A Surface Movement Aircraft Passage Sensor Using a GPS Receiver and an Accelerometer

Abstract

We have developed a sensor system for surface movement aircraft passage. The system is laid underground and can be used though out the whole airport area. It includes a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, an object detection part, and a kind distinction part. The object detection part monitors the decay of GPS signals, and detects passage of an object. Because GPS satellites are not stationary, the number of satellites which can receive the GPS signal is not fixed. Also the number of satellites which receive the GPS signal changes at the time of the object’s passage and the amount of change varies with the size of the passing object and its shape. We developed an algorithm which accurately detects the object by the change in GPS signal based on estimation of the change. The kind distinction part detects the vibration propagated from objects by using the accelerometer, and an index is calculated which shows the kind of object based on the vibration frequency characteristics when the object is detected. This detection distinguishes aircraft from vehicles.
We verified the efficiency of the aircraft sensor with the kind distinction function by field tests.