Potential interference sources to GPS and solutions appropriate forapplications to civil aviation

When the GPS (Global Positioning System) is subjected to interference, the system performance gradually deteriorates as the interfering levels increase. Two modes of interference are discussed in detail, namely, that from transmissions at frequencies close to the GPS frequencies and that from transmissions with a harmonic in the GPS band. It is argued that the former requires RF filtering in the receiver with a quality better than that generally specified. The latter cannot be dealt with in such a way. Measurements carried out on the harmonic levels transmitted by one UK TV transmitter and several hundred aircraft VHF transmitters are reported. The measurements show there is a measurable level of harmonics in the GPS band. The UK TV transmitter does not, however, represent a threat to aviation unless the aircraft is so close as to represent a physical danger. The probability that one aircraft's VHF transmitter will interfere with the GPS receiver on another aircraft is tolerably small, but there is a significant probability that a GPS receiver can suffer when there is a VHF transmission from the same aircraft. Several recommendations are made, including an international effort to ensure that spurious emissions are both quantified and kept at a level significantly lower than that achieved today     

Performance of a Square Law Pseudonoise Ranging Time-of-Arrival Estimator

The performance of a square law time-of-arrival (TOA) estimator that has been proposed for use in ASTRO-DABS, part of a possible satellite-based fourth generation air traffic control system is considered. The transmitted message consists of a pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) ranging sequence that, due to transmitter characteristics, is corrupted by an unknown frequency offset. The optimum TOA estimator, for the case of no frequency uncertainty, is first presented, together with a lower bound on the variance of the estimate generated. This is followed by the consideration of a suboptimum TOA estimator for which a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance analysis is carried out; here, the effects of frequency uncertainty are included. Next, the zero-crossing properties of the derivative of the (suboptimum) estimation statistic are presented and the results used to derive an upper bound to the TOA estimate variance that is valid for all SNR values. This latter result is significant because it displays the system threshold effect and complements performance lower bounds that may be derived via other methods. In addition, the method presented here may be applied to other optimum and suboptimum systems where a discrete set of parameters is to be estimated.     

Bandwidth maximization for satellite laser communication

Free space optical communication between satellites networked together can make possible high speed communication between different places on Earth. The basic free space optical communication network includes at least two satellites. In order to communicate between them, the transmitter satellite must track the beacon of the receiver satellite and point the information optical beam in its direction. The pointing systems for laser satellite communication suffer during tracking from vibration due to electronic noise, background radiation from interstellar objects such as Sun, Moon, Earth, and Stars in the tracking field of view, and mechanical impact from satellite internal and external sources. Due to vibrations the receiver receives less power. This effect limits the system bandwidth for given bit error rate (BER). In this research we derive an algorithm to maximize the communication system bandwidth using the transmitter telescope gain as a free variable based on the vibration statistics model and the system parameters. Our model makes it possible to adapt the bandwidth and transmitter gain to change of vibration amplitude. We also present an example of a practical satellite network which includes a direct detection receiver with an optical amplifier. A bandwidth improvement of three orders of magnitude is achieved in this example for certain conditions, as compared with an unoptimized system     

Solution and performance analysis of geolocation by TDOA

One method of geolocation is based on measuring the time difference of arrivals (TDOAs) of a signal received by three or four geostationary satellites. The received signals are cross-correlated to determine the TDOAs and a set of nonlinear equations are solved to produce the location estimate. An exact solution for the transmitter position is derived for the three or four receiver cases. Extension of the solution method to more receivers is straightforward. An analysis of the performance of the system is given, together with expressions for predicting the localization mean-square errors (MSEs) and bias, and the Cramer-Rao bound. Both precision in TDOA measurements and the relative geometry between receivers and transmitter affect the localization accuracy. The geometric factors act as multipliers to the TDOA variance in the bias and MSE formulae. A study of the dependency of the geometric factors on transmitter position and satellite spacings are provided, as well as simulation results     

Spectral Analysis of ELT Signals for SARSAT

Search and rescue satellite-aided tracking (SARSAT) relays the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signals of distressed aircraft to an earth station for spectral analysis. Of considerable importance are the characteristics of the spectrum of the ELT signal since the probability of locating the downed aircraft is closely related to the quality of the ELT signal spectrum itself. In this paper, it is shown that the spectrum can be adversely affected by a number of factors including the phase and frequency characteristics of the carrier and their interaction with the amplitude modulation. Two new models are proposed which greatly reduce the self-generated interference produced by ELT units presently being used.     

中国拟建航空卫星移动通信地面地球站（GES）的技术方案

中国民航正在计划实施航空卫星移动业务通信。ＡＭＳＳ系统有三个主要组成部分：空间段，地面地球站和机载地球站。中国国际航空公司已居其两架波音７４７型飞机上装有ＡＥＳ。不久将有更多飞国际航线的飞机安装ＡＥＳ。     

基于交互式多模型的飞机编队相对导航算法研究

在飞机编队飞行时,成员间的相对位置信息是实现系统协同作战的重要保证,为了提高机群编队飞行的相对导航定位精度,在无地面基准的机群编队飞行JTIDS/GPS/TACAN/IFDL组合的相对导航系统中,采用交互式多模型扩展卡尔曼滤波(IMM-EKF)算法,设计实现了多传感器相对导航系统,克服了飞机动态模型参数变化导致使用单一动态模型滤波精度下降的问题。仿真分析结果表明,交互式多模型算法可以提高相对导航系统的定位精度和可靠性,特别在GPS可见卫星很少的情况下,依然能够具有良好的定位性能。     

民用飞机固定式应急定位发射系统设计

如何在民用飞机遇险迫降或失事后尽快定位搜救，提高机上遇险人员的生存率，是当前民用飞机设计过程中必须考虑的问题。作为民用飞机应急搜救系统，固定式应急定位发射系统（ELT）可以在飞机遇险时通过自动和人工方式触发，在固定的频率上发射搜救信号，以便搜救组织对遇险人员进行救援。首先提出了固定式ELT系统的设计方案及功能，分析了系统部件的构成，进而提出了固定式ELT系统的性能要求，最后重点阐述了固定式ELT系统的机上设计要求和功能验证过程。     

The Detection of Moderately-Fluctuating Rayleigh Targets

Pulse train detection of fluctuating targets whose coherence time is long compared to the time between pulses and short compared to the pulse train duration is compared for two systems: (1) a recursive digital optimal receiver operating in conjunction with a coherent pulse train transmitter, and (2) a good (but not optimal) receiver operating with a block coherent frequency-hopping transmitter. The equivalence of this type of problem to noise-in-noise detection problems is demonstrated, the performance relations for both systems are derived and comparisons are made.     

Microwave Radiometric Sensing for Air Navigation

This paper discusses the results of an analytic study of the feasibility of using microwave radiometry as a technique for navigation data sensing in Army aircraft. The study included a review of Army aircraft characteristics and navigation requirements. Various means of sensing passively aircraft velocity, altitude, and velocity-altitude ratio were considered. While there appears to be no practical method for direct measurement of either velocity or altitude separately, it does appear possible to measure velocity-altitude ratio by comparing radiometric signals received from the terrain along the aircraft ground track. When combined with a radar altimeter, such a sensor could yield navigation data compatible with Army aircraft requirements. Microwave radiometry may also be the basis for direction sensing (to known landmarks) in high-flying aircraft or satellites.     

Time delay techniques for satellite interference location system

Describes the development of a system for inferring the position of uplink ground stations, using existing domestic satellites, with minimal disruption of normal operation. The system uses the differential time delay of a single uplink signal passing through two adjacent spacecraft to infer the relative position of the uplink transmitter. A system for the measurement of such differential time delays is described. Since this technique alone does not provide an unambiguous determination of uplink transmitter location, the use of an interferometer to resolve such ambiguities is discussed     

The radiant angle of GPS satellite antenna affecting the appliedaltitude of GPS in a space vehicle

In this paper, the advantages and development of GPS applied in a space vehicle are introduced first. Then, the software employed to calculate the applied altitude of GPS in a space vehicle is explained. The detailed software flowchart is also given, and the process of choosing used GPS satellites is described in detail. In order to study the receiving condition in a space vehicle, we also make a simulating calculation with our software. The results of receiving GPS satellites over a certain place are given. The paper has not only the value for using GPS in a space vehicle, but also the significance for an aircraft whose navigation system is GPS     

军用飞机结构耐久性设计的细节疲劳额定值方法

 为满足军用飞机研制初步设计阶段对结构耐久性(疲劳)快速设计与评估的迫切需求,在全面分析军用飞机与民用飞机主要区别的前提下,针对军用飞机结构与使用载荷特点,以民用飞机细节疲劳额定值(DFR)方法的基本思想和技术途径为基础,从寿命服从对数正态分布的假设出发,对随机载荷谱的当量等幅化方法、结构DFR许用值的确定技术以及标准S--N曲线的建立等关键问题进行深入研究,建立了适用于军用飞机的DFR方法及相应的工程实施技术。初步应用表明方法可行且偏保守,能明显缩短研制周期、降低研制成本,具有重要的工程意义和应用价值,可用于军用飞机研制的初步耐久性设计。     

共信道干扰环境下星基ADS-B系统监视性能

星基广播式自动相关监视系统（星基ADS-B）是实现广域范围内航空器监视的主要技术手段。为揭示星基ADS-B系统共信道干扰对系统监视性能的影响，提出了星基ADS-B系统监视容量的计算方法。首先给出了星基ADS-B系统模型，随后理论分析给出消息正确接收概率、位置消息更新间隔及位置报告更新间隔的计算公式，以此为基础给出了星基ADS-B系统监视容量的计算公式，最后基于SNS软件构建了星基ADS-B仿真系统，仿真验证了理论结果的正确性。研究表明：星基ADS-B系统的监视容量由ADS-B应用子系统所要求的航空器位置报告更新间隔、航空器-卫星链路的误码率、星-地面站链路的误码率及卫星数目联合确定。     

A Novel Onboard-gateway-based Mechanism to Improve TCP Performance in Aeronautical Satellite Networks

The IP-based networks on aircraft serve to support Internet services via satellites. However, in aeronautical satellite hybrid net- works,the TCP protocol performance often deteriorates due to improper decreases and slow recovery of the congestion window. This paper proposes a window size determination and notification mechanism, onboard-gateway-based mechanism (OGBM), which is based on the onboard gateway in the networks on aircraft. A cross-layer approach is adopted by the onboard gateway to obtain the satellite link bandwidth information. And then, by the gateway, through changing the receiver’s advertised window field in ACK packets, TCP sources are notified of the window size of each TCP source calculated on the ground of bandwidth delay product and flow numbers. The mechanism is able to avoid improper changes of TCP window and serve multiple users. Simulation results show that the mechanism with the fairness index close to 1 improves TCP performance in aeronautical satellite networks.     

Effectiveness of Airborne Integral Relay Operations

"Integral relay" is a relay concept in which all the aircraft in a control sector that are under the control of an Army flight operations center (FOC) are electronically capable of functioning as relays for communication with aircraft out of direct contact with the FOC. This paper deals with the effectiveness of integral relay operations based on the assumption of random spatial distribution of aircraft. It describes the development of a control sector line-of-sight (LOS) model and of a methodology for effectiveness analysis, and the application of the methodology to one numerical example. It is shown that the LOS conditions in the control sector may be represented by two LOS characteristics which are functions of both aircraft clearance and the terrain and FOC characteristics. Probabilities of direct and indirect (via relay) LOS between the FOC and randomly located aircraft are derived for operations without and with integral relay. The effectiveness, expressed as an increase in LOS probability, is a function of aircraft density and the above two LOS characteristics and is representative of the control sector as a whole. Numerical results are obtained by probability analysis and statistical sampling.     

一对一遭遇时飞机生存力-探测时间解析模型

 考虑探测事件的发生时间对开火、击中以及杀伤事件的影响,分析飞机与威胁的一对一遭遇情形,推导出飞机遭遇打击的次数的概率分布以及特定打击次数下飞机的生存概率,最后得到了一对一遭遇飞机生存力 探测时间的解析求解公式。该解析模型精确考虑了威胁与飞机遭遇的全过程,包括：探测,跟踪、开火以及重新装弹、开火等。根据该模型,不仅可以计算一对一遭遇飞机生存概率,而且可以方便地绘制生存力随平均发现时间、一次打击杀伤概率等参数变化的曲线。算例和分析结果表明该模型计算简便、合理有效。     

计算机辅助计划管理和决策总体设计

 介绍一种新机研制计划管理和决策支持系统的总体设计方案及其实现的具体措施。详细介绍了几个主要模块的设计思想。     

Fibre reinforced composites in aircraft construction

Fibrous composites have found applications in aircraft from the first flight of the Wright Brothers’ Flyer 1, in North Carolina on December 17, 1903, to the plethora of uses now enjoyed by them on both military and civil aircrafts, in addition to more exotic applications on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), space launchers and satellites. Their growing use has risen from their high specific strength and stiffness, when compared to the more conventional materials, and the ability to shape and tailor their structure to produce more aerodynamically efficient structural configurations. In this paper, a review of recent advances using composites in modern aircraft construction is presented and it is argued that fibre reinforced polymers, especially carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) can and will in the future contribute more than 50% of the structural mass of an aircraft. However, affordability is the key to survival in aerospace manufacturing, whether civil or military, and therefore effort should be devoted to analysis and computational simulation of the manufacturing and assembly process as well as the simulation of the performance of the structure, since they are intimately connected.