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EP-4738732-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR A CONSTRAINT-BASED APPROACH TO LOCATE RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE DEVICES AND IDENTIFY IMPACTED AREAS

EP4738732A1EP 4738732 A1EP4738732 A1EP 4738732A1EP-4738732-A1

Abstract

The present disclosure provides techniques for localizing RF interference devices and identifying impacted RF receiver paths or positions. A plurality of RF interference events are collected from one or more data sources. A group of RF interference events that indicate interference from a common RF interference source are identified from the plurality of RF interference events. An RF receiver location is estimated from each RF interference event. A plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions are created, each region being a volume referenced to an estimated RF receiver location. An overlapping volume that the plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions intersect is identified. An RF interference influence volume is defined by expanding the overlapping volume based on an interference range of the RF interference device as a function of direction.

Inventors

  • THOMAS, Nathaniel T.
  • Harris, William Matthew

Assignees

  • The Boeing Company

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20250910

Claims (15)

  1. A method, comprising: collecting a plurality of radio frequency (RF) interference events (415) from one or more data sources (405); identifying a group of RF interference events (425-1), from the plurality of RF interference events (415), that indicate interference from a common RF interference device; estimating a respective RF receiver location (435) from each respective RF interference event, of the group of RF interference events; creating a plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions (460), each respective region being a volume referenced to a respective RF receiver location; identifying an overlapping volume (470) that the plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions intersect; and defining an RF interference influence volume (475) by expanding the overlapping volume based on an interference range of the RF interference device as a function of direction.
  2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying one or more RF receiver paths or locations that intersect with the RF interference influence volume (475); and generating a list (490) comprising the one or more RF receiver paths or locations, indicating that the one or more RF receiver paths or locations are potentially impacted by the RF interference device.
  3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the one or more data sources comprises at least one of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data (450) or custom event monitor report data (405).
  4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein identifying the group of RF interference events (425-1) comprises: applying a clustering algorithm to the plurality of RF interference events (415); and grouping RF interference events with a common interference source into a cluster (425-1, 425-2, or 425-3).
  5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein each of the RF interference source location constraint regions (460) comprises a two-dimensional (2D) area formed by extending the interference range of the RF interference device in one or more directions.
  6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein each of the RF interference source location constraint regions (460) comprises a three-dimensional (3D) volume formed by extending the interference range of the RF interference device in one or more directions.
  7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the RF receiver location (435) comprises two-dimensional (2D) data, comprising longitude and latitude.
  8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the RF receiver location (435) comprises three-dimensional (3D) data, comprising longitude, latitude, and altitude.
  9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: creating a plurality of 3D RF interference source location constraint regions (460), each respective 3D region being centered around a respective RF receiver location; identifying a 3D overlapping volume (470) that the plurality of 3D RF interference source location constraint regions intersect; defining a 3D interference influence volume (475) by expanding the 3D overlapping volume based on the interference range of the RF interference device as a function of direction; identifying one or more RF receiver paths or locations (490) that intersect with the 3D interference influence volume; and generating a list (490) comprising the one or more RF receiver paths or locations, indicating that the one or more RF receiver paths or locations are potentially impacted by the RF interference device.
  10. A system, comprising: one or more memories collectively containing one or more programs; one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to, individually or collectively, perform an operation comprising: collecting a plurality of radio frequency (RF) interference events (415) from one or more data sources (405); identifying a group of RF interference events (425-1), from the plurality of RF interference events (415), that indicate interference from a common RF interference device; estimating a respective RF receiver location (435) from each respective RF interference event, of the group of RF interference events; creating a plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions (460), each respective region being a volume referenced to a respective RF receiver location; identifying an overlapping volume (470) that the plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions intersect; and defining an RF interference influence volume (475) by expanding the overlapping volume based on an interference range of the RF interference device as a function of direction.
  11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors are configured to, individually or collectively, perform the operation further comprising: identifying one or more RF receiver paths or locations that intersect with the RF interference influence volume (475); and generating a list (490) comprising the one or more RF receiver paths or locations, indicating that the one or more RF receiver paths or locations are potentially impacted by the RF interference device.
  12. The system of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the one or more data sources comprises at least one of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data (450) or custom event monitor report data (405) , and/or, wherein, to identify the group of RF interference events, the one or more processors are configured to, individually or collectively, perform the operation comprising: applying a clustering algorithm to the plurality of RF interference events (415); and grouping RF interference events with a common interference source into a cluster (425-1, 425-2, or 425-3).
  13. The system of any of claims 10 to 12, wherein each of the RF interference source location constraint regions (460) comprises a two-dimensional (2D) area formed by extending the interference range of the RF interference device in one or more directions, and/or, wherein each of the RF interference source location constraint regions (460) comprises a three-dimensional (3D) volume formed by extending the interference range of the RF interference device in one or more directions, and/or, wherein the RF receiver location (435) comprises two-dimensional (2D) data, comprising longitude and latitude.
  14. The system of any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the RF receiver location (435) comprises three-dimensional (3D) data, comprising longitude, latitude, and altitude, optionally, wherein the one or more processors are configured to, individually or collectively, perform the operation further comprising: creating a plurality of 3D RF interference source location constraint regions (460), each respective 3D region being centered around a respective RF receiver location; identifying a 3D overlapping volume (470) that the plurality of 3D RF interference source location constraint regions intersect; defining a 3D interference influence volume (475) by expanding the 3D overlapping volume based on the interference range of the RF interference device as a function of direction; identifying one or more RF receiver paths or locations (490) that intersect with the 3D interference influence volume; and generating a list (490) comprising the one or more RF receiver paths or locations, indicating that the one or more RF receiver paths or locations are potentially impacted by the RF interference device.
  15. One or more computer-readable media containing, in any combination, computer program code that, when executed by a computer system, performs an operation according to the method of any of claims 1 to 9.

Description

FIELD Aspects of the present disclosure relate to radio frequency interference detection. More specifically, aspects of the present disclosure relate to a constraint-based approach for locating radio frequency interference (RFI) sources and identifying impacted areas. BACKGROUND Conventionally, airplanes broadcast data and event logs that include indications of systems or functions that are not operating as expected, such as invalid or erroneous data from a system that receives radio frequencies (RF) to function, which may be due to an external RF interference (RFI) source. Review of these data and events in real time or after the fact can be combined with time and location of the airplane and assumptions about any possible external causes to constrain the possible location of the source and estimate the area of impact of the RFI source. One example of an RFI source is a Global Positioning System (GPS) spoofer, which intentionally transmits false GPS signals that cause GPS receivers to output invalid or erroneous data. A GPS spoofer or any RFI transmitter could impact many aircraft RF receivers as distant as anywhere within radio line of sight of the RFI transmitter. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a method in one aspect, the method including collecting a plurality of radio frequency (RF) interference events from one or more data sources, identifying a group of RF interference events, from the plurality of RF interference events, that indicate interference from a common RF interference device, estimating a respective RF receiver location from each respective RF interference event, of the group of RF interference events, creating a plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions, each respective region being a volume referenced to a respective RF receiver location, identifying an overlapping volume that the plurality of RF interference source location constraint regions intersect, and defining an RF interference influence volume by expanding the overlapping volume based on an interference range of the RF interference device as a function of direction. Other aspects of this disclosure provide one or more (optionally non-transitory) computer-readable media containing, in any combination, computer program code that, when executed by the operation of a computer system, performs an operation in accordance with one or more of the above methods, as well as systems comprising one or more memories containing one or more programs and one or more computer processors that are configured to, individually or collectively, perform an operation in accordance with one or more of the above methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS So that the manner in which the above recited features can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to example aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Figure 1 depicts an example process for an airplane detecting a RF interference event and sending a custom GPS event monitor report, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figures 2A-2C depict example custom GPS event monitor reports with the same spoofed GPS location, as well as several overlapping interference source location constraint regions, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figure 3 depicts an example minimum overlapping area with interference influence area determined, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figure 4 depicts an example flow for detecting and localizing RFI sources and identifying impacted flight paths, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figure 5 depicts an example method for interference detection and impact analysis using custom GPS event monitor reports, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figure 6 depicts an example method for interference detection and impact analysis using coasted ADS-B data, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figure 7 is a flow diagram depicting an example method for RF interference detection, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.Figure 8 depicts an example computing device configured to perform various aspects of the present disclosure, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION An airplane generates a custom RF receiver event monitor report (e.g., a report indicating occurrence of a GPS RFI event, hereinafter an "event monitor report") when a RF interference event is detected. This event typically occurs when data from an RF receiver is invalid or erroneous, for example when a GPS-reported location has discontinuity or does not match other on-board position sources, such as an inertial navigation system. While individual event monitor reports provide valuable information for detecting RF interference or spoofing, these reports are limited in scope, offering only isolated samples of RF interference events without a broader context. This limitation makes