METHOD OF CONTROLLING DISTANCE BETWEEN LEAD AIRCRAFT AND TRAIL AIRCRAFT DURING FLIGHT ON ROUTE WITH ALTITUDE SEPARATION Russian patent published in 2014 - IPC G08G5/04 

FIELD: radio engineering, communication.

SUBSTANCE: invention is intended for use when solving the task of controlling distance between lead aircraft and trail aircraft in both emergency situations, associated with failure of standard equipment for measuring distance, and in conditions when said equipment is not turned on for security reasons. Distance is controlled using the radar warning receiver (RWR) systems of the aircraft and onboard radio sources (ORS) installed on the lead and trail aircraft. Frequencies of the ORS are entered into the RWR databank in advance and their spread should be 500-1000 MHz. When controlling distance onboard the trail aircraft, the ORS on the lead aircraft are turned on to emit signals and ORS power is turned off on the trail aircraft and the ORS of the lead aircraft, parameters of which were entered into the RWR databank in advance, are set as the priority target for the RWR. Signals of the ORS transmitter are received onboard the trail aircraft and transmitted to the RWR direction-finding equipment. Angular directions to the ORS on the lead aircraft are determined in the vertical and horizontal planes and the lead aircraft is identified from the values of the measured frequency. The distance and interval to the lead aircraft are calculated using the angular positions of the ORS of the lead aircraft in the horizontal and vertical planes determined from the RWR indicator and the difference in flight altitude of the lead and trail aircraft. Values of the flight altitude of the lead aircraft needed to calculate difference in altitude are transmitted to the trail aircraft at the request thereof. When controlling distance onboard the lead aircraft, angular coordinates of the trail aircraft are determined using the RWR of the lead aircraft based on signals of the ORS of the trail aircraft.

EFFECT: method provides accuracy of determining linear distances between lead and trail aircraft which is sufficient for safe air navigation on a route.

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