TCAS I Design Guidelines

Abstract : A description of the FAA Airborne Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System known as TCAS I introduces the main topic of the report; results of an investigation of simple techniques suitable for the passive and active detection of nearby aircraft by TCAS I. This is followed by a review of the measurement facilities and data used to evaluate the detection techniques. Techniques for identifying passively returns from potentially threatening aircraft, i.e., the rejection or filtering out of non-threat aircraft, are described and evaluated. Alternatives for time-sharing the 1090 MHz channel between the TCAS I transponder and the passive detector are described. A candidate passive detector is defined and its performance is evaluated using flight test data. Predictions of the performance of a low-power TCAS I based on active detection are made via link calculations and flight test measurements. A summary of results concludes the report.