Adaptive propagation delay compensation for TDMA communications systems

1. Field of the Invention A propagation delay compensation device and method provide adaptive propagation delay compensation in a time division multiple access (TDMA) communications system. The device includes a range computation unit and a delay computation unit. The range unit receives data signals to identify respective positions of a base station and a transceiver and, in response, generates a signal indicating line-of-sight range between the base station and the transceiver. The delay unit receives the range signal and, in response, generates a required delay which provides for alignment of communications signals received at the base station to arrive in alignment with assigned time slots at the base station. In one embodiment, the invention enables communication from aircraft through TDMA cellular systems using standard TDMA waveform formats.