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

The camera 14 the second sensor device 12 is designed in particular as a swiveling camera with a telephoto lens.

The first sensor device 11 of the 3 includes a camera 16 for taking pictures of the airport area 21 as well as a tracking unit 17 , The tracking unit 17 is set up the respective aircraft 1 - 4 by means of the camera 16 taken pictures of the airport area 21 for providing a respective object track of the aircraft 1 - 4 on the airport area 21 to pursue. Here is the tracking unit 17 for providing the respective object lane of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 preferably configured to the respective aircraft 1 - 4 by means of a feature-based object recognition in the of the camera 16 taken pictures on the airport area 21 to pursue. In particular, this tracking can also be done a priori knowledge to increase the clarity of the persecution and in particular to facilitate recognition. Recognition is necessary in particular when an aircraft, for example the aircraft 4 , by another plane 1 - 3 or by one on the airport area 21 arranged building (not shown) is temporarily shielded.

In particular, the investigative unit 15 To provide the identification information I1-I4 provide multiple partial information. This is hereafter the example of the aircraft 1 and with reference to 4 explained in more detail. According to this example, the discovery unit 15 for determining the identification information I1 for the aircraft 1 Be set up to be out of the camera 16 the first sensor device 11 taken pictures and / or from the camera 14 the second sensor device 12 taken pictures the aviation flag L1 of the aircraft 1 , a size G1 of the aircraft 1 , a form F1 of the aircraft 1 , a speed V1 of the aircraft 1 and a movement pattern B1 of the aircraft 1 on the airport area 21 to determine (see 4 ).

The camera 16 the first sensor device 11 includes in particular a wide-angle lens.

5 shows a schematic view of a third embodiment of a device 10 for determining a respective position of a plurality of on an airport area 21 located aircraft 1 - 4 ,

The third embodiment of 5 is based on the second embodiment of the 3 and includes all the features of the second embodiment of 3 ,

In addition, the device includes 10 of the 5 a receiving unit 18 for receiving a linking information Z provided by a pilot of the airport. Without limitation of generality, in the example of FIG 5 the receiving unit 18 as part of the linking unit 13 educated. The link information Z is suitable for a specific identification information I1-I4 of an aircraft 1 - 4 a current position information P1-P4 of the aircraft 1 - 4 to assign. In other words, the pilot can thereby support the link by providing the linkage information Z. Here is the linking unit 13 in particular adapted to the identified identification information I1-I4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 with the provided position information P1-P4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 by means of the reception unit 18 link information Z to be received.

Furthermore, the device comprises 10 of the 5 a transmission unit 19 , which is adapted to the provided aviation-specific position data PD1-PD4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 in at least a predetermined format and formatted position data FP1-FP4 over a communications network 22 to an ATM system 20 (ATM, Air Traffic Management). The communication network 22 includes in particular an intranet and / or the Internet.

In 6 Figure 3 is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of a method for determining a respective position of a plurality of aircraft located on an airport surface 1 - 4 shown. The procedure of 6 includes the following steps 601 - 603 :
In step 601 is a respective current position information P1-P4 on the airport area 21 for each of the majority of the aircraft 1 - 4 provided by tracking.

In step 602 becomes an identification information I1-I4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 on the airport area 21 determined.

In step 603 becomes the determined identification information I1-I4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 with the provided position information P1-P4 of the respective aircraft 1 - 4 linked to the provision of aircraft-specific position data PD1-PD4.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to embodiments, it is variously modifiable.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

 aircraft

2

 aircraft

3

 aircraft

4

 aircraft

10

 contraption

11

 first sensor device

12

 second sensor device

13

 Link unit

14

 Camera of the second sensor device

15

 Investigative unit

16

 Camera of the first sensor device

17

 Tracking unit

18

 Receiving unit

19

 Transmission unit

20

 ATM system

21

 airport area

22

 Communication network

601

 step

602

 step

603

 step

B1

Movement pattern of the aircraft 1

F1

Shape of the plane 1

FP1

 formatted position data

FP2

 formatted position data

FP3

 formatted position data

FP4

 formatted position data

G1

Size of the aircraft 1

I1

Identification information

I2

 Identification information

I3

 Identification information

I4

 Identification information

L1

Aviation mark of the aircraft 1

P1

Position information

P2

 Position information

P3

 Position information

P4

 Position information

PD1

 position data

PD2

 position data

PD3

 position data

PD4

 position data

V1

Speed of the aircraft 1

Z

 Link information

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 8942425 B2 [0003]

Claims (15)

Contraption ( 10 ) for determining a respective position of a plurality of on an airport area ( 21 ) ( 1 - 4 ), comprising: a first sensor device ( 11 ) for providing a respective current position information on the airport area ( 21 ) for each of the plurality of aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) by means of tracking, a second sensor device ( 12 ) for determining identification information (I1-I4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) on the airport area ( 21 ), and a linking unit ( 13 ), which is adapted to the determined identification information (I1-I4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) with the provided position information (P1-P4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) for providing aircraft-specific position data (PD1-PD4). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the second sensor device ( 12 ) a camera ( 14 ) for taking pictures of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) on the airport area ( 21 ) and a discovery unit ( 15 ) for determining the identification information (I1-I4) of the aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) from the recorded images. Device according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the respective identification information (I1-I4) is unambiguous for the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ). Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the identification information (I1-I4) is an aviation mark of the aircraft ( 1 - 4 ). Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the determining unit ( 15 ) is adapted to determine the aviation identifier (I1-I4) by means of an optical text recognition from the recorded images. Device according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the camera ( 14 ) of the second sensor device ( 12 ) is formed as a pivotable camera with a telephoto lens. Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the first sensor device ( 11 ) a camera ( 16 ) for taking pictures of the airport area ( 21 ) and a tracking unit ( 17 ), which is adapted to the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) by means of the camera ( 16 ) taken pictures of the airport area ( 21 ) for providing a respective object lane of the aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) on the airport area ( 21 ) to pursue. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the tracking unit ( 17 ) is arranged to provide the respective object lane to the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) by means of feature-based object recognition in the camera ( 16 ) on the airport area ( 21 ) to pursue. Device according to claims 2 and 7, characterized in that the determining unit ( 15 ) for determining the identification information (I1-I4) is adapted to the from the camera ( 16 ) of the first sensor device ( 11 ) and / or out of the camera ( 14 ) of the second sensor device ( 12 ), the aviation flag (L1) of the aircraft ( 1 ), one size (G1) of the aircraft ( 1 ), a shape (F1) of the aircraft ( 1 ), a speed (V1) of the aircraft ( 1 ) on the airport area ( 21 ) and / or a movement pattern (B1) of the aircraft ( 1 ) on the airport area ( 21 ) to investigate. Device according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the camera ( 16 ) of the first sensor device ( 11 ) has a wide-angle lens. Device according to one of Claims 1 to 10, characterized by a receiving unit ( 18 ) for receiving a linkage information (Z) provided by a pilot, which is suitable for carrying out a specific identification information (I1-I4) of an aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) current position information (P1-P4) of an aircraft ( 1 - 4 ). Device according to claim 11, characterized in that the linking unit ( 13 ) is adapted to the determined identification information (I1-I4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) with the provided position information (P1-P4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) by means of the reception unit ( 18 ) link information (Z). Device according to one of Claims 1 to 12, characterized by a transmission unit ( 19 ), which is set up to provide the provided aircraft-specific position data (PD1-PD4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) into at least one predetermined format and the formatted position data (FP1-FP4) over a communications network ( 22 ) to an ATM system ( 20 ) transferred to. Method for determining a respective position of a plurality of on an airport surface ( 21 ) ( 1 - 4 ), with: Deploy ( 601 ) of a respective current position information (P1-P4) on the airport area ( 21 ) for each of the plurality of aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) by tracking, determining ( 602 ) identification information (I1-I4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) on the airport area ( 21 ), and linking ( 603 ) of the determined identification information (I1-I4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) with the provided position information (P1-P4) of the respective aircraft ( 1 - 4 ) for providing aircraft-specific position data (PD1-PD4). Computer program product, which causes the execution of the method according to claim 14 on a program-controlled device.

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