Device for displaying and updating an aerial trajectory pattern aligned with an area on the ground, in particular for an air-drop mission

• US 10,352,706 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2015
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Arneau, David, Dupont, Guillaume
• Primary Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US15/529,476
• Publication Number:
  US 20170276486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 701 3
• 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 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W

Abstract

A pattern able to be updated by an operator, the position, the orientation and/or the shape of the trajectory pattern dependent on trajectory parameters, the device comprises at least display means to view the trajectory pattern and the representation of the zone, and means for computing and storing the position data of the pattern and of the representation, the representation comprising a set of control points, the function of a control point being to define at least the value of one of the trajectory parameters, the value being dependent on the movement of the control point, a trajectory pattern modification resulting from an interaction of the operator moving at least one control point.

Claims

1. A device for viewing and updating an air-drop trajectory pattern aligned with a representation of an air-drop zone on the ground, said pattern being able to be updated by an operator, at least one of a position, an orientation and a shape of said air-drop trajectory pattern being dependent on trajectory parameters, the device comprising:

a display that is configured to display said pattern and said representation of the air-drop zone; and

a computer configured to compute and store the position data of said air-drop trajectory pattern and of said representation of the air-drop zone, wherein

said representation of the air-drop zone comprising a set of control points that define at least a value of one of said trajectory parameters, and

said value being dependent on a movement of said control point, an air-drop trajectory pattern modification resulting from an interaction of the operator moving at least one control point.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said parameters being dependent on the at least one of the position, the orientation, and on the shape of said air-drop zone, a first control point is linked with said air-drop zone, the movement of said control point giving rise to the translation of said air-drop zone according to said movement.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein a second control point is linked with said air-drop zone, the movement of said control point making it possible to modify the length and the orientation of said air-drop zone.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein an amplitude and a direction of the wind forming one of said parameters, an amplitude of the movement of a control point defines the amplitude of the wind, a direction of the movement of said point defining the direction of the wind.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a speed of an aircraft following said trajectory being one of said parameters, an amplitude of the movement of a control point defines the speed, a direction of movement of said point defining a direction of movement of said aircraft.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein an altitude of said air-drop zone being one of said parameters, an amplitude of a control point defines an amplitude of said zone.

7. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the computer comprises at least one data module able to store and compute said position data and said control points; and

the display comprises at least one screen and a charting engine detecting the interactions of the operator on the screen and controlling the display of said pattern and of said representation of the air-drop zone with its control points, on the basis of the position computations provided by the data module.

8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the computer comprises a utility module whose function is to provide the data module with primitives of spherical geometry trigonometric computations for the computation of said positions.

9. The device as claimed in claim 7, comprising a management module whose function is to interpret the operator interactions detected by the charting engine and to request the modifications of said representation from the data module when an interaction commands the movement of a control point, an updating of said pattern displayed on the screen being performed by an interaction of the operator controlling the movement of at least one control point, the charting engine providing the management module with the new position of said control point, the data module computing the new positions of said pattern as a function of the new values of said trajectory parameters resulting from the movement of said control point.

10. The device as claimed in claim 1, comprising a database of maps containing digitized maps representing a geographical zone comprising said representation of the air-drop zone, said pattern being superposed on a geographical zone.

11. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one of the position, the orientation, and the shape of said trajectory pattern being defined by a set of characteristic points, the position of said points is determined by said trajectory parameters.

12. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein a characteristic point being an air-drop start point and another characteristic point being an air-drop end point, said points are able to be modified by said operator.

13. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real aerial trajectory is superposed on said air-drop trajectory.

14. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display comprises an interactive screen.

15. The device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the screen is touch-sensitive.

16. The device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the screen takes the form of a tablet.

17. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the computer is an installed onboard computer.