A method for determining the location of unknown air and ground vehicles using air vehicles whose locations are known

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for locating the position of air vehicles or land vehicles whose position is unknown by means of an air vehicle whose position is known in the air when GPS is not available or cannot be used.

Description

[0001] DESCRIPTION

[0002] A METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE LOCATION OF UNKNOWN AIR AND GROUND VEHICLES USING AIR VEHICLES WHOSE LOCATIONS ARE KNOWN

[0003] Technical Field

[0004] The invention relates to a method for locating the position of air vehicles or land vehicles whose position is unknown by means of an air vehicle whose position is known in the air when GPS is not available or cannot be used.

[0005] Prior Art

[0006] In the state of the art, GPS infrastructure is used as a broadcast for determining platform positions and each country is trying to implement its own satellite-based solution. However, since the RF transmissions made by these satellites are in certain frequency ranges, they are scrambled by jammers and cause misleading results or the GPS infrastructure cannot be used. Therefore, although they can be used in civilian areas, they become unreliable in battlefields.

[0007] Therefore, it is necessary to develop reliable methods for position determination.

[0008] In the patent document numbered TR 2022 / 020994, a positioning method that enables the position of a moving or fixed aerial platform to be determined using flasher signals over land and sea is mentioned. In the method described in the relevant document, the position of the platform is determined using flasher signals. In the related method, it is also possible to determine the position with flasher signals emitted from moving sources.

[0009] In document numbered US9948394B1, a power consumption optimization method for lightbased communication positioning applications is described. Within the scope of the method, pixels belonging to light sources are identified in the image taken from the image sensor on a mobile device, and the motion and orientation of the device are estimated by utilizing the light sources in the image. For this purpose, the identity information of the light sources can be utilized. Objects and Brief Description of the Invention

[0010] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for determining the position of a moving or stationary aerial platform.

[0011] A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the position of a platform when positioning system signals, such as GPS, are not reliably available, for example in the presence of jamming.

[0012] The invention will be used in situations where GPS systems for aviation or land platforms cannot be used. The concept is based on the idea that lighthouses provide reference points for ships at sea, making it possible to calculate the ship's own position. This system will work by placing sources that emit light at a wavelength that is invisible to the eye but can be seen with special cameras on aerial vehicles (balloons, UAVs, Aircraft, etc.) that are in the air and know their position, and then reading the broadcast from these light sources with the cameras on the air and land vehicles that do not know their position, and then finding the position of the platform relative to the position of these light sources.

[0013] Detailed Description of the Invention

[0014] A method for locating the position of air vehicles or ground vehicles whose position is unknown from an aircraft whose position is known in the air when GPS is not available or cannot be used, essentially comprising the steps

[0015] Transmitting the known position of a high-altitude aircraft to the ground either through modulation in the form of a light array using single or multiple bands or by emitting light at a known frequency in a known wavelength and its position with RF signals,

[0016] - Receiving the positions of people or vehicles on the ground or at low altitude having known positions by a camera using only light or light supplemented by an RF antenna,

[0017] - Determining the pixel position of the air vehicle on the camera and its actual position on earth with the information received from the camera or camera + RF,

[0018] - Determining the position of the ground or land vehicle by using this information obtained from one or more vehicles on the ground or by using a wide-angle camera flying at low altitude and looking upwards. High altitude air vehicles are much less susceptible to GPS jamming from the ground. In addition, since these vehicles have a much more advanced INS system, they can know their position with a low margin of error for long periods of time, even if GPS signals are interrupted for a while.

[0019] Air vehicles that know their position in the air will transmit their position information to the ground by modulating with multiband lights or with a light and using a signal strength and frequency range that can be transmitted even under signal jamming by ground or low-altitude devices.

[0020] The light and RF information emitted by the high-altitude air element will be received by the wide-angle camera and antenna on the ground or low-altitude vehicle, and the position information of the high-altitude aircraft and the pixel position on the camera will be found. The location information can be read directly from the RF broadcast or encrypted information can be transmitted from the RF broadcast. If position information is transmitted in the form of light modulation, this modulation will be read by a wide-angle camera that can operate in the relevant bands. At the end of this process, the position of the high-altitude aircraft and the pixel position on the camera will be known. The high-altitude aircraft can be a vehicle such as a balloon suspended in the air, or it can be a moving UAV or airplane.

[0021] The position of the camera will be found by using the pixel position of the high-altitude air vehicle and the internal parameters of the camera, such as focal length, sensor size, etc. and the roll, pitch and yaw angles of the camera. The position of the camera relative to the relevant low-altitude air vehicle or ground vehicle will also be used to determine the position of the relevant vehicles.

[0022] High-altitude air vehicles or air vehicles that know their location will enable determination of the location of vehicles-persons who do not know their location. While those who know their position will emit their position with light modulation using different bands, those who are trying to find their position will receive this light information with the help of a camera.

[0023] Location notification scenario with light and RF:

[0024] The difference of this scenario from the first scenario is that the vehicle, which knows its position, sends its position via RF instead of light modulation, in addition to emitting a simple light at the desired wavelength in the desired modulation that will only allow its position to be detected with the help of a camera.

[0025] In the first scenario, the light sources send their location information in accordance with the serial communication protocol. The pixel representing the light source will be processed as 1 if it is bright and 0 if it is dark. Hypothetically, the light source, which is continuously monitored in the video, will send position information by blinking during the frames. Since the lights on a moving platform will change position every frame on the video, a detected light source will be tracked throughout the frames and its location information will be determined based on its flashes. The position of the platform will be calculated based on the pixel coordinates in the last frame. The format of the location information is not defined. A format expressed in the shortest byte that fully represents the data can be used.

[0026] In RF position transmission, the position of the high-altitude air vehicle will be transmitted using any protocol. What is critical here is that the position can still be determined in the presence of GPS jamming or other signal jamming. For this, jamming-free frequencies or a high-power broadcast can be used.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for locating the position of air vehicles or ground vehicles whose position is unknown from an aircraft whose position is known in the air when GPS is not available or cannot be used, characterized by comprising the steps - Transmitting the high-altitude aircraft with a known position its location to the ground using either modulation in the form of a light array that can utilize single or multiple bands, or by emitting light at a known frequency in a known wavelength, along with RF signals,- Receiving the positions of people or vehicles on the ground or at low altitude having known positions by a camera using only light or light supplemented by an RF antenna,- Determining the pixel position of the air vehicle on the camera and its actual position on earth with the information received from the camera or camera + RF,- Determining the position of the ground or land vehicle by using this information obtained from one or more vehicles on the ground or by using a wide-angle camera flying at low altitude and looking upwards.