Importance

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Abstract

An airport runway incursion warning system for monitoring air and ground traffic at an airport. The system is optimally used with an aircraft that has an electronic tag or interrogation system that stores identification information regarding the aircraft, and an RF transponder for receiving interrogation signals and for transmitting the identification information in response thereto. A radar system comprises a plurality of radar sensor units disposed at predetermined installation sites adjacent to a runway. Each radar sensor unit typically has an interface processor and telemetry electronics for communication, although hard-wired communication paths may be used. An RF/telemetry interface is provided for communicating with the radar sensor units when the interface processor and telemetry electronics are used. The RF/telemetry interface is also used to transmit the interrogation signals to the aircraft and receive the identification information therefrom. A central processing unit is coupled to the radar sensor units for receiving and integrating radar data produced by each the radar sensor units to produce a map of the runway that identifies authorization objects and aircraft that do not constitute intrusion threats, and intruding objects that do constitute intrusion threats to the runway. The central processing unit is optionally coupled to the RF/telemetry interface for transmitting signals to and from the aircraft, and in this case, the central processing unit processes identification information received from the aircraft to integrate the identification information into to generate a displayed image. An operator display is coupled to the central processing unit for displaying the map and identification information generated thereby for use by an operator.

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First Claim