Method of Recognition MODE-S Signal Format by the Preamble and Its FPGA Realization

To ensure flight safety, all aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles are equipped with transponders. Using a similar navigation system, usually operating in MODE-S mode, you can get the most detailed set of information about the type of aircraft, its purpose, speed and altitude, etc. It is extremely important to accurately determine the preamble of the signal on the air, since both the detection of the signal itself and the correctness of the decoding carried out in the future depend on this. The article proposes an efficient algorithm that allows to detect preambles with high accuracy even in the presence of interference and distortion. The use of integer computing provides high-speed device and ease of implementation of architecture on the FPGA. During the tests, the algorithm showed higher performance compared to well-known counterparts.