An aircraft includes a short-range radar that is configured to detect a trajectory, which is specified based on a position detection of the aircraft by a ground station.

A method and a device for measuring altitude of an aircraft relative to a point on the ground, said aircraft carrying a radar system comprising a directional antenna to transmit a radio frequency signal along a aiming axis, including. controlling the transmission of a radiofrequency signal along the axis, calculating received powers as a function of radial distance on a sum channel and an elevation deviation channel, calculating tilt angular deviation values, determining an estimator of the radial distance of the aircraft relative to the point on the ground intercepted by the aiming axis as a function of at least one zero crossing of the angular deviation measurement in a selected area of the angular deviation measurement curve, calculating an aircraft altitude relative to said point on the ground as a function of the estimator of the radial distance and the elevation angle of the aiming axis.

Autoland systems and processes for landing an aircraft without pilot intervention are described. In implementations, the autoland system includes a memory operable to store one or more modules and at least one processor coupled to the memory. The processor is operable to execute the one or more modules to identify a plurality of potential destinations for an aircraft. The processor can also calculate a merit for each potential destination identified, select a destination based upon the merit; receive terrain data and/or obstacle data, the including terrain characteristic(s) and/or obstacle characteristic(s); and create a route from a current position of the aircraft to an approach fix associated with the destination, the route accounting for the terrain characteristic(s) and/or obstacle characteristic(s). The processor can also cause the aircraft to traverse the route, and cause the aircraft to land at the destination without requiring pilot intervention.

A surface-based transmitter system for assisting determination of vehicle location is presented. The system comprises a set of radio frequency (RF) transmitter nodes that, when deployed at different respective locations, are configured to output a sequence of respective RF pulses with a predefined inter-pulse delay between each pair of consecutive RF pulses in the sequence, wherein the pre-defined inter-pulse delay is longer than one microsecond. The set of RF transmitter nodes include at least a first RF transmitter node, a second RF transmitter node, a third RF transmitter node, and a fourth RF transmitter node, which are configured to output a first RF pulse, a second RF pulse, a third RF pulse, and a fourth RF pulse, respectively, of the sequence of RF pulses.

The invention relates to a guidance system for leading an aircraft to a reference point, characterised in that it comprises: An active beacon capable of emitting a first electromagnetic signal in a first emission cone, defined by an apex coinciding with the reference point, a first beam angle and a first axis corresponding to an emission direction; and a multi-beam radar, installed on board the aircraft, operating in reception mode and capable of performing deviation measurements on a signal received from the active beacon, the multi-beam radar comprising an antenna adapted for receiving in at least two spatially separate reception cones.

An instrument landing system (ILS) is described. The ILS comprises a plurality of antennas and a plurality of antenna radio units (ARUs). Each ARU of the plurality of ARUs operates to generate a modulated RF signal provided to a different one of the plurality of antennas for transmission. The ILS further comprises a central processing unit that operates to control the ARUs to adjust synchronization between the modulated RF signal provided by the ARUs to the plurality of antennas for transmission.

Systems and methods for detection and reporting of small targets to an operational area. Exemplary embodiments are presented to detect targets such as avian species, UAS, UAV, and drones, and transmit unique small target identifier information via data link, such as ADS-B, to an operational area.

Methods and systems are provided for guiding or otherwise assisting energy management of an aircraft radar vectoring en route to a runway. A method involves determining a predicted lateral trajectory for the radar vectoring in accordance with interception criteria, wherein the lateral trajectory comprises a sequence of segments for satisfying the interception criteria from a current location of the aircraft and each navigational segment of the sequence is associated with an anticipated aircraft heading assignment. The method determines a reference vertical trajectory corresponding to the lateral trajectory, determines a target value for an energy state parameter of the aircraft at the current location on the lateral trajectory using the reference vertical trajectory, and provides indication of a recommended action to reduce a difference between a current value for the energy state parameter and the target value.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an aviation weather control system including: a processing unit configured to receive weather information of an area to be overseen including a vertically integrated liquid water content, and specify a weather phenomenon affecting an airplane based on the received weather information; and a notification unit configured to notify the weather phenomenon specified by the processing unit.

An aircraft enhanced vision system includes an electromagnetic sensor comprising at least one group of transmitters and at least one group of receivers. The electromagnetic sensor includes a waveform generation assembly powering each transmitter in order to generate the transmitted signal and a signal capture assembly to capture the signal received by each receiver after reflection off of the ground. The transmitters are distinct and spaced apart from the receivers, being arranged so as to form at least one virtual transmitter/receiver network extending in an elongation direction perpendicular to the observation direction from each transmitter/receiver combination between the group of transmitters and the group of receivers.