Cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI) assisted visual separation employing a vertical situation display

• US 10,490,089 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2017
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Khatwa, Ratan, Ziarnick, Melissa, Trefilova, Helena, Klang, Pavel, Whitlow, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan Q
• Application Number:
  US15/647,471
• Publication Number:
  US 20190019422A1
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 701120
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0052 for cruising combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value G01C23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913

Abstract

Systems and methods directed to improvements in the presentation of CAVS procedures on an aircraft display system over what is conventionally available are provided. The provided systems and methods employ a vertical situation display (VSD), thereby presenting additional relevant visual approach information, such as a vertical distance between the ownship and the target aircraft, descent rates of the ownship and the target and an alerting function for the user-selected CAVS range. The provided systems and methods also capably receive and process user selections of target aircraft from both the lateral display and the VSD.

Claims

1. A Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) assisted Visual Separation (CAVS) System comprising:

a lateral display;

a vertical situation display (VSD); and

a control module coupled to the lateral display and the VSD, the control module comprising a processor and a memory device, and configured to;

receive traffic data from an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B);

command the lateral display to render a lateral image and the VSD to render a vertical image, each image comprising neighbor traffic and features associated with a cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI) Assisted Visual Separation (CAVS) application;

filter the traffic data with a predetermined data quality criteria, creating a filtered traffic subset of the traffic data;

command the VSD and the lateral display to render the filtered traffic in a visually distinct manner with respect to remaining neighbor traffic;

receive, from each of the VSD and the lateral display, a user selection from among the filtered traffic;

upon reception of the user selected filtered traffic,

command the lateral display and the VSD to concurrently update the lateral image and the vertical image to

(i) visually distinguish the user selected filtered traffic from remaining neighbor traffic, and

(ii) render a dialogue box to prompt the user to enter a range distance.

2. The CAVS system of claim 1, wherein the user selected filtered traffic is received from the VSD.

3. The CAVS system of claim 1, wherein the control module is further configured to limit user selection on the VSD to only filtered traffic.

4. The CAVS system of claim 3, The CAVS system of claim 1, wherein the control module is further configured to, upon reception of the user selected filtered traffic, continuously, and in real time, determine a distance between an ownship and the user selected traffic.

5. The CAVS system of claim 4, wherein the control module is further configured to compare the determined distance between the ownship and the user selected filtered traffic to the user selected range distance, and generate an alert based on the comparison of the determined distance between the ownship and the user selected filtered traffic to the user selected range distance.

6. The CAVS system of claim 1, wherein the control module is further configured to, upon reception of the user selected filtered traffic, remove unselected neighbor traffic from the VSD.

7. The CAVS system of claim 6, wherein visually distinguishing the user selected traffic from remaining neighbor traffic comprises rendering a highlighted shape surrounding the selected traffic.

8. The CAVS system of claim 7, wherein depicting a user selected range distance comprises rendering, on the lateral image, an arc at a distance in front of the ownship representative of the range distance, and rendering, on the vertical image, a vertical line in front of the ownship at a distance representative of the range distance.

9. A method for Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) assisted Visual Separation (CAVS), comprising:

at a control module,

receiving traffic data from an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B);

commanding a lateral display to render a lateral image and a VSD to render a vertical image, each image comprising neighbor traffic and features associated with a cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI) Assisted Visual Separation (CAVS) application;

filtering the traffic data with a predetermined data quality criteria, creating a filtered traffic subset of the traffic data;

commanding the VSD and the lateral display to render the filtered traffic in a visually distinct manner with respect to remaining neighbor traffic;

receiving, from each of the VSD and the lateral display, a user selection from among the filtered traffic;

upon reception of the user selected filtered traffic,

commanding the lateral display and the VSD to concurrently update the lateral image and the vertical image to

(i) visually distinguish the user selected filtered traffic from remaining neighbor traffic, and

(ii) render a dialogue box to prompt the user to enter a range distance.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a user selected range distance; and

commanding the lateral display and the VSD to concurrently depict the user selected range distance.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising, limiting user selection on the VSD to only the filtered traffic.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein commanding the lateral display and the VSD to concurrently visually distinguish the user selected filtered traffic from remaining neighbor traffic comprises rendering a highlighted shape surrounding the selected traffic.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein commanding the lateral display and the VSD to concurrently depict a user selected range distance comprises rendering, on the lateral image, an arc at a distance in front of the ownship representative of the range distance, and rendering, on the vertical image, a vertical line in front of the ownship at a distance representative of the range distance.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, responsive to (e), continuously, and in real time, determining a distance between an ownship and the selected filtered traffic.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising comparing the determined distance between the ownship and the selected filtered traffic to the user selected range distance.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating an alert based on the comparison of the determined distance between the ownship and the selected filtered traffic to the user selected range distance.