Aircraft location and pitch attitude estimation from communication signals

This paper reports a method to determine the aircraft location, as well as its pitch attitude using the aircraft-to-control tower communication system. It is shown that two receivers observing the transmitted signals may be used to locate the aircraft. Using two transmitters placed at the nose and tail of the aircraft it is shown that the pitch attitude may be estimated. Furthermore, the location of the aircraft is important to determine the proper pitch attitude and velocity.