SYSTEM FOR THE AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF AIRCRAFT

Abstract: A system for the automatic identification of different types of aircraft (10) conducted by pilots on the ground (12) and rolling on the wheels (15, 16) of their nose wheel and main landing gears (13, 14) comprises a transmitter unit (5, 6, 7) having a number of transmitter elements (18) which are disposed on or in the ground (12) and can be activated by the wheels (15, 16) rolling over them. The system also comprises a receiver unit (8) connected to the transmitter unit (5, 6, 7) and calculating, on the basis of the transmitter elements (18) activated at the same time by the wheels (15, 16), the distance between these wheels, thereby to supply information about the type of aircraft (10) concerned.

Description: SYSTEM FOR THE AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF AIRCRAFT The present invention relates generally to a system for the automatic identification of different types of aircraft moving on the ground, more particularly a system which, without human assistance, automatically and with great reliability and accuracy can identify different types of aircraft conducted by pilots at an airport. So far as is known, there exists no previous system of this type, and this means, inter alia, that the recom¬ mendations drawn up by for example the ϋ.N. agency ICAO concerning visual docking or parking guidance systems cannot be satisfied. It is recommended, among other things, that the system if possible should not require the assist¬ ance of ground personnel in order to put it into readiness for a specific type of aircraft. If such assistance is required, the system must be so designed that the pilot can make a double check. The above-mentioned recommendations are satisfied by the present invention, and this will mean considerable advantages to the pilot and airlines which at present have to depend on the personnel on the ground. The system according to the invention affords not only a gain of time and greater safety, but also considerable financial sav¬ ings in that less personnel is required and the time spent on the ground can be cut down. One example of delaying effects is incorrect setting of the above-mentioned visual marking guidance system due to incorrect handling by the ground personnel, which may result in wrongly parked air¬ craft, waiting times and even damage to the aircraft. Furthermore, the system according to the invention can be used for automatically presetting and connecting such loading bridges or ramps as are used by passengers leaving and boarding aircraft. A further considerable advantage of the system according to the invention is OMPI that it eliminates, in the type of parking guidance systems with sensing elements in the ground within the area where the aircraft is to be parked automatically, such interference as is caused by different types of vehicles driving over the sensing elements and thus interfering with the system, whereby the aircraft is delayed. The system according to the invention has a built-in safety against such inference. The primary object of the invention is to provide a system of the type indicated, which satisfies all require¬ ments for reliability, flexibility and accuracy and which is specifically adapted to aircraft arriving at civil airports to be stopped exactly at a passenger loading bridge or other exactly predetermined stopping points in the aircraft parking facilities of the airport. Another object of the invention is to design the system in such a way that it is applicable to all aircraft types known at present; the system also is readily adapt¬ able to future types of aircraft. Still another object of the invention is to increase the safety and operational reliability and to shorten the time which the aircraft spends on the ground, thereby to make it easier for the airlines to adhere to their time schedules. According to the invention, these and other objects are achieved by means of at least one transmitter unit comprising several transmitter elements which, as seen in the direction of travel of the aircraft, are position¬ ed after and/or alongside one another on or in the ground and over which the wheels of the nose wheel gear and/or at least one of the main landing gears is intended to roll for activation, and at least one receiver unit which is connected to said transmitter unit and which, on the basis of the transmitter elements activated by the wheels, supplies information about the type of air¬ craft concerned. A presently especially preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in greater detail below, refer ence being had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 illustrates schematically from above an airport arrivals building equipped with three passenger loading bridges, two aircraft being parked at the respec¬ tive loading bridges, and a third aircraft rolling in towards its loading bridge to be parked with the aid of a visual parking guidance system; Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the third aircraft at a shorter distance from the passenger loading bridge and being handled by the system according to the invention which then activates the guidance system automatically and without the assistance of any ground personnel, whereby the aircraft can continue wholly automatically up to its predetermined stopping point; and Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the design and function of the system. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate, as already mentioned, an airport arrivals building 1 having three passenger loading bridges 2 of known construction. Associated with each bridge 2 is a parking guidance system 3 preferably of the type disclosed by Swedish patent 7610777-0. A system 4 according to the invention for the automatic identification of different types of aircraft is provided for each passenger loading bridge 2 and each parking guid¬ ance system 3. The three identification systems being identical in construction and function, only the identi¬ fication system 4 pertaining to the passenger loading bridge 2 and its associated parking guidance system 3, shown farthest to the left in Fig. 1, will be described in detail. It is pointed out that the number of bridges, parking guidance systems and identification systems according to the invention naturally may vary from one airport building to another, and that actually such a building is not necessary for the proper function of the system. The identification system according to the inven¬ tion can also be used without a passenger loading bridge and without a parking guidance system of the type here concerned. The main components of the especially preferred embodiment of the identification system 4 illustrated in the drawings are three transmitter units 5, 6, 7 and a receiver unit 8. The transmitter units 5, 6, 7 are in the form of plates 11 preferably cast in the ground 12 and located within the area 9 over which the aircraft 10 must pass before it reaches the bridge 2. The aircraft 10 has a nose wheel gear 13 and two main landing gears 14. The nose wheel gear 13 may have two wheels 15 and each main landing gear 14 may have four wheels 16. The plates 11 of the transmitter units 5 and 6 are provided with several transmitter elements 18 which are arranged after one another as seen in the direction of travel 17 of the aircraft 10 and over which the wheels 15 of the nose wheel gear 13 and the wheels 16 of the main landing gear, respectively, are to pass. The transmitter elements 18 preferably are formed by elongated contactors, such as inductive loops, microtape or the like which are transverse to the direction of travel 17 of the aircraft 10 and are spaced equidistantly, say, 0.5 m apart in the direction of travel 17. Different types of aircraft having different wheel bases, i.e. different distances between the nose wheel gear 13 and the main landing gears 14, it is possible, by measuring the distance between the wheels 15 and 16, to determine the type of aircraft moving on the ground 12, and thus to identify the aircraft type. By allowing the wheels 15 of the nose wheel gear 13 to roll over the transmitter elements 18 of the transmitter unit 5 and, correspondingly, allowing the wheels 16 of one main land¬ ing gear 14 to roll over the transmitter elements 18 of the transmitter unit 6, and by preprogramming the trans¬ mitter elements of the two units 5 and 6 into groups such that, when the forward wheels 16 of the main landing gear 14 concerned touch one of the transmitter elements 18 of the transmitter unit 6, the wheels 15 of the nose wheel gear 13 at the same time touch one of the trans- mitter elements 18 of the transmitter unit 5, it is possible exactly to determine the type of the aircraft that has passed over the preprogrammed transmitter ele¬ ments. If several aircraft types should have exactly the same wheel bases, it is possible, in order to distinguish between these aircraft types, to measure the track of the wheels 16 of the main landing gears 14 when these are rolling over the transmitter elements 18 of the trans¬ mitter units 6 and 7 simultaneously as the wheels 15 of the nose wheel gear 13 are rolling over a preprogrammed transmitter element 18 of the unit 5. The transmitter elements 18 of the units 6 and 7 being preprogrammed, the type of aircraft can be identified. Instead of being formed of contactors, the elements 18 of the transmitter units 5, 6 and 7 can be, say, photo- electric cells or other elements emitting refractable light rays or sound-waves. The transmitter elements 18 of the units 5, 6 and 7 are connected to the receiver unit 8 which may comprise a microcomputer or a relay unit programmed or encoded in such a manner that, when an element 18 in one of the units 5, 6, 7 is activated at the same time as an element 18 in one of the other units, the receiver unit 8 emits a signal about the type of aircraft that has passed the identification system 4. The signals received from the transmitter unit 8 may be either digital or analog and can activate and/or control other airport equipment, such as the prior art parking guidance system 3 according to Swedish patent 7610777-0 and/or the adjacent passenger loading bridge 2. It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to the embodiment described above and illus¬ trated in the drawings, but may be modified in different ways within the scope of the appended claims. " OMPI

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A system for the automatic identification of different types of aircraft (10) having nose wheel and main landing gears (13, 14) and rolling on the ground (12), c h a r a c t e r i z e d by at least one trans- mitter unit (5, 6, 7) comprising several transmitter elements (18) which, as seen in the direction of travel (17) of the aircraft (10) , are positiond after and/or alongside one another on or in the ground (12) and over which the wheels (15, 16) of the nose wheel gear (13) and/or at least one of the main landing gears (14) is intended to roll for activation, and by at least one receiver unit (8) which is connected to said transmitter unit (5, 6, 7) and which, on the basis of the transmitter elements (18) activated by the wheels (15, 16) , supplies information about the type of aircraft concerned. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the information about the type of aircraft (10) concerned is obtained by measuring or calculating the distance between the transmitter elements (18) simultaneously activated by the wheels (15, 16) , said distance corresponding substantially to the wheel base or track of the type of aircraft concerned. 3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, c r - a c t e r i z e d in that at least the elements (18) comprised by each transmitter unit (5, 6, 7) are spaced equidistantly apart in the direction of travel (17) of the aircraft (10) . 4. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the transmitter elements are formed of elongated contactors (18) directed transversely of the direction of travel (17) of the air¬ craft (10). 5. A system as claimed in claim 4, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the contactors (18) operate on -the principle of inductive magnetic loops. 6. A system as claimed in claim 4, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that the contactors (18) operate on the resistance strain principle. 7. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the receiver unit (8) is in the form of an indicator having a number of indicating elements corresponding to the number of transmitter elements (18) of each unit (5, 6, 7) and indicating the type of aircraft that has passed over the transmitter elements. 8. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that, when the aircraft (10) has been identified in the transmitter unit (8) , the latter can activate and/or control various air¬ port equipment, such as a control system for parking air¬ craft, for extending passenger loading bridges etc. 9. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that, when the aircraft (10) has been identified, a recording tape can be started and supply oral information about the type of aircraft that has passed over the transmitter elements (18). 10. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the trans¬ mitter elements (18) have been preprogrammed groupwise according to the type of aircraft (10) to identify the type of aircraft that has passed the transmitter elements (18) and to transmit a signal containing this information to the control tower or other location at the airport. ' U EAt OMPI

Inventors: ANDERBERG NILS-ERIC, ANDERBERG, NILS-ERIC
Applicants: ANDERBERG NILS E, ANDERBERG, NILS-ERIC
Application year: 1983
Main classification: B64F1
IPC codes: B64F1