Dual-technology onboard air traffic tracking system for autonomous aerial vehicles

1. An autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) comprising:

a low-power dual-technology transponder configured to transmit real-time tracking data of the AAV in outbound tracking messages using both a first transmission technology and a second, different transmission technology, wherein the first and second transmission technologies are specified for operation within a common flight tracking system, and wherein the common flight tracking system is Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the first transmission technology is Universal Access Transmitter (UAT), and the second transmission technology is MHz Extended Squitter (1090ES);

a global positioning satellite (GPS) navigation system;

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the AAV to carry out operations including:

determining real-time tracking data of the AAV from the GPS navigation system, the real-time tracking data including real-time geographic location of the AAV over time; and

broadcasting outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using the first and second transmission technologies in ping-pong fashion, the outbound tracking messages including the determined real-time tracking data over time and an identifier of the AAV.

2. The AAV of claim 1 , wherein the real-time tracking data further include real-time velocity and acceleration of the AAV.

3. The AAV of claim 1 , wherein broadcasting the outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using the first and second transmission technologies in ping-pong fashion comprises:

generating first-type outbound tracking messages over a time interval according to a protocol for the first transmission technology, and generating second-type outbound tracking messages over the time interval according to a protocol for the second transmission technology; and

alternating between broadcasting of the first-type outbound tracking messages using the first transmission technology and broadcasting of the second-type outbound tracking messages using the second transmission technology.

4. The AAV of claim 1 , wherein the low-power dual-technology transponder is further configured to receive incoming tracking messages transmitted on either one or both of the first and second transmission technologies,

and wherein the operations further include:

receiving one or more incoming tracking messages on at least one of the first or second transmission technologies, each incoming tracking message including real-time tracking data and identifier information of a flight vehicle other than the AAV; and

decoding each of the received one or more incoming tracking messages to determine the included real-time tracking data of the flight vehicle other than the AAV.

5. The AAV of claim 4 , wherein the operations further include:

determining that a first incoming tracking message received on the first transmission technology and a second incoming tracking message received on the second transmission technology both contain concurrent real-time tracking data for the same flight vehicle other than the AAV.

6. The AAV of claim 1 , wherein the low-power dual-technology transponder is configured to transmit using no greater than 0.25 Watts.

7. The AAV of claim 1 , wherein the low-power dual-technology transponder has a weight of no greater than 4 grams, and linear dimensions of 27 millimeters wide by 48 millimeters long.

8. A flight-tracking communication device configured for operation in an aerial vehicle (AV), the flight-tracking communication device comprising:

a low-power dual-technology transponder configured to transmit real-time tracking data of the AV in outbound tracking messages using both a first transmission technology and a second, different transmission technology, wherein the first and second technologies are specified for operation within a common flight tracking system, and wherein the common flight tracking system is Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the first transmission technology is Universal Access Transmitter (UAT), and the second transmission technology is MHz Extended Squitter (1090ES);

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the flight-tracking communication device to carry out operations including:

receiving real-time tracking data of the AV from a global positioning satellite (GPS) navigation system, the real-time tracking data including real-time geographic location of the AV over time; and

broadcasting outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using the first and second transmission technologies in ping-pong fashion, the outbound tracking messages including the determined real-time tracking data over time and an identifier of the AV.

9. The flight-tracking communication device of claim 8 , further comprising the GPS navigation system.

10. The flight-tracking communication device of claim 8 , wherein the real-time tracking data further include real-time velocity and acceleration of the AV.

11. The flight-tracking communication device of claim 8 , wherein broadcasting the outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using the first and second transmission technologies in ping-pong fashion comprises:

generating first-type outbound tracking messages over a time interval according to a protocol for the first transmission technology, and generating second-type outbound tracking messages over the time interval according to a protocol for the second transmission technology; and

alternating between broadcasting of the first-type outbound tracking messages using the first transmission technology and broadcasting of the second-type outbound tracking messages using the second transmission technology.

12. The flight-tracking communication device of claim 8 , wherein the low-power dual-technology transponder is further configured to receive incoming tracking messages transmitted on either one or both of the first and second transmission technologies,

and wherein the operations further include:

receiving one or more incoming tracking messages on at least one of the first or second transmission technologies, each incoming tracking message including real-time tracking data and identifier information of a flight vehicle other than the AV; and

decoding each of the received one or more incoming tracking messages to determine the included real-time tracking data of the flight vehicle other than the AV.

13. The flight-tracking communication device of claim 8 , wherein the low-power dual-technology transponder is configured to transmit using no greater than 0.25 Watts.

14. The flight-tracking communication device of claim 8 , wherein the low-power dual-technology transponder has a weight of no greater than 4 grams, and linear dimensions of 27 millimeters wide by 48 millimeters long.

15. A method comprising:

in an aerial vehicle (AV), determining real-time tracking data of the AV from a navigation system onboard the AV, the tracking data including geographic location of the AV over time; and

using a low-power dual-technology transponder onboard the AV, broadcasting outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using a first transmission technology and a second, different transmission technology in ping-pong fashion, the outbound tracking messages including the determined real-time tracking data over time and an identifier of the AV, wherein the first and second transmission technologies are specified for operation within a common flight tracking system,

and wherein the common flight tracking system is Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the first transmission technology is Universal Access Transmitter (UAT), and the second transmission technology is MHz Extended Squitter (1090ES).

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the real-time tracking data further include real-time velocity and acceleration of the AV.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein broadcasting the outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using the first and second transmission technologies in ping-pong fashion comprises:

generating first-type outbound tracking messages over a time interval according to a protocol for the first transmission technology, and generating second-type outbound tracking messages over the time interval according to a protocol for the second transmission technology; and

alternating between broadcasting of the first-type outbound tracking messages using the first transmission technology and broadcasting of the second-type outbound tracking messages using the second transmission technology.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein alternating between broadcasting of the first-type outbound tracking messages using the first transmission technology and broadcasting of the second-type outbound tracking messages using the second transmission technology comprises:

broadcasting repeating cycles of alternating first-type and second-type outbound tracking messages, each cycle comprising an alternation between at least one first-type outbound message and at least one second-type outbound message.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

using the low-power dual-technology transponder onboard the AV, receiving one or more incoming tracking messages on at least one of the first or second transmission technologies, each incoming tracking message including real-time tracking data and identifier information of a flight vehicle other than the AV; and

decoding each of the received one or more incoming tracking messages to determine the included real-time tracking data of the flight vehicle other than the AV.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

determining that a first incoming tracking message received on the first transmission technology and a second incoming tracking message received on the second transmission technology both contain concurrent real-time tracking data for the same flight vehicle other than the AV.