Monitor and control of surface traffic at airport

Abstract

A surface movement, guidance and control system is provided. The system includes a plurality of base stations, disposed at a site, each base station providing a coverage area and having a known geo location and using an IP-based high data rate radio link with low latency. Each base station is adapted to receive periodic positional updates from vehicles on the site over the IP-based high data rate radio link. The system also includes a server. The server is communicatively coupled to the plurality of base stations. The server is configured to track and periodically transmit the location of the vehicles to the base stations. Each base station broadcasts vehicle position information.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method of surface guidance movement and control of vehicles, the method comprising:
 receiving a known geolocation of each of a plurality of base stations;   comparing an output of a positioning receiver of each base station to the known geolocation of each base station;   determining a correction factor for each of a plurality of vehicles based on the comparing;   transmitting information associated with each respective correction factor to each of the plurality of vehicles;   receiving one or more messages comprising current positions generated by each of the plurality of vehicles based on the respective correction factors; and   generating and broadcasting a message comprising the received current positions.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the message comprising the received current positions is broadcast as a priority message. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the broadcasting the message comprising the received current positions includes broadcasting the message from each of the plurality of base stations. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the broadcasting the message comprising the received current positions includes broadcasting the message to one or more vehicles in at least one of a point-to-point message or a multicast message to selected vehicles. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the broadcasting the message comprising the received current positions includes broadcasting the message using an IP-based radio link. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the current positions includes at least one of position, trajectory, destination, or fuel level of one or more of the plurality of vehicles. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of vehicles include a plurality of surface vehicles and aircraft. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the generating and broadcasting the message comprising the received current positions includes:
 generating the message comprising the received current positions of vehicles on a projected path of a first vehicle; and   transmitting the message to the first vehicle.   
     
     
         29 . A vehicle surface movement, guidance, and control system, comprising:
 a plurality of base stations disposed at a site, each base station including a positioning receiver and having a known geolocation;   at least one processor for executing program instructions stored on a non-transitory storage medium to cause the at least one processor to:   receive the known geolocation of each of the plurality of base stations;   compare an output of the positioning receiver of each base station to the known geolocation of each base station;   determine a correction factor for each of a plurality of vehicles based on the comparing;   transmit information associated with each respective correction factor to each of the plurality of vehicles;   receive one or more messages comprising current positions generated by each of the plurality of vehicles based on the respective correction factors; and   generate and broadcast a message comprising the received current positions.   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the message comprising the received current positions is broadcast as a priority message. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the broadcast the message comprising the received current positions includes broadcast the message from each of the plurality of base stations. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the broadcast the message comprising the received current positions includes broadcast the message to one or more vehicles in at least one of a point-to-point message or a multicast message to selected vehicles. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the broadcast the message comprising the received current positions includes broadcast the message using an IP-based radio link. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the current positions includes at least one of position, trajectory, destination, or fuel level of one or more of the plurality of vehicles. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the plurality of vehicles include a plurality of surface vehicles and aircraft. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the generating and broadcasting the message comprising the received current positions includes:
 generating the message comprising the received current positions of vehicles on a projected path of a first vehicle; and   transmitting the message to the first vehicle.   
     
     
         37 . A customer premises equipment (CPE) associated with a first vehicle, the CPE comprising:
 a positioning receiver module configured to provide data relative to a position of the CPE;   a communications transceiver configured to communicate with a base station; and   at least one processor for executing program instructions stored on a non-transitory storage medium to cause the at least one processor to:   receive a correction factor determined by a comparison of an output of a positioning receiver of the base station to a known geolocation of the base station;   determine a current position of the CPE based on the data from the positioning receiver module and the received correction factor; and   transmit the determined current position to the base station.   
     
     
         38 . The CPE of  claim 37 , wherein the program instructions further cause the at least one processor to determine position information from the positioning receiver module and apply offsets received from the base station to the determined position information. 
     
     
         39 . The CPE of  claim 37 , wherein the transmit the determined current position to the base station includes transmit the determined current position in a priority message. 
     
     
         40 . The CPE of  claim 37 , wherein the transmit the determined current position to the base station includes transmit the current position using an IP-based radio link.