Precision Aircraft Height Estimation with Horizontal Axis Marine Radars: (The Dual Autonomous Monitoring System (DAMS))

Abstract

Civil aviation authorities have a requirement for the application of devices which are capable of determining the geometric height of aircraft above flight level 290 with a high degree of precision. These devices, called height monitoring units (HMUS), should pave the way for a safe and expeditious introduction of reduced vertical separation of 1000 ft above flight level 290.In this paper the design philosophy as well as the prototype development of such a device, which is called the dual-synchronized autonomous monitoring system (DAMS), are outlined. This device operates fully independently of any airborne equipment such as secondary surveillance radar transponders.The configuration basically consists of two standard marine radars with both axes of revolution situated in a horizontal plane. With this configuration it is possible to determine the trajectory of an aircraft and, in particular, the geometrical height above ground level within typical radar slant range coverage of some 18 km. The basic application of this equipment will be in the field of height monitoring of aircraft targets in environments with reduced vertical separation standards of 1000 ft above flight level 290, but a wider application of this concept is foreseen for local precision tracking of aircraft targets.