Mode-S Radar Interrogation Algorithm Design for Dense Air Traffic Environment

Abstract

The increasing trend in air traffic density will continue in the near future with the addition of different aerial vehicles. Before the Mode-S protocol, Mode A and Mode C were in use; however, the Mode A/C configuration was only usable in sparsely dense air traffic. One of the useful features of Mode-S is the ability of probabilistic interrogation. However, there has not yet been a sophisticated algorithm for many close aircraft. Considering a futuristic air environment with a swarm of drones and airbuses equipped with transponders, we utilized the probabilistic interrogation feature of Mode-S and designed an algorithm. The proposed algorithm is able to collect close aircraft information in a relatively short time. There has also been created a high-level Mode-S uplink and downlink communication simulator in order to exchange all-call communication and record the algorithm’s performance in terms of time and number of interrogations sent.