Abstract: A system and method for avoiding collision between objects and wingtips of an aircraft when the aircraft is on the ground includes mounting detecting devices such as a low cost radar unit and a video camera in the wingtip. These detection devices are coupled with one or more indicators to provide an operator of the aircraft such as a pilot that an imminent collision with an object is about the occur. The indication can be an audio or visual signal, either within or outside of the aircraft.

Abstract: A radar having a multiplicity of receive beams stacked in elevation and a target height extractor especially for use therein are disclosed. In operation, a set of range sweeps corresponding to an azimuth scan of the stacked receive beams across a detected target is established. A range cell interval corresponding to the detected target is estimated for each range sweep of the set. A target range measurement is computed from a set of estimated range intervals. Only the radar receive beam echo information corresponding to the estimated range cell interval for each range sweep of the established set is used by the height extractor to compute a corresponding set of elevation angles. A target elevation angle is formed as the weighted average of this computed set. Only one height computation is performed for each established set of range sweeps based on a function of factors including the computed target elevation angle and computed range measurement of the corresponding established set of range sweeps.