Three-dimensional tracking using on-board measurements

Author

Rekkas, C.M. ; Lefas, C.C. ; Krikelis, N.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Nat. Tech. Univ. of Athens, Greece

Volume

27

Issue

4

fYear

1991

fDate

7/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

617

Lastpage

624

Abstract

The development of a three-dimensional tracker using onboard measurements is described. A system model based on aircraft dynamics is derived. A full 3-D tracking system that can be split, with a part operating onboard and a part operating on the ground, is developed. Attitude angle and aircraft airspeed measurements are processed to estimate the components of the aircraft velocity with respect to the surrounding air. These are then used to obtain estimates of the aircraft position and ground speed. The tracker is designed so that the number of quantities transmitted to the ground station is kept to a minimum. The tracker was evaluated with real data and was found to perform well, resulting in a considerable improvement over the conventional first-order Kalman filter

Keywords

air-traffic control; aircraft instrumentation; filtering and prediction theory; position measurement; tracking; velocity measurement; 3D; ATC; Kalman filter; aircraft airspeed measurements; aircraft dynamics; aircraft position; aircraft velocity; attitude measurement; flight dynamics; ground speed; onboard measurements; target dynamics; three-dimensional tracker; Aircraft; Current measurement; Filters; Mechanical variables measurement; Optical sensors; Position measurement; Pressure measurement; Sampling methods; Target tracking; Vehicle dynamics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9251

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/7.85034

Filename

85034