WO2002039407A1

WO2002039407A1 - Anti-collision device for means of transport and relative process system using gps coordinates

Info

Publication number: WO2002039407A1
Application number: PCT/IT2001/000540
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claudio Bianchini
Original assignee: Claudio Bianchini
Priority date: 2000-11-08
Filing date: 2001-10-24
Publication date: 2002-05-16
Also published as: ITPI20000071A1; AU2002215198A1; IT1316577B1

Abstract

Anti-collision device that uses only the GPS coordinates avoiding any radio-navigation system. A processor creates an imaginary line ideally projected ahead the bow of the aircraft, which meets the obstacles coming across the course. This processor takes from a database all the coordinates concerning the obstacles, mountains, hills or valleys, and inserts them in the imaginary line. When the processor finds a solution for the imaginary line, it will alert the pilot by means of a display unit and other sound or visual signals.

Description

ANTI-COLLISION DEVICE FOR MEANS OF TRANSPORT AND RELATIVE PROCESS SYSTEM USING GPS COORDINATES

DESCRIPTION Technical Field

The present invention relates to the technical sector of the electronics, specifically regarding the production of systems capable of preventing the danger of collision between vehicles, vessels, aeroplanes. In particular, it allows the pilots to land safely, in any weather condition, preventing possible collisions during flight. Background art

Other anti-collision systems are known, which mainly use radio signals between various vehicles, so that each driver is alerted when it comes too close to the vehicle ahead or to an obstacle. Nevertheless, said systems have the drawback that they can work only if that obstacle or vehicle ahead is provided with a device similar to the one the driver hold; on the contrary, if the obstacle is not provided with this device, they will not prevent the collision.

In the aeronautics, till the 40s, in order to find the airport in the darkness, the pilots relied only on its particular illumination, just after having found the town thanks to the compass and by stars navigation. At the outbreak of the Second World War, when the towns blacked out, the military aviations introduced radio-navigation systems. Radio-frequency systems, introduced by the German aviation, are also known, which utilize the delay of diffusion of the electromagnetic signals in order to locate with a good approximation the target or at least the town. Thanks to this system the aeroplane sends out a "beep", which is received by a transmitting station and given back. At the same time, a second "beep" is transmitted by air and a second radio station on the ground receives and gives back the same signal. At that point, they had identified the distance between the two stations and the distance of the plane from each of the two stations, getting a triangle with the plane at a vertex; accordingly by simple trigonometric computations, the device on board of the aircraft was able to know where it was situated.

This system was able to locate at least large targets, like a big city, but it was ineffective when the target was small.

Another known system is called Loran and is based on the geometric properties of the hyperbolas. At all points of a hyperbola the difference between the distances to two fixed points is a constant. Take a point A and calculate its distances to two fixed points, then deduct the smaller distance from the greater one: you'll find out that the value you got ' is the same both for a point B, for a point C and for any point of the hyperbola. The Loran system is constituted by a "master" station and other "slave" stations. Let's suppose that the master station occupies a fixed point of a hyperbola, or rather, of a family of hyperbolas, and it sends out a "beep" to the plane, which gives it back. At the same time, a slave station, hypothetically positioned at the second fixed point of the hyperbola, does the same. By measuring the delay in the diffusion of the signals, the system can say on which hyperbola the plane flies. Then, the Loran system runs again the same process replacing the slave station with another one and identifying a second hyperbola. By intersecting the two hyperbolas, you'll find the position of the plane. The improvement of this system in 1945 achieved an accuracy of 100 m.

When the war finished, the development of the civil traffic led to realize that the radio-frequency location systems could be used in order to prevent what at that time was, but even now is, the principal cause of air disasters, i.e. the course without any landmark.

For example, when a plane flies in such a way, it may occur that it bumps against a mountain, since it hasn't got any means to identify not only the exact position of the mountain, but even the position of the aircraft. Even nowadays the absolute majority of the victims of civil aviation disasters are caused by planes that bump against unexpected obstacles.

In order to solve this problem, there is the CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) based on a radio-frequency hyperbolic system that helps the pilot flying in similar conditions and is called GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) . As a result of technical improvements, but above all thanks to the great progress in the information technology, the number of CFIT disasters has considerably reduced, even if it's still the first cause of disaster. All that is due to the fact that the GPWS is only installed in commercial and military jets, while most other aircrafts are not provided. Other drawbacks of the GPWS are the false alarms and the delay in signalling the imminent danger.

Accordingly, a new satellite navigation system is known: it's the GPS (Global Positioning System) , which helps anyone has got a GPS receiver to find its position on the ground in that moment. Disclosure of invention

This invention principally aims at providing a device that completes the data supplied by the GPS with a database, in order to allow the pilot to move the vehicle even in conditions of deep darkness, anyway preventing the collision with other vehicles or obstacles.

This system is certainly useful for any means of transport, in particular for vessels, as it can prevent stranding and collision against rocks and other land obstacles, as well as collisions between vessels .

In the second case, i.e. when it tries to prevent the collisions between vessels, the ships exchange their lines, intersect them and look for a common point, which means that they are going either to collide or cross each other.

The advantages resulting from this invention essentially consist of the fact that it uses only the GPS data and, according to them, it doesn't only show the entrance into a dangerous zone, but even alerts at least 3 minutes in advance to the possible entrance into the dangerous zone; that, according to the current miniaturization capabilities, it's possible to install the device in any flying object, as this invention doesn't need a bulky two-way radio apparatus.

We reached this result realizing a device with the characteristics described in the separate claims. Other characteristics of this invention are the object of dependent claims.

Reduced to its essential structure and with reference to the figures of the enclosed drawings, an anti-collision device according to the invention comprises :

- means to receive the data supplied by the satellite GPS system, with a GPS receiver that acts as a sensor for the data processor;

- means to process the data supplied by the GPS, with a computer connected to the GPS receiver;

- means to allow the driver to identify the course he's following, with the computer, programmed in such a way as to create an imaginary line, by processing the data supplied by the GPS and comparing them with the ones registered by a database that contains all the geographical data concerning the land close to the vehicle and the course;

- means to alert a pilot in case of danger, with a signalling system that starts when a geographical point that is part of the land or of a surface of a mountain is the solution of the equation of the imaginary line created by the same device, calculating also the time estimated for the collision;

- means to display the information relating the course to follow, with a display unit where the information supplied is schematically described.

Conveniently, the device utilizes the data supplied by the GPS, completes them with a database of the earth' s surface and allows the pilot to move the vehicle or aircraft through the fog, the clouds or in the deepest night darkness, without using radio-frequency hyperbolic systems, so that it can be installed in any kind of flying object, vessel or other means of transport.

Conveniently, this device has the function to calculate and foresee what is going to happen and alert the vehicle or the human operator to the imminent danger and convince him to move to another imaginary line, which means to a safer course.

Conveniently, this device includes the following elements:

- GPS receiver;

- CPUs group working in parallel;

- hard disk representing the database;

- display output device;

- display unit;

- input device for updating the database. It mainly consists of a GPS receiver, which acts as a sensor for the computer that processes data. The computer takes the GPS data (latitude, longitude, height) and creates an imaginary line, which is the one identified by the course of the vehicle or aircraft. It takes from a database all the geographical data concerning the land close to the vehicle or aircraft and the course, and inserts them in the imaginary line that is characterized by a Cartesian equation. When a geographical point, which is part of the land or of a surface of a mountain, is the solution of the equation of the imaginary line, the device alerts the pilot flying in CFIT mode that the vehicle or aircraft is on collision course with an obstacle, calculating also the time estimated for the collision, which will generally be about 3-4 minutes.

Conveniently, the system creates an imaginary line that represents the direction the vehicle or aircraft would have followed if it kept on flying in perpendicular line according to the data the GPS receiver has supplied in that moment to the computer of the device. In the common language the "imaginary line" is called "course". The typical equation of a line in the space is: ax + by + cz + d = 0

This line can be easily created with the data supplied by the satellites of the GPS constellation, which are latitude, longitude and height, compared to the earth' s geoid, of the vehicle or human operator using a GPS receiver. Any other point of the earth's surface is represented by means of latitude, longitude and height. When we've got the imaginary line and a database gathering all the data of latitude, longitude and height, of the points of the earth's surface, and substitute the data regarding a general point A in the imaginary line, we can get a true expression like 0=0. If this happens, we can state that the vehicle or human operator moving along the imaginary line will bump against point A within few minutes. In mathematics we are used to assert that the line

"passes" through the point A.

Even if we do not ' get the result 0=0, we could have an untrue expression like 0.003=0. .

In this case we can state that the vehicle, aircraft or vessel, is going to pass in the proximity of the point taken from the database, which represents a solid point of the earth's surface. This may happen when the imaginary line crosses the grid formed by the points of the earth' s surface. Therefore this invention does alert not only when it gets the known mathematical expression 0=0, which means that point is the solution of the imaginary line, but also when it finds a possible or even certain collision that is not perceived for the above reasons. On the contrary, if the system finds an untrue solution like 2456=0, we could be sure that the vehicle, aircraft or vessel, will take a long distance from the dangerous point. As a matter of fact, in both the cases, the software calculates the distance of the vehicle from the reference point.

Conveniently, as this system is not based on the geometrical properties of the hyperbolas, it considerably reduces the large amount of work for the CPU, because the calculation of the intersections of the lines with the points of the earth's surface is much easier.

Conveniently, this system permits to calculate the altitude of the plane compared to the ground in an innovative way, which significantly improves the security of the flight.

Conveniently, this system creates "geometric cones" that outline the shape of the mountains and that can be easily realized knowing the geographical point of the peak, a point at the base and the height of the mountain. So doing, the calculation is much simpler.

Conveniently, the display unit shows all the data, preferably coloured, and in addition the imaginary line, thus giving the pilot a complete picture of the area where he's flying.

Conveniently, when the system alerts the driver that the vehicle is on collision course with an obstacle, it calculates the time estimated for the collision, which will generally be about 3-4 minutes.

Conveniently, the process system comprises the following stages:

- the GPS receiver (1) receives the data from the satellites, processes them and then sends them to the computer in the form of geographical coordinates;

- the computer processing is carried out by a group of CPUs (2), whose number varies according to the complexity of the display unit, which work in parallel, since the parallel computation is the best way to process a large amount of data;

- with the data supplied by the GPS, the software creates, an imaginary line and gives the plane - in the case this system is used for the flight - its current altitude compared to the ground, analysing the geographical rectangle of a mile per a nautical mile above which in that moment the plane is.

Conveniently, the processor takes from the GPS the data concerning latitude and longitude of the plane and compares them with all the geographical points that belong to the square of a nautical mile by side. When it finds the point corresponding to the position of the aircraft, i.e. the point • that has the same latitude and longitude but a different altitude, reads its height, deducts it from the height supplied by the GPS and transmits it to the pilot. Conveniently, the formula to find the height of the aircraft knowing its geographical coordinates is: GPS altitude-point altitude.

At this point, the second part of the processing begins, which is almost the same as the one used in order to calculate the altitude.

Conveniently, the software takes the data from the Hard Disk (3) containing all the latitudes, longitudes and heights of the points of the earth' s surface area where the plane is flying, and inserts them in the imaginary line, until it finds one or more points that give the logical result 0=0.

Conveniently, when the processor reads this data, it stops its work and alerts the pilot by means of visual or sound signals that the plane is going to crash into a point of the earth's surface.

Conveniently, the CPUs communicate with the pilot according to the display unit (4) depicted in Fig. 1.

Conveniently, the system comprises an input device (5) with the purpose of updating the data contained in the Hard Disk, completing the architecture of the machine. An example of a phrase the pilot could read on the display, after a sound alarm "beep", could be the following:

"Collision against mountain foreseen within 2' 15''. Move to course 180

(South). Altitude 4500 feet."

Conveniently, in the case of the calculation of the height of the aircraft, the processor takes from the static Hard Disk all the latitudes^' and longitudes of the points that belong to the square of a nautical mile by side, and compares them with the data supplied by the

GPS, but only latitude and longitude. When it finds a point supplied by the GPS and another point supplied by the Hard Disk with the same coordinates, it compares their heights and finds the altitude. Conveniently, in the case of the calculation of the height of the obstacles that may come across the course, the processor creates the imaginary line and takes the data from the Hard Disk regarding all the geographical coordinates, i.e. latitude, longitude and height, and inserts all of them in the imaginary line.

According to the implementation and to computation criteria provided to the software, the pilot reads a communication that has a delay compared with its current situation. As a matter of fact, at first, the GPS receiver must process the data supplied by the satellites, then the CPUs must create the imaginary line and do calculations. Therefore, since the moment the aerial of the GPS receiver has received the signals sent by the satellites, until the moment the message is delivered to the pilot, some time has gone on.

Conveniently, in order to avoid all that, the parallel computation and the Hard Disks are used, aiming at accelerating computation capabilities, considering the high speed of a plane, because the parallel computation can deal with large amount of data in reasonable time.

Conveniently, the software creates particular geometric figures starting from the data contained in the Hard Disk, everything comes out from the ground is transformed into cones according to Fig. 2. The aim of this transformation is to facilitate the processing. In the case the plane is at a high altitude and the processor doesn't perceive a nosedive, the CPUs take only these geometric figures and analyse if any of their points is the solution of the imaginary line, disregarding other portions of the geographical area where the aircraft is flying. Conveniently, the geometric figure (6) is clearly a cone, generated considering the geographical coordinates of the peak, a point at the base and the height of the mountain.

The equation of a cone in the space is: x² + y² = z²tan² [α] where a is the angle formed by the line that converges at the vertex starting from the base circumference.

This figure can be easily obtained knowing the geographical coordinates of the vertex, a point at the base and the height. Once this figure has been created by the processor, if the device doesn't perceive variations of altitude, it enters in the imaginary line only the points found by this figure, or the ones located at an altitude not under the criteria established by the software.

So, let's imagine that this figure "outlines" a mountain, figuratively the mountain is covered by this geometric figure. Even this innovation aims at facilitating the computation, increasing the probabilities of survival.

With reference to Fig. 3, the display unit consists of the following elements:

— stylized plane;

— imaginary line;

- mountains with relative altitudes;

- goniometer of navigation.

Conveniently, the imaginary line is divided into numbers, 1-2-3-4-5, which do not represent a distance in miles, but the place where the plane will be in 1-2-3-4-5 minutes if it continues to follow the same course. The standard of measurement is the time. Obviously, according to the speed of the plane, the imaginary line will be longer or shorter, if the speed goes down the line will be longer, vice versa if the speed increases .

Conveniently, with reference to Fig. 3, the plane is at 5000 feet, on course 150. Let's suppose there is fog or clouds, or that it's night.

The pilot, looking at the display, already knows that if he veers to the right or left, it will crash into two mountains with peaks at higher altitudes than its current one, therefore he decides to move perpendicularly and pass between the two mountains.

Conveniently, with reference to Fig. 4, the above mentioned two mountains are at his back, but another huge mountain, 9000 feet high, is in front of its course. The pilot cannot see the mountain with his eyes, but he can watch the imaginary line and the display.* So, he decides to veer to the right when he's 2' 30'' away from the collision with the mountain - maybe that's a course he must follow in order to approach a runway.

Conveniently, with reference to Fig. 5, the imaginary line has shorten a lot, a part of it has disappeared, it's impossible to see it because it penetrates through the mountain. At this point, the pilot begins to veer to the right.

Conveniently, with reference to Fig. 6, the plane is oblique compared with the symmetry axis of the display unit. This inclination has been displayed few seconds after the plane has veered, since the aircraft moved to a second imaginary line and the device needs some time to do calculations again. The veering has been displayed 8-12 seconds after it has started. The stylised plane will remain so inclined for other 20-30 seconds until it will return in its normal position.

Conveniently, with reference to Fig. 7, the plane has come back in its right position and a runway, a red rectangle, seems to appear in front of it. In few minutes the aircraft will start coming down, so the device begins to calculate the points of the earth because the aircraft is losing height. At this point, it can effectively help the pilot in its landing.

In practice, the constructing details may, however, vary as regards shape, size, position of elements, and type of materials used, but still remain within the range of the idea proposed as a solution and, consequently, within the limits of the protection granted by this patent for invention.

Brief description of drawings

The present invention can be better understood by every expert in this field by reading the following description and referring to the enclosed drawings, given as practical examples of the invention, but not to be considered restrictive.

Fig. 1 shows the architecture of the machine. It's a simple diagram where the various parts are drawn with blocks that give the idea of how the system should work.

The GPS receiver (1) is shown, which takes the data from the satellites, processes them and then transmits them to the computer in the form of geographical coordinates. The computer processing is carried out by a group of CPUs (2), which work in parallel, and their number varies according to the complexity of the display unit. With the data supplied by the GPS, the software creates an imaginary line and gives the plane its current altitude compared to the ground, analysing the geographical rectangle of a mile per a nautical mile above, which the plane is in that moment. The software takes the data from the Hard Disk (3) containing all the latitudes, longitudes and heights of the points of the earth' s surface area where the plane is flying, and inserts them in the imaginary line, until it finds one or more points that give the logical result 0=0. When the processor reads this data, it stops its work and alerts the pilot by means of visual or sound signals that the plane is going to crash into a point of the earth's surface. The CPUs communicate with the pilot according to the display unit (4) depicted in Fig. 1. A last input device (5), with the purpose of updating the data contained in the Hard Disk, completes the architecture of the machine.

- Fig. 2 shows how the program that creates the cones delineating the mountains (6) will appear to the human eye. The invention does not project this figure as it will be useless for the pilot or the human operator (7) .

- Figs. 3 to 7 show how the display unit works on commercial jets or military planes. In particular, they are the illustration of a hypothetical case.

The display of Fig. 3 consists of the following elements: stylized plane (8), imaginary line (9), mountains with relative altitudes (10, 10A) , goniometer of navigation (11). The imaginary line is divided into numbers, 1-2-3-4-5, which do not represent a distance in miles, but the place where the plane will be in 1-2-3-4-5 minutes if it continues to follow the same course.

The display of Fig. 4 shows that the plane has two mountains (10, 10A) on its sides and even a 9000 feet high mountain (10B) in its front .

The display of Fig. 5 shows the imaginary line (9) that has shorten a lot, since a part of it has disappeared and it's impossible to see because it penetrates through the mountain. At this point, the pilot begins to veer to the right. The display of Fig. 6 shows that the plane is oblique compared with the symmetry axis of the display. This inclination has been displayed few seconds after the plane has veered, since the aircraft moved to a second imaginary line and the device needs some time to do calculations again. The veering has been displayed 8-12 seconds after it has started. The stylised plane will remain so inclined for other 20-30 seconds until it will return in its normal position. The display of Fig. 7 shows that the plane has come back in its right position and has in front a red rectangle (12) that shows a runway.

Claims

1) Anti-collision device for means of transport characterised in that it comprises:

2) Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the same device utilizes the data supplied by the GPS, completes them with a database of the earth' s surface and allows the pilot to move the vehicle or aircraft through the fog, the clouds or in the deepest night darkness, without using radio-frequency hyperbolic systems, so that it can be installed in any kind of flying object, vessel or other means of transport, since it has the function to calculate and foresee what is going to happen and alert the vehicle or the human operator to the imminent danger and convince him to move to another imaginary line, which means to a safer course.

3) Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the same device includes the following elements:

- GPS receiver;

- CPUs group working in parallel;

- hard disk representing the database;

- display output device;

- display unit;

- input device for updating the database.

4) Device according to claim 1, characterised in that it creates an imaginary line that represents the direction the vehicle or aircraft would have followed if it kept on flying in perpendicular line according to the data the GPS receiver has supplied in that moment to the computer of the device. The GPS receiver acts as a sensor for the computer that processes the data. As a matter of fact, the computer takes the GPS data

(latitude, longitude, height) and creates an imaginary line, taking also from a database all the geographical data concerning the land close to the vehicle or aircraft and the course. When a geographical point, which is part of the land or of a surface of a mountain, is the solution of the equation of the imaginary line, the device alerts the pilot that the vehicle or aircraft is on collision course with an obstacle, calculating also the time estimated for the collision.

5) Process system of an anti-collision device for means of transport, characterised in that it comprises the following stages: - the GPS receiver (1) receives the data from the satellites, processes them and then sends them to the computer in the form of geographical coordinates;

- the computer processing is carried out by a group of CPUs (2), which work in parallel, and their number varies according to the complexity of the display unit;

- with the data supplied by the GPS, the software creates an imaginary line and gives the plane - in the case this system is used for the flight - its current altitude compared to the ground, analysing the geographical rectangle of a mile per a nautical mile above which in that moment the plane is.

6) System according to claim 5, characterised in that the processor takes from the GPS the data concerning latitude and longitude of the plane and compares them with all the geographical points that belongs to the square of a nautical mile by side. When it finds the point corresponding to the position of the aircraft, i.e. the point that has the same latitude and longitude but a different altitude, reads its height, deducts it from the height supplied by the GPS and transmits it to the pilot .

7) System according to claim 5 or 6, characterised in that the software takes the data from the Hard Disk (3) containing all the latitudes, longitudes and heights of the points of the earth's surface area where the plane is flying, and inserts them in the imaginary line, until it finds one or more points that give the logical result 0=0. When the processor reads this data, it alerts the pilot by means of visual or sound signals that the plane is going to crash into a point of the earth's surface. 8) System according to claims 5, 6, 7, characterised in that, since it is not based on the geometrical properties of the hyperbolas, it considerably reduces the large amount of work for the CPU, because the calculation of the intersections of the lines with the points of the earth's surface is much easier.

9) System according to claim 5, characterised in that it creates "geometric cones" that outline the shape of the mountains and that can be easily realized knowing the geographical point of the peak, a point at the base and the height of the mountain. So doing, the calculation is much simpler.

10) System according to claim 5, characterised in that it comprises an input device (5) with the purpose of updating the data contained in the Hard Disk, completing the architecture of the machine.

11) System according to claim 5, characterised in that the processor takes from the static Hard Disk all the latitudes and longitudes of the points that belong to the square of a nautical mile by side, and compares them with the data supplied by the GPS, but only latitude and longitude. When it finds a point supplied by the GPS and another point supplied by the Hard Disk with the same coordinates, it compares their heights and finds the altitude.

12) System according to claims 5 and 11, characterised in that in the case of the calculation of the height of the obstacles that may come across the course, the processor creates the imaginary line and takes the data from the Hard Disk regarding all the geographical coordinates, i.e. latitude, longitude and height, and inserts all of them in the imaginary line.

13) Device and system according to all previous claims, characterised in that the display unit shows all the data, preferably coloured, and in addition the imaginary line, thus giving the pilot a complete picture of the area where he's flying or moving.

14) Device and system according to all previous claims, characterised in that the display unit consists of the following elements:

- stylized plane;

- imaginary line;

- mountains with relative altitudes;

- goniometer of navigation; where the imaginary line is divided into numbers, 1-2-3-4-5, which represent the place where the plane will be in 1-2-3-4-5 minutes if it continues to follow the same course.