System and method for transmitting obstacle alerts to aircraft from a ground based database
First Claim
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1. A method for providing obstacle alerts to an in-flight aircraft, comprising:
- transmitting parameters of the in-flight aircraft to a ground-based processor station;
calculating an aircraft safety envelope that surrounds the in-flight aircraft, where the aircraft safety envelope is based on the transmitted parameters of the in-flight aircraft with the ground-based processor station;
calculating an obstacle safety envelope that surrounds terrestrial obstacles, where the obstacle safety envelope is based on characteristics of terrestrial obstacles stored in a terrain database that is accessible by the ground-based processor station;
recalculating the aircraft safety envelope once every 3-4 seconds;
determining if the aircraft safety envelope conflicts with the obstacle safety envelope with the ground-based processor station; and
generating an obstacle alert for the in-flight aircraft if a conflict between the aircraft safety envelope and obstacle safety envelope exists.
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Abstract
A method for providing obstacle alerts to an in-flight aircraft has been developed. First, parameters of an in-flight aircraft are transmitted to a ground based processor station. The station calculates an aircraft safety envelope based on these parameters. The station accesses the characteristics of obstacles stored in a terrain database and calculates an obstacle safety envelope. Finally, the station determines if the aircraft safety envelope conflicts with the obstacle safety envelope and generates an alert for the aircraft if a conflict exists.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for providing obstacle alerts to an in-flight aircraft, comprising:
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transmitting parameters of the in-flight aircraft to a ground-based processor station; calculating an aircraft safety envelope that surrounds the in-flight aircraft, where the aircraft safety envelope is based on the transmitted parameters of the in-flight aircraft with the ground-based processor station; calculating an obstacle safety envelope that surrounds terrestrial obstacles, where the obstacle safety envelope is based on characteristics of terrestrial obstacles stored in a terrain database that is accessible by the ground-based processor station; recalculating the aircraft safety envelope once every 3-4 seconds; determining if the aircraft safety envelope conflicts with the obstacle safety envelope with the ground-based processor station; and generating an obstacle alert for the in-flight aircraft if a conflict between the aircraft safety envelope and obstacle safety envelope exists. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for providing obstacle alerts to an in-flight aircraft, comprising:
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transmitting parameters of the in-flight aircraft to a ground-based processor station; calculating an aircraft safety envelope based on the transmitted parameters of the in-flight aircraft with the ground-based processor station; calculating an obstacle safety envelope based on characteristics of terrestrial obstacles stored in a terrain database that is accessible by the ground-based processor station; recalculating the aircraft safety envelope once every 3-4 seconds; determining if the aircraft safety envelope conflicts with the obstacle safety envelope with the ground-based processor station; and generating an obstacle alert for the in-flight aircraft if a conflict between the aircraft safety envelope and obstacle safety envelope exists.
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15. A system for providing obstacle alerts to an in-flight aircraft, comprising:
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a transceiver on board the in-flight aircraft that transmits flight performance parameters of the in-flight aircraft; a remotely located antenna that receives the flight performance parameters from the transceiver; a remotely located terrain database that stores obstacle characteristics of terrestrial obstacles located in proximity to the in-flight aircraft; and a remotely located computer system that receives the flight performance parameters from the antenna and the obstacle characteristics in proximity to the in-flight aircraft from the terrain database, where the computer system calculates an aircraft safety envelope based on the flight performance parameters, where the aircraft safety envelope is recalculated once every 3-4 seconds, and an obstacle safety envelope based on the obstacle characteristics, where the computer system generates an obstacle alert for the in-flight aircraft if the aircraft safety envelope conflicts with the obstacle safety envelope.
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Specification