US Patent 7956795 Transmission scheduling for ADS-B ground systems

System and methods for reducing redundant messages broadcast in an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. For a given target, a controller determines the relevant customers that should receive information about the target, identifies all of the ground stations that can be satisfactorily heard by the relevant customers, and then identifies a smaller subset of ground stations by selecting only those ground stations that are needed to reach all of the relevant customers. ADS-B messages are then broadcast to the relevant customers using only the smaller subset of ground stations.