Patent Description:
In the state of the art, air traffic control (ATC) systems are known that use amplitude modulation (AM) techniques on the same frequency for a certain sector in air space to communicate with airplanes having aircraft radios for communication purposes. The air traffic control system typically comprises a ground system that may be assigned to an airport, in particular its tower. An operator at the airport, also called airport traffic operator, is enabled to communicate with the several airplanes in the respective air space observed as the ground system is configured to receive aircraft radio signals, in particular voice signals (radio messages), from the pilots of the different airplanes communicating with the base station. In addition, the operator may also transmit voice signals to the respective pilots to inform the pilots appropriately. Generally, the voice signals correspond to radio signals or rather radio messages (radio traffic).

Due to the increasing number of airplanes processed by an airport, the number of aircraft radio signals exchanged, namely the radio traffic, also increases dramatically. Thus, it might happen that at least two aircraft radio signals are received simultaneously in the same frequency range so that the respective aircraft radio signals interfere with each other. Thus, the operator in the tower of the airport is not enabled to understand what the pilots of the airplanes have reported over radio. So far, the operator has to manually inform the pilots, in particular all pilots, via radio about the simultaneous call transmission (SCT) requesting to repeat the respective information on different frequency bands or rather in a subsequent manner. In other words, the operator in the tower has to detect and inform the pilots manually about the simultaneous call transmission. In turn, the pilots have to confirm receipt of the respective information from the tower with regard to the simultaneous call transmission manually. Thus, the operator can be ensured that the pilots change the frequency or rather the pilots of the different airplanes communicate with the tower in a successive manner to avoid interfering aircraft radio signals. Accordingly, the effort and the costs related thereto are high to ensure that the pilots of the airplanes and the tower can communicate with each other in a satisfying manner.

<CIT> shows a processing device with a plurality of receivers designed to receive radio signals in a predetermined frequency range and to output each signal as a received signal, wherein information on the number of sources is provided.

Therefore, there is a need for an easier and more cost-efficient manner to handle simultaneous call transmission.

The invention provides an air traffic control system according to claim <NUM>.

The air traffic control system further comprises an acknowledgement member that is assigned to the respective aircraft radio. A pilot interacts with the acknowledgement member, thereby enabling the pilot to acknowledge receipt of the transmitted information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection and to inform an operator at the ground system without verbal communication between the operator of the ground system and the pilot. Alternatively or additionally, the ground system has an indication unit that is configured to indicate the status of transmission that comprises information with regard to the reception of the forwarded information by the respective aircraft radio such that safe receipt of the forwarded information by the respective aircraft radio is indicated at the ground system, thereby informing the operator at the ground system via the indication unit whether or not the forwarded information was received safely by the respective aircraft radio.

Further, the invention provides a method of simultaneous call transmission handling according to claim <NUM>.

The invention is based on the finding that the handling of simultaneous call transmission (SCT) can be simplified as an operator operating at the operator device of the air traffic control system is not required to manually communicate with the different pilots of the aircraft via radio. In fact, the air traffic control system has a ground system that is enabled to automatically detect and communicate with the aircraft radios of the airplanes. Thus, it is no more necessary that the operator, for instance the operator in a tower of an airport, has to detect the simultaneous receipt manually and to inform the pilots of the aircrafts manually via radio. The pilots are informed by the ground system (without manual interaction of the operator) since the respective information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection of at least two aircraft radio signals is forwarded to the respective aircraft radio, in particular the airplane assigned thereto.

Generally, the simultaneous call transmission (SCT) deals with aircraft signals from different aircraft radios. This is different to the same signal being transmitted at least twice by the same aircraft radio as those signals relate to a single call.

The handling of simultaneous call transmission is further simplified by indicating the respective information via an indication unit assigned to the ground system. Generally, the indication unit may be an acoustic one or an optical one so that the respective indication is done in an optical manner or rather acoustic manner.

The status of transmission comprises information with regard to the reception of the forwarded information by the respective aircraft radio. In other words, reception or rather safe receipt of the forwarded information by the respective aircraft radio is indicated at the ground system. Thus, the operator at the ground system is informed via the indication unit whether or not the forwarded information was received safely by the respective aircraft radio.

For instance, the reception of the forwarded information is indicated in an optical manner.

According to an aspect, the at least one ground radio station is configured to forward the information automatically once the simultaneous transmission detection unit has detected that at least two aircraft radio signals are received simultaneously. The pilot(s) of the respective airplane(s) is/are informed automatically about the simultaneous call transmission so that the operator of the ground system is relieved from manually communicating with the pilots.

The status of transmission may comprise information with regard to the simultaneous receipt of the at least two aircraft radio signals detected by the simultaneous transmission detection unit. In other words, the simultaneous receipt of the at least two aircraft radio signals is indicated at the ground system. Thus, the operator of the ground system is informed appropriately about the simultaneous receipt of the at least two aircraft radio signals.

The indication of the simultaneous receipt of at least two aircraft radio signals may be transmitted automatically, namely without any manual input.

Even though the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection of at least two aircraft radio signals may be forwarded to the airplane(s) automatically, the operator of the ground system may be informed about the respective situation as a failsafe option or rather for redundancy.

The status of transmission comprises information with regard to an acknowledgement of the forwarded information by a person interacting with the respective aircraft radio. In other words, reception of the forwarded information is acknowledged by a person interacting with the respective aircraft radio, in particular wherein the acknowledgement is indicated at the ground system. The person that interacts with the aircraft radio may be the pilot of the airplane. Hence, the operator at the ground system is informed by the indication unit, namely the indication provided, whether or not the pilot or rather person interacting with the respective aircraft radio has understood the respective information.

The pilot interacts with the acknowledgement member to inform the operator at the ground system appropriately. The acknowledgment member may be a button or another member that is easy to operate. The pilot that has received the forwarded information simply hits the acknowledgement member, for instance the button, to transmit an acknowledgement signal to the ground system. The acknowledgement signal is received, processed and indicated by the ground system. Hence, the operator of the ground system is informed accordingly.

Even though this information requires manual input by the person interacting with the respective aircraft radio, in particular the pilot, it is not necessary that this information is exchanged by voice or rather via radio. In fact, the information may be transmitted to the ground system differently.

In any case, the acknowledgement can be visualized by the indication unit in a simplified manner at the ground system so that the operator of the ground system is enabled to easily and fast recognize the acknowledgement.

Again, the acknowledgement of the forwarded information may be indicated in an optical manner.

In fact, no verbal communication between the operator of the ground system and the person interacting with the respective aircraft radio is necessary.

Moreover, the indication unit has at least one indication member for indicating the respective status of transmission, in particular wherein the indication member is an optical one, for instance a light emitting diode (LED). Thus, the respective status of transmission such as information about the receipt of the forwarded information and/or the acknowledgement of the forwarded information may be indicated by a respective indication member, for instance a light emitting diode or any other indication member. Therefore, the operator at the ground system is enabled to easily recognize whether or not the respective information was received or rather acknowledged.

Once again, verbal communication such as radio communication between the operator of the ground system and the person interacting with the respective aircraft radio is not necessary for exchanging the respective information.

Furthermore, an indicator may be provided that is assigned to the respective aircraft radio, wherein the indicator is configured to indicate the status of transmission. Hence, the pilot gathers the respective information forwarded by the ground system, in particular the information with regard to the status of transmission, via the indicator located in the airplane.

The indicator may be at least one of an optical indicator and an acoustic indicator. Thus, a graphical user interface (GUI) and/or a voice alert may be used for indicating the respective status of transmission in the aircraft. The voice alert can be a recorded one or rather an automatic one that is replayed. In any case, the pilot of the airplane gets informed appropriately without the need of verbally communicating with the operator of the ground system via radio.

Another aspect provides that the at least one ground radio station is configured to transmit the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection via the same frequency range as the aircraft radio signals and/or a different frequency range with respect to the one used by the aircraft radio signals. Thus, it is ensured that the respective information is received by the airplanes. However, a different frequency range may be used so as to ensure that no interfering occurs which might disturb forwarding the information.

For instance, the different frequency range corresponds to a forbidden frequency range for aircraft radio signals. This ensures that the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection is not interfered by other aircraft radio signals since the aircraft radios are not allowed to use the respective frequency range. In other words, the frequency range used for forwarding the respective information is exclusively assigned to the ground system for forwarding this kind of information, namely informing pilots about the simultaneous transmission detection or rather the simultaneous call transmission (SCT).

According to another aspect, the ground system has several ground radio stations wherein the ground system is configured to transmit the information via all ground radio stations and/or to select one of the several ground radio stations for transmitting the information. Thus, it is ensured that the respective information is transmitted and received by the aircraft radio safely. By transmitting the information via all ground radio stations, it is ensured that the best combination of aircraft radio and ground radio station is used for exchanging the information. However, selecting the best combination requires a further determination which of the several ground radio stations shall be used. Accordingly, using all ground radio stations available is the less complex way to ensure that the respective information is transmitted and received safely.

For instance, the respective ground radio station is selected that has best transmission properties and/or shortest distance to the respective aircraft radio. Thus, position data of the aircraft as well as the respective ground radio station, for instance obtained by global positioning system (GPS) or Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), may be used for determining the shortest distance. This approach is based on the idea that the best transmission properties should be achieved by the shortest distance between the respective ground radio station and the respective aircraft radio.

Alternatively or additionally, the best transmission properties may be determined for selecting the respective ground radio station that shall transmit the respective information. This approach corresponds to best signal selection since the transmission properties are evaluated and compared with each other.

Moreover, the ground system may be configured to transmit the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection to a data storage, a recording blackbox, a logging server, another operator device, for instance one of a different ground system, and/or a supervisor. Thus, it is ensured that the respective information is shared with several devices or rather components of the air traffic control system. Hence, the respective information is stored or rather distributed. The supervisor may supervise the operator of the ground system. However, the supervisor is optional since the supervisor is not necessary for running the air traffic control system properly.

According to another embodiment, the ground system is configured to transmit the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection with a predefined pattern that has a maximized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The occurring noise is reduced by choosing a dedicated pattern which in turn ensures that the information is received in an optimal manner.

Furthermore, the system may be configured to broadcast the aircraft radio signals and/or the status of transmission to all ground radio stations. The aircraft radio(s) or rather the receiving ground radio station may broadcast the aircraft radio signals and/or the status of transmission to all other ground radio stations of the ground system so as to distribute the respective information.

The aspects described above apply for the air traffic control system according to the invention as well as the method of simultaneous call transmission handling according to the invention in a simultaneous manner.

Further aspects and advantages of the claimed subject matter will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:.

In <FIG>, an air traffic control system <NUM> is shown that comprises a ground system <NUM> as well as two airplanes <NUM>, <NUM> each having an aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM>.

The ground system <NUM> comprises an operator device <NUM> that is connected to several ground radio stations <NUM> each having an antenna for communicating with the aircraft radios <NUM>, <NUM> of the airplanes <NUM>, <NUM>.

In addition, the ground system <NUM> has a simultaneous transmission detection unit <NUM> that is configured to detect at least two aircraft radio signals received simultaneously by a single ground radio station <NUM> of the several ground radio stations <NUM>, particularly its antenna.

Furthermore, the ground system <NUM>, in particular the simultaneous transmission detection unit <NUM>, has an indication unit <NUM> that is configured to indicate the status of transmission as will be described hereinafter with respect to <FIG>. In fact, the indication unit <NUM> is configured to indicate simultaneous receipt of the at least two aircraft radio signals that was detected by the simultaneous transmission detection unit <NUM>.

For this purpose, the indication unit <NUM> has several indication members <NUM> for indicating respective information related to the status of transmission. The indication members <NUM> are established by optical indication members such as light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Furthermore, each airplane <NUM>, <NUM> has an indicator <NUM> as well as an acknowledgement member <NUM> as schematically depicted in <FIG>.

The operating principle of the air traffic control system <NUM> will be described hereinafter with respect to <FIG> in which a flow-chart is shown that illustrates a method of simultaneous call transmission handling.

In a first step S1, it is detected that at least two aircraft radio signals are received simultaneously. The simultaneous receipt is detected by the simultaneous transmission detection unit <NUM> of the ground system <NUM>. Particularly, the simultaneous transmission detection unit <NUM> detects whether one of the several ground radio stations <NUM> receives two or more aircraft radio signals simultaneously.

In a second step S2, the simultaneous receipt of the at least two aircraft radio signals is indicated at the ground system <NUM> via the indication unit <NUM>, in particular the respective indication member <NUM> as shown in <FIG>. In fact, the simultaneous call transmission (SCT) is indicated by a dedicated LED.

In a third step S3, information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection of at least two aircraft radio signals is forwarded to at least one of the at least two aircraft radios <NUM>, <NUM> via the ground system <NUM>.

In a fourth step S4, the forwarded information is received by the respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM>. The respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM> processes the information appropriately.

The forwarded information is indicated in the airplane <NUM>, <NUM> by the respective indicator <NUM> to inform the pilot about the simultaneous call transmission (SCT). Thus, the indicator <NUM> assigned to the respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM> indicates the status of transmission, namely the simultaneous call transmission (SCT).

The indicator <NUM> may be established by an optical indicator and/or an acoustic indicator so that the pilot of the corresponding airplane <NUM>, <NUM> is informed about the simultaneous call transmission (SCT) detected by the simultaneous transmission detection unit <NUM> in an optical manner or rather in an acoustic manner. For instance, the indicator <NUM> at least comprises a graphical user interface and/or a voice alert such as an automatic voice alert and/or recorded voice alert that is replayed for informing the pilot appropriately.

In a fifth step S5, the reception of the forwarded information is indicated at the ground system <NUM>, in particular via the indication unit <NUM>. In fact, the indication unit <NUM> has a respective indication member <NUM>, namely a LED or generally an optical indication member, that is used for indicating the receipt of the forwarded information by the respective airplane <NUM>, <NUM>.

The reception is automatically detected so that no manual interaction is necessary to provide the information about the occurrence of the simultaneous call transmission (SCT) and to inform the pilots of the airplanes <NUM>, <NUM> about the simultaneous call transmission (SCT).

In fact, the respective information, namely the signals encompassing the respective information, are exchanged automatically. Thus, no communication via radio or any verbal communication between the respective pilot of the corresponding airplane <NUM>, <NUM> and the operator of the ground system <NUM> is required.

In a sixth step S6, the reception of the forwarded information is acknowledged by a person interacting with the respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM>, namely the pilot of the corresponding airplane <NUM>, <NUM>.

The forwarded information is acknowledged manually by the pilot while interacting with the acknowledgement member <NUM> assigned to the respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM>. Hence, the pilot is enabled to acknowledge receipt of the transmitted information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection in an easy and fast manner.

In other words, the pilot of the respective airplane <NUM>, <NUM> can indicate that he has understood the information forwarded, namely the occurrence of the simultaneous call transmission (SCT).

Once the acknowledgement is done by the pilot, an acknowledgement signal is transmitted from the respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM> to the ground system <NUM>. At the ground system <NUM>, the acknowledgement is indicated via the indication unit <NUM> so that the operator of the ground system <NUM> is informed about the acknowledgement. The indication unit <NUM> has a respective indication member <NUM>, namely a LED or generally an optical indication member, for indicating the acknowledgement by the pilot of the airplane <NUM>, <NUM>.

Accordingly, the operator at that ground system <NUM> is enabled to directly and easily receive information whether or not the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection is received by the respective airplane <NUM>, <NUM> and/or acknowledged by the pilot of the corresponding airplane <NUM>, <NUM>.

The information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection may be transmitted by the ground system <NUM> via the same frequency range as the aircraft radio signals and/or a different frequency range with respect to the one used by the aircraft radio signals.

For instance, the different frequency range corresponds to a frequency range that is forbidden for aircraft radio signals. This ensures that no interference occurs in the frequency range with any aircraft radio signals. Accordingly, the respective pilot(s) receive(s) the information about the occurrence of the simultaneous call transmission (SCT).

For transmitting the respective information, the ground system <NUM> is enabled to transmit the signal(s) via all of the several ground radio stations <NUM>.

The ground system <NUM> may also be configured to select one of the several ground radio stations <NUM> promising best transmission properties. For instance, the respective ground radio station <NUM> is selected that has best transmission properties determined previously.

Alternatively or additionally, the shortest distance to the respective aircraft radio <NUM>, <NUM> may be determined previously by taking geolocation position information of the respective ground radio stations <NUM> and airplanes <NUM>, <NUM> into account. In fact, it is assumed that the shortest distance yields best transmission properties.

The information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection may be transmitted by the ground system <NUM> with a predefined pattern that has a maximized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Hence, best transmission properties are ensured.

In addition, the air traffic control (ATC) system <NUM> may transmit the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection to another unit <NUM>, for instance a data storage, a recording blackbox, a logging server, another operator device, for instance one of a different ground system, and/or a supervisor. Despite the information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection, the received aircraft radio signal(s) may be forwarded to the other unit <NUM>.

This ensures that the respective information is shared with several units or rather components of the respective air traffic control system <NUM>. Hence, the respective information is stored or rather distributed. Moreover, the respective information, namely the aircraft radio signals and/or the status of transmission, is shared with other ground system(s) that may be assigned to the air traffic control system.

Generally, the air traffic control system <NUM> may be configured to broadcast the aircraft radio signals received and/or the status of transmission to all ground radio stations <NUM>.

The respective information may be transmitted by the aircraft radio(s) <NUM>, <NUM> or rather the receiving ground radio station <NUM> that broadcasts the information to the other ground radio stations <NUM> of the air traffic control system <NUM>.

In general, an automatic detection of simultaneous received aircraft radio signals is provided by the air traffic control system <NUM>. Further, a method of automatic simultaneous call transmission handling is provided wherein the method can be performed by the air traffic control system <NUM>.

Since the respective detection and signal exchange is done automatically, it is not required that the operator of the ground system <NUM> verbally communicates or rather speaks with the respective pilot in a manual manner.

Claim 1:
An air traffic control system (<NUM>) comprising at least two aircraft radios (<NUM>, <NUM>) and a ground system (<NUM>), wherein the ground system (<NUM>) has an operator device (<NUM>) and at least one ground radio station (<NUM>) configured to communicate with the at least two aircraft radios (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein the ground system (<NUM>) further has a simultaneous transmission detection unit (<NUM>) that is configured to detect at least two aircraft radio signals received simultaneously by the at least one ground radio station (<NUM>), and wherein the at least one ground radio station (<NUM>) is configured to forward information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection of at least two aircraft radio signals to at least one of the at least two aircraft radios (<NUM>, <NUM>),
characterized in that
the air traffic control system (<NUM>) further comprises an acknowledgement member (<NUM>) that is assigned to the respective aircraft radio (<NUM>, <NUM>), enabling a pilot to acknowledge receipt of the transmitted information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection, wherein the pilot that has received the forwarded information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection hits the acknowledgement member (<NUM>) to transmit an acknowledgement signal to the ground system (<NUM>), wherein the ground system (<NUM>) is configured to receive, process and indicate the acknowledgement signal, wherein
the ground system (<NUM>) has an indication unit (<NUM>) that is configured to indicate the status of transmission, wherein the status of transmission comprises information with regard to the reception, by the respective aircraft radio (<NUM>, <NUM>), of the forwarded information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection, and wherein the ground system (<NUM>) is configured to indicate reception, by the respective aircraft radio (<NUM>, <NUM>), of the forwarded information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection , thereby informing the operator at the ground system (<NUM>) via the indication unit (<NUM>) whether or not the forwarded information with regard to the simultaneous transmission detection was received safely by the respective aircraft radio (<NUM>, <NUM>).