Patent ID: 8610618

Claim:
A method for identifying a facility on the ground or at sea, the method being implemented on an airborne responder linked to at least two antennas, said method comprising: choosing, at the airborne responder, a first antenna among the at least two antennas; transmitting, using the airborne responder, at least one interrogation message from the chosen first antenna to the facility on the ground or at sea; testing, at the airborne responder, whether a response signal answering the interrogation message has been received by the airborne responder; if at least one response signal is received by at least one of the at least two antennas of the airborne responder, identifying the at least one response signal, and choosing one of the at least two antennas as a transmission antenna as a function of said at least one response signal received; if no response signal is received, choosing a different transmission antenna from the chosen one of the at least two antennas that transmitted the last interrogation message; and repeating said transmitting the interrogation message or messages, said testing, said identifying, said choosing one of the at least two antennas as a transmission antenna as a function of said response signals received, and said choosing a different transmission antenna from the chosen one of the at least two antennas, wherein, when the at least one response signal has been received by at least one of the at least two antennas of the airborne responder, the transmission antenna chosen is that which has led, for a majority of the at least one response signals received, to a best link budget.