Abstract: A collision avoidance device for an aircraft of the type comprises means for the geographical localization of the aircraft, means for the computation, for each geographical place, of a safety floor above which the aircraft must be positioned, means to predict the position in the air of the aircraft between a first given instant and a second given instant and means to compare the predicted position in the air of the aircraft with respect to the specified security floor. The safety floor, which is used for the comparison, is consolidated beforehand by means of a sensor that detects the obstacles in a forward sector of the aircraft and provides means with measurements enabling the computation of the altitude of these obstacles with respect to a reference level. The disclosed device has the advantage of enabling a reduction in the risk of delayed alarms and harmful alarms.

Abstract: A device for assisting the extinguishing of fires by water-bombing aircraft. The device includes at least one sensor for sensing the source of the fire, a device for pinpointing the position of the aircraft, a geographical database and a calculator for calculating the route of the aircraft as a function of its position and the position of the source as pinpointed in the database.

Abstract: Disclosed is a collision avoidance device with reduced energy balance for aircraft, in particular for avoiding collision with the ground. This device comprises means for the geographical localization of the aircraft, a database containing a description of safety altitudes, means for the construction of an air floor about the vertical passing through the aircraft, the altitude of the floor being greater than or equal to the safety altitudes about this vertical, means for predicting the air position of the aircraft, means to compare this position with the air floor, means for the computation of avoidance paths and means to determine the energy balance of each of the computed paths. Application to equipment for aircraft, notably for civilian airliners.

Abstract: The disclosure is an aircraft landing aid device that includes at least a database containing signatures and positions of reference objects, a sensor picking up signatures of reference objects, means of navigation used to fix the approximate position of the aircraft, means of correlation connected to said means of navigation, sensor and database, that define the vertical and horizontal bearings of the objects picked up by said sensor, and means of fixing the exact position of the aircraft, connected to said means of navigation, sensor and database. It is applicable in particular to airliners, enabling landing in all weather conditions.

Abstract: The disclosure is an aircraft collision-avoidance device used notably during landing approach. The device includes at least means of fixing the position of the aircraft, a database, first means of comparison, means of extraction of the point of touch-down on the runway, means of calculating the real glide slope vector of the aircraft, means of extraction of the theoretical glide slope vector of the aircraft, and second means of comparison used to compare the real and theoretical slope vectors. It is applicable in particular to airliners during final approach to landing.

Abstract: A device for avoiding aircraft collisions with the ground determines the geographical location of the aircraft, and has a data base containing a description of safety altitudes for the geographical location. From the geographical location and the description of safety altitudes, the collision-avoidance device computes an air floor about the vertical of the aircraft. The altitude of the floor is greater than or equal to the safety altitudes about this vertical. In addition, the collision-avoidance device predicts the air position of the aircraft and compares this situation with the air floor. An alarm sounds when the aircraft passes beneath the floor.

Abstract: A circuit for encoding and formatting data, the circuit having an input suitable for receiving a data stream in the form of bytes, the circuit comprising firstly a working memory in which the data is stored in the form of a matrix, and from which the data is taken sequentially, with the data being stored and taken by means of respective different sequences (either by being stored in lines and then taken in columns, or else by being stored in columns and then taken in lines), and secondly first and second encoder means each suitable for calculating, respectively for each line and for each column, a given number of redundancy bytes which are respectively horizontal redundancy bytes and vertical redundancy bytes (with one of said encoding means being connected to the outlet of said memory), wherein the first and second encoding means are connected in parallel to the output from the memory, with said second encoding means (for performing redundancy calculations corresponding to the sequence opposite to that by wh

Abstract: The invention is related to the compression of digitized data to load a buffer memory with a view to the transfer of data towards a mass storage.The invention consists especially in transmitting the difference D.sub.n between two consecutive pixels X.sub.n-1 and X.sub.n instead of these latter, this difference being the most often codable on a small number of bits and in suppressing the sign bit whenever possible, i.e. each time that the indetermination on the sign is raised by the comparison between D.sub.n and X.sub.n-1. The process and device according to the invention are adapted to be applied, in particular, to the storage of images.