JP7560341B2 - Aircraft information sharing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an aircraft information sharing system.

Conventionally, an aircraft communication system described in Patent Document 1 is known as a system that uses position information obtained from a communication satellite. In this aircraft communication system, the communication antenna is directed using position information obtained from the aircraft via a satellite communication link.

JP 2009-81696 A

For example, in the event of a disaster, a large number of aircraft are used to respond to the disaster. In such cases, safety during aircraft flights and rapid response are required, and stable information sharing is important for this. However, in a system such as that described in Patent Document 1, there is room for further improvement in terms of stable information sharing.

The present invention was made to solve these problems, and aims to provide an aircraft information sharing system that can ensure stable information sharing.

An aircraft information sharing system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a ground communication device capable of communicating with an aircraft via a satellite communication system having a communication satellite and a satellite base station, and an aviation communication device mounted on the aircraft, the aviation communication device having a first aviation transceiver that transmits and receives information to and from the ground communication device via the satellite communication system, and a second aviation transceiver that transmits and receives information to and from at least one of the aviation communication devices mounted on other aircraft and the ground communication device via an antenna, the ground communication device having a first ground transceiver that transmits and receives information to and from the first aviation transceiver via the satellite communication system, and the first ground transceiver transmits information to switch the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver on and off.

According to this configuration, on/off switching information for the second aviation transceiver is transmitted from the ground communication device to the aviation communication device via the satellite communication system. Therefore, for example, by turning on the transmission function of the aircraft to which communications are assigned and turning off the transmission function of the other aircraft, the assigned aircraft can transmit information through large-volume communications while preventing interference. In this way, the information sharing system can ensure stable information sharing.

In the aircraft information sharing system, the second aircraft transceiver may transmit information using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) method. By using such a communication method, communications divided by frequency can be assigned to multiple aircraft. Information can be shared among multiple aircraft through each communication.

In the aircraft information sharing system, the ground communication device may have a second ground transceiver that transmits and receives the information to and from the second aviation transceiver via the antenna. With this configuration, information can be shared directly between the ground communication device and the aircraft.

In the aircraft information sharing system, the aviation communication device may have an aviation output unit that outputs the information transmitted and received by the second aviation transceiver, and the ground communication device may have a ground output unit that outputs the information transmitted and received by the second ground transceiver. With this configuration, information transmitted and received between the second aviation transceiver and the second ground transceiver is output to the ground output unit and the aviation output unit, making it possible to share information between the ground and the aircraft.

In the aircraft information sharing system, the antenna of the ground communication device may be a directional antenna whose direction can be controlled, and the ground communication device may have a ground memory unit that stores flight information of the aircraft, and a ground control unit that predicts the position of the aircraft from the flight information and controls the orientation of the directional antenna based on the predicted position. With this configuration, the ground communication device can quickly communicate with the aircraft by pointing the directional antenna toward the predicted position, for example, when communication starts or when radio waves are interrupted, thereby enabling smoother information sharing with the aircraft.

The present invention has the above-described configuration and has the effect of providing an aircraft information sharing system that can achieve stable information sharing.

The above objects, other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating an aircraft information sharing system according to a first embodiment and a second embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an aircraft information sharing system of embodiment 1. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of control of the aircraft information sharing system of embodiment 1. FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an aircraft information sharing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of control of the information sharing system of the aircraft of FIG.

The following describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. Note that, in the following, the same or corresponding elements are given the same reference symbols throughout the drawings, and redundant explanations will be omitted.

(Embodiment 1)
<Configuration of aircraft information sharing system>
An aircraft information sharing system 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is a system capable of sharing information among a plurality of aircraft 30, as shown in Fig. 1. The aircraft 30 is a machine that flies in the atmosphere, such as a helicopter or an airplane, and is equipped with an aviation communication device 31. The aviation communication device 31 communicates with a ground station 20 via a satellite communication system 50. The ground station 20 is located on the ground, and is equipped with a ground communication device 21.

The satellite communication system 50 includes a communication satellite 51 and a satellite base station 52, and is a system that performs wireless communication between the satellite base station 52 and the aviation communication device 31 via the communication satellite 51. The satellite base station 52 is located on the ground, and communicates with the ground communication device 21 via a ground line such as the Internet.

The communication satellite 51 is located in outer space and relays communications between the aviation communication device 31 and the satellite base station 52. There may be one or more communication satellites 51. The satellite base station 52 may communicate with the aviation communication device 31 via one communication satellite 51, or may communicate with the aviation communication device 31 via a relay of multiple communication satellites 51.

<Configuration of aviation communication equipment, ground communication equipment, and satellite base station>
As shown in Figure 2, the aviation communication device 31 has a first aviation antenna 32, a second aviation antenna 33, a first aviation transceiver unit 34, an aviation control unit 35, an aviation memory unit 36, a second aviation transceiver unit 37 and a positioning antenna 38.

The first aviation transceiver 34 is a transceiver such as an IP transceiver, and transmits and receives information to and from the satellite base station 52 by wireless communication with the communication satellite 51. The first aviation transceiver 34 has a receiver that receives information from the satellite base station 52 via the communication satellite 51 by the first aviation antenna 32, and a transmitter that transmits information to the satellite base station 52 by the first aviation antenna 32 via the communication satellite 51. Note that in this embodiment, the first aviation transceiver 34 has a receiving section and a transmitting section that are integrally formed, but the receiving section having a receiver and the transmitting section having a transmitter may be formed separately.

The first aviation transceiver 34 also receives its own position information from a positioning system such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) via a positioning antenna 38. Note that a positioning unit that receives position information from the positioning antenna 38 may be provided in the aviation communication device 31, separate from the first aviation transceiver 34 that transmits and receives information from the first aviation antenna 32.

The second aviation transceiver 37 is a transceiver such as an IP transceiver, and has a receiver that receives information via the second aviation antenna 33, and a transmitter that transmits information via the second aviation antenna 33. For example, the second aviation transceiver 37 transmits and receives information to and from the second aviation transceiver 37 of another aviation communication device 31. Note that in this embodiment, the second aviation transceiver 37 has a receiving section and a transmitting section that are integrally formed, but the receiving section having a receiver and the transmitting section having a transmitter may be formed separately.

The second aviation antenna 33 is an antenna mounted on the aircraft 30 separately from the first aviation antenna 32, and is an omnidirectional antenna that has no directionality. However, the second aviation antenna 33 may be a directional antenna. In this case, for example, the second aviation antenna 33 is directed to the other aircraft 30 based on the position information of the other aircraft 30 acquired from the aviation control unit 35 and the first aviation transceiver unit 34.

The aviation control unit 35 is composed of an arithmetic processing device such as a processor (e.g., a CPU). The aviation memory unit 36 is composed of memory (e.g., a RAM, a ROM) that can be accessed by the aviation control unit 35, and stores the control program of the aviation communication device 31 and identification information that can distinguish the aircraft from other aircraft 30.

The aviation control unit 35 executes this control program to control each part of the aviation communication device 31. For example, the aviation control unit 35 acquires information from the first aviation transceiver unit 34, the second aviation transceiver unit 37, and the aviation memory unit 36, and outputs information to the first aviation transceiver unit 34, the second aviation transceiver unit 37, and the aviation memory unit 36.

The satellite base station 52 of the satellite communication system 50 receives information from the first aviation transceiver 34 via the communication satellite 51, and transmits information to the first aviation transceiver 34 via the communication satellite 51. The satellite base station 52 also receives information from the ground communication device 21 via a terrestrial communication line, and transmits information to the ground communication device 21 via the terrestrial communication line.

The ground communication device 21 has a first ground transceiver 22, a ground control unit 23, and a ground memory unit 24. The first ground transceiver 22 is a transceiver such as an IP transceiver, and has a receiver that receives information from the satellite base station 52 via a ground communication line, and a transmitter that transmits information to the satellite base station 52 via a ground communication line. This allows the first ground transceiver 22 to transmit and receive information with the first aviation transceiver 34 via the satellite communication system 50. Note that in this embodiment, the first ground transceiver 22 has a receiving unit and a transmitting unit integrally formed, but the receiving unit having a receiver and the transmitting unit having a transmitter may be formed separately.

The ground control unit 23 is composed of an arithmetic processing device such as a processor (e.g., a CPU). The ground memory unit 24 is composed of memory (e.g., a RAM, a ROM) that the ground control unit 23 can access, and stores the control program of the ground communication device 21, etc. The ground control unit 23 controls each part of the ground communication device 21 by executing this control program. For example, the ground control unit 23 acquires information from the first ground transmission/reception unit 22, the ground memory unit 24, other storage media, input devices, communication lines such as the Internet, etc., and outputs information to the first ground transmission/reception unit 22 and the ground memory unit 24.

The ground control unit 23 also transmits information (switching information) for switching on and off the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver unit 37 of the aviation communication device 31 from the first ground transceiver unit 22 to the first aviation transceiver unit 34 via the satellite communication system 50. This switching information includes transmission on information that enables the second aviation transceiver unit 37 to transmit, and transmission off information that disables the second aviation transceiver unit 37 to transmit. As a result, the on and off of the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver unit 37 is controlled by the ground control unit 23.

Furthermore, the ground control unit 23 transmits on/off switching information for the reception function of the second aviation transceiver unit 37 of the aviation communication device 31 from the first ground transceiver unit 22 to the first aviation transceiver unit 34 via the satellite communication system 50. This switching information includes reception on information that enables the second aviation transceiver unit 37 to receive, and reception off information that disables the second aviation transceiver unit 37 to receive. As a result, the on and off of the reception function of the second aviation transceiver unit 37 is controlled by the ground control unit 23.

<Communication by the second aviation transceiver unit>
The second aeronautical transceiver 37 transmits information, for example, by using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) method. According to OFDM, multiple subcarriers (carrier waves) are used in a communication frequency band, and information is divided among the multiple subcarriers and transmitted. This allows information to be transmitted at a high density.

<How aircraft information is shared>
The information sharing method of the aircraft 30 is executed by the information sharing system 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2 in accordance with the flowchart of Figure 3. This sharing method is executed by the ground control unit 23 of the ground communication device 21 and the aviation control unit 35 of the aviation communication device 31. Here, for example, a case will be described in which one aircraft 30 (transmitting aircraft 30a) among the multiple aircraft 30 holds target information and shares this target information with one or more other aircraft 30 (receiving aircraft 30b).

Examples of the target information include images such as still images and videos, and text expressed in characters. The target information may be information stored in the aviation memory unit 36 of the transmitting aircraft 30a, or may be information acquired from the first aviation transceiver unit 34, the second aviation transceiver unit 37, other storage media, input devices, etc.

The receiving aircraft 30b is an aircraft 30 other than the transmitting aircraft 30a that can communicate with the second aviation transceiver 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a via the second aviation transceiver 37. For example, if the second aviation antenna 33 is an omnidirectional antenna, the receiving aircraft 30b can communicate with the transmitting aircraft 30a within several kilometers of the transmitting aircraft 30a. Also, if the second aviation antenna 33 is a directional antenna, the receiving aircraft 30b can communicate with the transmitting aircraft 30a at a longer distance from the transmitting aircraft 30a than if the second aviation antenna 33 is an omnidirectional antenna.

In the following, among the aircraft 30 located in the target area, aircraft 30 other than the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b are referred to as area aircraft 30c. The target area is an area that includes the position of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the position of the receiving aircraft 30b, and includes the position of aircraft 30 that interferes with radio waves via the second aviation antenna 33 with at least one of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b.

Specifically, for example, the aviation communication device 31 of each aircraft 30 constantly transmits its own position information and identification information to the ground communication device 21 via the satellite communication system 50 every few seconds to several minutes (step S10). The ground communication device 21 constantly acquires the position information and identification information of the aircraft 30, associates them, and stores them in the ground memory unit 24 (step S11).

The ground communication device 21 acquires an information sharing request (step S12). This information sharing request includes identification information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and identification information of the receiving aircraft 30b. For example, the information sharing request is input to the ground communication device 21 by a user operating an input device or the like at the ground station 20. However, the input of the information sharing request is not limited to this. For example, a user at the aircraft 30 may generate an information sharing request and transmit it to the ground communication device 21 via the satellite communication system 50.

Then, the ground communication device 21 acquires the identification information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the identification information of the receiving aircraft 30b from the information sharing request. In addition, at this time, an aircraft 30 that is in a position that causes radio interference with at least one of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b is an aircraft 30 located in the target area. Therefore, the ground communication device 21 designates the aircraft 30 other than the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b among these aircraft 30 as area aircraft 30c, and acquires the identification information of the area aircraft 30c from the ground memory unit 24 (step S13).

Then, the ground communication device 21 transmits the identification information and transmission/reception off information of all aircraft 30 (transmitting aircraft 30a, receiving aircraft 30b, and area aircraft 30c) in the target area to the aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c via the satellite communication system 50 (step S14). The transmission/reception off information includes transmission off information and reception off information. These aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c receive the transmission/reception off information and turn off the transmission function and reception function of the second aviation transceiver 37 based on the transmission/reception off information (step S15). As a result, the second aviation transceiver 37 of the aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c becomes unable to receive or transmit.

The transmission off information of the transmitting aircraft 30a, the transmission off information of the receiving aircraft 30b, and the transmission off information of the area aircraft 30c are the same as each other, but may be different from each other. For example, if the second aviation transceiver unit 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a, the second aviation transceiver unit 37 of the receiving aircraft 30b, and the second aviation transceiver unit 37 of the area aircraft 30c are of different models, the transmission off information of the transmitting aircraft 30a, the transmission off information of the receiving aircraft 30b, and the transmission off information of the area aircraft 30c may be different from each other. In addition, the transmission on information, reception off information, and reception on information are the same as the transmission off information.

Then, the ground communication device 21 transmits the identification information and reception-on information of the receiving aircraft 30b to the receiving aircraft 30b via the satellite communication system 50 (step S16). The receiving aircraft 30b receives the reception-on information, and turns on the reception function of the second aviation transceiver 37 based on the reception-on information (step S17). This causes the second aviation transceiver 37 of the receiving aircraft 30b to enter a state in which it is capable of receiving but not capable of transmitting.

The ground communication device 21 also transmits the identification information and transmission-on information of the transmitting aircraft 30a to the transmitting aircraft 30a via the satellite communication system 50 (step S18). The transmitting aircraft 30a receives the transmission-on information and turns on the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver 37 based on the transmission-on information (step S19). This puts the second aviation transceiver 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a in a state where it can transmit but cannot receive.

In this manner, when the transmitting aircraft 30a is capable of transmission and the receiving aircraft 30b is capable of reception, the transmitting aircraft 30a acquires the target information from the aviation memory unit 36, etc., and transmits it via the second aviation transceiver unit 37 (step S20). This allows the receiving aircraft 30b to acquire the target information from the transmitting aircraft 30a, and these aircraft 30a, 30b can share the target information.

At this time, in the target area, the transmitting aircraft 30a is able to transmit, but the area aircraft 30c is unable to transmit. Therefore, the transmission information from the transmitting aircraft 30a is not mixed with the transmission information from the area aircraft 30c, and the receiving aircraft 30b can stably receive the target information.

Furthermore, because area aircraft 30c is in a state where transmission and reception are not possible, transmission and reception are limited to transmitting aircraft 30a and receiving aircraft 30b. This ensures high-capacity communication between transmitting aircraft 30a and receiving aircraft 30b, allowing the target information to be transmitted and received efficiently.

In addition, by using the OFDM modulation method to transmit the target information, the transmitting aircraft 30a can transmit the target information at high speed. This allows the target information to be transmitted and received efficiently between the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b.

Then, the transmitting aircraft 30a transmits its own identification information to the ground communication device 21 via the satellite communication system 50 together with transmission information indicating the transmission of the target information (step S21). The ground communication device 21 receives this information and determines that the transmission of the target information by the transmitting aircraft 30a has ended. As a result, the ground communication device 21 transmits the identification information and transmission/reception off information of the aircraft 30a, 30b, 30c in the target area to the aircraft 30a, 30b, 30c via the satellite communication system 50 (step S22). These aircraft 30a, 30b, 30c receive the transmission/reception off information and turn off the transmission function and reception function of the second aircraft transceiver 37 based on the transmission/reception off information (step S23). In this way, communication between the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b ends.

Generally, when transmitting large volumes of data over long distances, radio waves over a wide bandwidth are transmitted and the transmission power is increased. However, because the available frequency range is limited, it is difficult to transmit radio waves over a wide bandwidth. Furthermore, increasing the transmission power expands the range of radio interference, making it difficult to transmit data stably.

In addition, when the ground station 20 communicates with multiple aircraft 30 using the same system, a different frequency may be used for each aircraft 30, or the frequency may be shared by time division multiple access. In this case, the available frequency range is limited, so allocating a different frequency to each aircraft 30 reduces data transmission efficiency. In addition, with time division multiple access, radio waves are transmitted at regular intervals to aircraft 30 that do not need to transmit data, resulting in poor data transmission efficiency.

The ground communication device 21 then acquires the position information of the aircraft 30 via the satellite communication system 50, and switches the transmission function of the second aircraft transceiver 37 on and off based on this. In this way, by acquiring the position information of the aircraft 30 via the satellite communication system 50, communication can be established between the ground communication device 21 and the aircraft 30 without being affected by the distance between them. Furthermore, when the aircraft 30 does not need to transmit data, its transmission function is stopped, allowing the aircraft 30 that needs to transmit data to transmit data efficiently. Therefore, many aircraft 30 can transmit data efficiently without reducing communication capacity, and large volumes of data can be transmitted over long distances.

In the above step S22, the ground communication device 21 transmits the transmission/reception off information to the aircraft 30 based on the transmission information from the transmitting aircraft 30a in S21, but the timing of transmitting the transmission/reception off information is not limited to this. For example, the ground communication device 21 may transmit the transmission/reception off information a predetermined time after transmitting the reception on information to the transmitting aircraft 30a in S16 or the transmission on information in S18. In this case, the processing of S21 is omitted.

In the above configuration, the ground communication device 21 switches the receiving function of the second aviation transmission/reception unit 37 on and off, but the receiving function does not have to be switched on and off. In this case, the receiving function of the second aviation transmission/reception unit 37 is set to the on state. In this state, the ground communication device 21 may transmit transmission off information to the aircraft 30 in the target area in S14, and then transmit transmission on information to the transmitting aircraft 30a in S18, and omit transmitting the receiving on information in S16. Even in this case, since only the transmitting aircraft 30a can transmit in the target area, information from the transmitting aircraft 30a is not interfered with by information from the area aircraft 30c, and the receiving aircraft 30b can stably receive the target information from the transmitting aircraft 30a.

Furthermore, in the above configuration, the target area may be predetermined, and the location information of the target area may be stored in the ground storage unit 24. In this case, in step S13, the ground communication device 21 acquires the location information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the location information of the receiving aircraft 30b from the ground storage unit 24 based on the identification information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the identification information of the receiving aircraft 30b acquired from the information sharing request. Then, the target area including the location information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b is identified based on the information of the ground storage unit 24. Then, the ground communication device 21 determines the aircraft 30 whose location information is included in the target area as the aircraft 30 in the target area, and determines the aircraft 30 other than the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b among these aircraft 30 as the area aircraft 30c, and acquires the identification information of the area aircraft 30c from the ground storage unit 24.

(Embodiment 2)
<Configuration of aircraft information sharing system>
As shown in Fig. 4, in the information sharing system 10 for an aircraft 30 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the ground communication device 21 further includes a ground antenna 27 and a second ground transceiver unit 25. Other configurations, operations, and effects according to the second embodiment are similar to those of the first embodiment.

The ground antenna 27 is a directional antenna such as a parabolic antenna, and is directed toward the aircraft 30. The ground control unit 23 directs the ground antenna 27 toward the aircraft 30 based on the position information of the aircraft 30.

The second ground transceiver 25 is a transceiver such as an IP transceiver, and has a receiver that receives information transmitted from the second aviation transceiver 37 via the second aviation antenna 33 by the ground antenna 27, and a transmitter that transmits information from the ground antenna 27 to the second aviation transceiver 37 via the second aviation antenna 33. In this embodiment, the second ground transceiver 25 has a receiving section and a transmitting section integrally formed, but the receiving section having a receiver and the transmitting section having a transmitter may be formed separately.

<How aircraft information is shared>
The information sharing method for the aircraft 30 is executed by the information sharing system 10 for the aircraft 30 shown in Figures 1 and 4 in accordance with the flowchart of Figure 5. Here, a case will be described in which target information of the transmitting aircraft 30a is shared with the receiving aircraft 30b and the ground communication device 21. In the flow shown in Figure 5, the process of S21 in Figure 3 is omitted, and the process of step S30 is executed between step S17 and step S18.

Specifically, the aviation communication device 31 of each aircraft 30 transmits the position information and identification information of the aircraft 30 via the satellite communication system 50 (step S10), and the ground communication device 21 acquires and stores them (step S11). The ground communication device 21 also acquires an information sharing request (step S12) and acquires the identification information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the identification information of the receiving aircraft 30b from the information sharing request. The ground communication device 21 also acquires the position information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the position information of the receiving aircraft 30b from the ground storage unit 24 based on the identification information of the transmitting aircraft 30a and the identification information of the receiving aircraft 30b. The ground communication device 21 then acquires the identification information of the area aircraft 30c from the ground storage unit 24, regarding the aircraft 30 other than the transmitting aircraft 30a and the receiving aircraft 30b among the aircraft 30 in the target area including this position information as area aircraft 30c (step S13).

The ground communication device 21 transmits transmission/reception off information to the aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c in the target area via the satellite communication system 50 (step S14), and the aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c turn off the transmission and reception functions of the second aircraft transceiver 37 based on the transmission/reception off information (step S15).

Then, the ground communication device 21 transmits reception-on information to the receiving aircraft 30b via the satellite communication system 50 (step S16), and the receiving aircraft 30b turns on the reception function of the second aircraft transceiver 37 based on the reception-on information (step S17). The ground communication device 21 also adjusts the orientation of the ground antenna 27 to the transmitting aircraft 30a based on the position information of the transmitting aircraft 30a (step S30). By pointing the ground antenna 27 toward the transmitting aircraft 30a in this way, the receiving aircraft 30b and the ground communication device 21 become able to receive information.

The ground communication device 21 then transmits transmission-on information to the transmitting aircraft 30a via the satellite communication system 50 (step S18), and the transmitting aircraft 30a turns on the transmission function of the second aircraft transceiver 37 based on the transmission-on information (step S19).

The transmitting aircraft 30a transmits the target information via the second aviation transceiver 37 (step S20). As a result, the receiving aircraft 30b receives the target information via the second aviation transceiver 37, and the ground communication device 21 receives the target information via the second ground transceiver 25 via the ground antenna 27. This allows the transmitting aircraft 30a, the receiving aircraft 30b, and the ground communication device 21 to share the target information. At this time, the ground communication device 21 can efficiently receive the target information via the directional ground antenna 27, enabling stable information sharing.

Then, the ground communication device 21 transmits the transmission/reception off information to the aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c in the target area via the satellite communication system 50 (step S22), and the aircraft 30a, 30b, and 30c turn off the transmission and reception functions of the second aircraft transceiver 37 based on the transmission/reception off information (step S23). In this way, the information sharing method of the aircraft 30 is completed.

The ground antenna 27 is not limited to a directional antenna, and may be an omnidirectional antenna. In this case, the process of S30 in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is omitted.

In addition, in the above configuration, the receiving function of the second aircraft transceiver 37 in the receiving aircraft 30b is turned on in the processes of S16 and S17, and then the transmitting aircraft 30a transmits the target information in S20. However, the processes of S16 and S17 may be omitted. In this case, the target information from the transmitting aircraft 30a is not received by the receiving aircraft 30b, but is received by the ground communication device 21. Therefore, the transmitting aircraft 30a and the ground communication device 21 can share the target information.

Furthermore, the ground communication device 21 may hold target information and supply this target information to the aircraft 30. In this case, the ground communication device 21 turns off the transmission function and reception function of the second aviation transceiver 37 in the aircraft 30 in the target area, then turns on the reception function of the transmitting aircraft 30a, directs the ground antenna 27 to the transmitting aircraft 30a, and transmits the target information to the transmitting aircraft 30a via the ground antenna 27. Then, the ground communication device 21 turns off the reception function and turns on the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver 37 in the transmitting aircraft 30a, and turns on the reception function of the second aviation transceiver 37 of the receiving aircraft 30b. As a result, the transmitting aircraft 30a transmits the target information and the receiving aircraft 30b receives the target information, so that the transmitting aircraft 30a, the receiving aircraft 30b, and the ground communication device 21 can share the target information.

<Modification 1>
In the first modification of the second embodiment, the ground control unit 23 may predict the position of the aircraft 30. For example, the aircraft 30 transmits its own identification information and flight information to the ground communication device 21 via the satellite communication system 50 at predetermined time intervals using the first aviation transceiver unit 34. This flight information may include, for example, position information, speed, attitude, and route information of the aircraft 30. However, the route information of the aircraft 30 may be stored in advance in the ground communication device 21.

In the ground communication device 21, the ground control unit 23 receives the identification information and flight information of the aircraft 30, and stores them in association with each other in the ground memory unit 24. However, since the ground communication device 21 receives this information via the satellite communication system 50, there may be a discrepancy between the actual current position of the aircraft 30 and the received position information of the aircraft 30.

In such a case, the ground control unit 23 predicts the position of the aircraft 30 based on the flight information obtained up to that point. Then, the ground control unit 23 aligns the orientation of the ground antenna 27 with the aircraft 30 based on the predicted position. This allows the ground communication device 21 and the aircraft 30 to share information more smoothly.

For example, even if the ground communication device 21 receives position information of the aircraft 30 at long intervals or cannot obtain position information of the aircraft 30, it can communicate with the aircraft 30 and share information by pointing the ground antenna 27, which is a directional antenna, at the predicted position of the aircraft 30. Also, if the aircraft 30 is in a location where radio waves cannot reach, the ground communication device 21 can quickly communicate with the aircraft 30 and share information when the aircraft 30 moves to a location where radio waves can reach by pointing the ground antenna 27 at the start of communication or when radio waves are interrupted at the predicted position of the aircraft 30.

<Modification 2>
In all the above embodiments and modifications, the OFDM modulation method is used for the communication of the second aviation transceiver 37, but the modulation method is not limited to this. For example, a modulation method combining OFDM with TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) may be adopted for the communication of the second aviation transceiver 37. According to this, a communication frequency band is assigned to each of the multiple aircraft 30 at regular time intervals by TDMA. The assigned aircraft 30 divides information into multiple subcarriers in the communication frequency band and transmits it.

Here, the ground communication device 21 switches the transmission function on at a predetermined time interval, turning on the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a to which communication has been assigned, and switching off the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver 37 of the other aircraft 30. As a result, when information is transmitted from the second aviation transceiver 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a, information is not transmitted from the second aviation transceiver 37 of the other aircraft 30. This prevents interference, and the receiving aircraft 30b can stably receive the target information from the transmitting aircraft 30a and share it with the transmitting aircraft 30a.

In addition, the second aircraft transceiver 37 may use an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) modulation method for communication. According to OFDMA, the communication frequency band is divided into multiple frequency bands by frequency. The multiple frequency bands are assigned to the multiple aircraft 30, respectively. The assigned aircraft 30 transmits information divided into multiple subcarriers in each divided frequency band.

For this reason, the ground communication device 21 switches on the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a to which communication has been assigned, and switches off the transmission function of the second aviation transceiver 37 of the other aircraft 30, performing switching of the transmission function in each divided frequency band. As a result, when information is transmitted from the second aviation transceiver 37 of the transmitting aircraft 30a, information is not transmitted from the second aviation transceiver 37 of the other aircraft 30. This prevents interference, allowing the receiving aircraft 30b to stably share the target information with the transmitting aircraft 30a.

<Modification 3>
In all of the above-described embodiments and modifications, as shown in Fig. 4, the aviation communication device 31 may further include an aviation output unit 39, and the ground communication device 21 may further include a ground output unit 26. The aviation output unit 39 and the ground output unit 26 are devices that output information, and are, for example, a display unit such as a screen and a notification unit such as a speaker.

The aviation output unit 39 outputs information received by the first aviation transceiver unit 34 and the second aviation transceiver unit 37, as well as information acquired from the aviation memory unit 36 and other storage media, etc. The ground output unit 26 outputs information received by the first ground transceiver unit 22 and the second ground transceiver unit 25, as well as information acquired from the ground memory unit 24 and other storage media, etc. In this way, the user of the aircraft 30 and the user of the ground station 20 can share the information output to each output unit 39, 26, accurately carry out missions based on this information, and quickly respond to disasters, etc.

All of the above embodiments may be combined with each other as long as they do not exclude each other. Furthermore, many improvements and other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description. Therefore, the above description should be interpreted as merely illustrative and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode for carrying out the present invention. Details of the structure and/or function of the present invention may be substantially changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

The aircraft information sharing system of the present invention is useful as an aircraft information sharing system that can achieve stable information sharing.

10: Information sharing system 21: Ground communication device 22: First ground transmission/reception unit 23: Ground control unit 24: Ground storage unit 25: Second ground transmission/reception unit 26: Ground output unit 27: Ground antenna (antenna)
30: Aircraft 31: Aviation communication device 33: Second aviation antenna (antenna)
34: First aeronautical transceiver unit 37: Second aeronautical transceiver unit 39: Aeronautical output unit 50: Satellite communication system 51: Communication satellite 52: Satellite base station

Claims (5)

a ground communication device capable of communicating with an aircraft via a satellite communication system having a communication satellite and a satellite base station;
and an aviation communication device installed on the aircraft,
The aviation communication device includes:
a first aeronautical transceiver that transmits and receives information to and from the ground communication device via the satellite communication system;
a second aviation transceiver for transmitting and receiving information to and from at least one of an aviation communication device mounted on another aircraft and the ground communication device via an antenna;
The ground communication device includes:
a first ground transceiver for transmitting and receiving information to and from the first aeronautical transceiver via the satellite communication system;
An information sharing system for an aircraft, wherein the first ground transceiver transmits information for switching on and off a transmission function of the second aviation transceiver. The aircraft information sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the second aviation transceiver transmits information using an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) method. The aircraft information sharing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ground communication device has a second ground transceiver that transmits and receives the information to and from the second aviation transceiver by the antenna. the aviation communication device has an aviation output unit that outputs the information transmitted and received by the second aviation transceiver unit,
4. The aircraft information sharing system according to claim 3, wherein the ground communication device has a ground output unit that outputs the information transmitted and received by the second ground transceiver unit. The antenna of the ground communication device is a directional antenna whose direction can be controlled,
The ground communication device includes:
A ground memory unit that stores flight information of the aircraft;
5. The aircraft information sharing system of claim 3, further comprising: a ground control unit that predicts the position of the aircraft from the flight information and controls the orientation of the directional antenna based on the predicted position.

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