Terrain profile system

• US 10,121,383 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2016
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Parekh, Devang R, Fung, Henry H, Azar, Michel M, Bankson, Britton
• Primary Examiner(s): Whittington, Jess
• Application Number:
  US15/006,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20170213465A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,015 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0052 for cruising combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value G01C23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935

Abstract

One example includes a terrain profile system. A data store stores map data of a geographic region of interest and DTED. A route input system facilitates user inputs associated with defining a planned flight path of an aircraft between two points on a map associated with the map data and with defining flight characteristic data of the aircraft. A terrain profile controller defines a terrain signature associated with a topography of terrain features of the geographic region of interest along the planned flight path based on the DTED and a planned altitude of the aircraft along the planned flight path based on the flight characteristic data. A display system displays a terrain profile comprising the terrain signature, the planned altitude relative to the terrain signature, and a real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the planned altitude based on real-time location data associated with the aircraft.

Claims

1. A terrain profile system comprising:

a data store that includes a non-transitory machine readable memory that stores map data corresponding to map software for displaying a map, digital terrain, and elevation data (DTED) associated with the geographic region of interest;

a human-machine interface (HMI) that includes a route input system to receive user inputs to define a planned flight path of an aircraft between two points on a map associated with the map data and with defining flight characteristic data associated with the aircraft;

a terrain profile controller that determines a terrain elevation and generates a terrain profile comprising a terrain signature that includes a topography of maximum elevation terrain features of the geographic region of interest with respect to an altitude of the aircraft within a path-width corridor along the planned flight path based on the user inputs defining the planned flight path, the DTED, and a planned altitude of the aircraft along the planned flight path based on the flight characteristic data;

a sub-route generator that receives a user selected start line and end line on the terrain profile to generate a sub-terrain profile comprising a finer granular profile of the terrain profile for a portion of the planned flight path that is defined in a bounding window bounded by the start line and the end line on the terrain profile, wherein a start point and an end point defining a sub-route of the planned flight path, corresponding to the start line and end line, are generated on the map in response to the start line and end line selected on the terrain profile; and

a display system that displays the terrain profile comprising the terrain signature, the planned altitude relative to the terrain signature, a real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the planned altitude based on real-time location data associated with the aircraft, and the sub-terrain profile;

wherein the HMI controls the aircraft in real-time according to the user inputs.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the planned flight path between the two points is a non-linear path between a start point and an end point associated with the planned flight path of the aircraft on the map defined by the map data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the route input system comprises a path extension controller that receives an input associated with the path-width corridor corresponding to a lateral path extension distance from the aircraft along the planned flight path, wherein the terrain profile controller provides an indication of the terrain features within the path-width corridor in the terrain profile based on the DTED associated with the geographic region of interest.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the display system displays the real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the planned flight path on the map defined by the map data based on the real-time location data associated with the aircraft.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the terrain profile controller changes the terrain profile in response to changes to the planned flight path and the planned altitude in response to changes to the flight characteristic data in real-time during flight of the aircraft via user inputs provided to the route input system.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising an alarm system that provides an indication on the terrain profile of an intersection of the planned altitude with the terrain signature in response to the change in the terrain signature, and indicates the location of the collision on the map.

7. A control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising the terrain profile system of claim 1.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the display system displays the sub-terrain profile in a size proximate to a size of the terrain profile by scaling the distance between the start line and the end line, the terrain signature, and the planned altitude.

9. A method for generating a terrain profile for an aircraft, the method comprising:

storing map data and digital terrain and elevation data (DTED) associated with a geographic region of interest in a memory;

displaying a map associated with the map data on a display system associated with a human-machine interface (HMI);

facilitating user inputs associated with defining a non-linear planned flight path of an aircraft between two points on the map, and with defining flight characteristic data associated with the aircraft;

generating a terrain profile that includes an aggregate topography of terrain features of the geographic region of interest within a path-width corridor along the non-linear planned flight path based on the user inputs defining the planned flight path and the DTED;

generating a planned altitude of the aircraft along the non-linear planned flight path based on the flight characteristic data;

facilitating user inputs associated with defining a start line and an end line on the terrain profile generating a sub-terrain profile comprising a finer granular profile of the terrain profile for a portion of the planned flight path defined in a bounding window bounded by the start line and an the end line on the terrain profile;

generating on the map a start point and an end point defining a sub-route of the planned flight path, corresponding to the start line and end line, in response to the start line and end line defined on the terrain profile; and

displaying the terrain profile comprising the terrain signature, the planned altitude relative to the terrain signature, a real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the planned altitude based on real-time location data associated with the aircraft on the display system associated with the HMI, and the sub-terrain profile;

wherein the HMI controls the aircraft in real-time according to the user inputs.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

facilitating user inputs associated with defining a sub-portion of the terrain profile based on selecting sub-points on the non-linear planned flight path on the map; and

generating a sub-terrain profile based on the terrain signature and the planned altitude relative to the terrain signature along the sub-portion of the terrain profile.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

facilitating user inputs associated with defining the path-width corridor corresponding to a lateral path extension distance from the aircraft along the non-linear planned flight path; and

providing an indication of the aggregate topography of terrain features within the path-width corridor in the terrain profile based on the DTED associated with the geographic region of interest.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein providing the indication of the terrain features comprises generating the terrain signature to display a maximum elevation associated with the topography of the terrain features within the path extension controller along the non-linear planned flight path.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying the real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the non-linear planned flight path on the map defined by the map data based on the real-time location data associated with the aircraft.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

facilitating user inputs associated with changes to at least one of the non-linear planned flight path and the planned altitude;

changing the terrain profile in response to the changes to the at least one of the non-linear planned flight path and the planned altitude in real-time during flight of the aircraft; and

providing an indication of a collision on the terrain profile and on the map of the planned altitude with the terrain signature in response to the change in the terrain profile.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying the sub-terrain profile in a size proximate to a size of the terrain profile by scaling the distance between the start line and the end line, the terrain signature, and the planned altitude.

16. A terrain profile system comprising:

a data store that includes a memory to store map data associated with a geographic region of interest, and to store digital terrain and elevation data (DTED) associated with the geographic region of interest;

a terrain profile controller that generates a terrain profile comprising a terrain signature associated with a topography of terrain features of the geographic region of interest along a nonlinear planned flight path of an aircraft based on user inputs defining the non-linear planned flight path and the DTED and that defines a planned altitude of the aircraft along the non-linear planned flight path based on flight characteristic data; and

a human-machine interface (HMI) comprising;

a route input system that receives the user inputs defining the non-linear planned flight path of the aircraft between two points on a map associated with the map data and with defining the flight characteristic data associated with the aircraft, and that receives a user-selected start and end line on the terrain profile;

a sub-route generator that receives the user-selected start and end line to generate a sub-terrain profile comprising a finer granular profile of the terrain profile for a portion of the planned flight path that is bounded by a bounding window having the start line and the end line on the terrain profile; and

a display system that displays the map, a start point and an end point defining a sub-route of the planned flight path on the map that corresponds to the start line and end line on the terrain profile, the real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the nonlinear planned flight path on the map based on real-time location data associated with the aircraft, the terrain profile comprising the terrain signature, the planned altitude relative to the terrain signature, a real-time location of the aircraft superimposed on the planned altitude based on the real-time location data associated with the aircraft, and the sub-terrain profile;

wherein the HMI controls the aircraft in real-time according to the user inputs.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the route input system comprises a path extension controller configured to receive an input associated with a path-width corridor corresponding to a lateral path extension distance from the aircraft along the non-linear planned flight path, wherein the terrain profile controller is configured to provide an indication of the terrain features within the path-width corridor in the terrain profile based on the DTED associated with the geographic region of interest.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the terrain profile controller is configured to generate the terrain signature to display a maximum elevation associated with the topography of the terrain features within the path extension controller along the non-linear planned flight path.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the display system displays the sub-terrain profile in a size proximate to a size of the terrain profile by scaling the distance between the start line and the end line, the terrain signature, and the planned altitude.