Aircraft collision avoidance system

• US 20030025614A1
• Filed: 02/21/2001
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leonard Richard Kahn
• Original Assignee: Leonard Richard Kahn
• Inventors: Kahn, Leonard Richard
• Granted Patent: US 6,909,381 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/961
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91

Abstract

An aircraft collision avoidance system utilizing video signals of the air space surrounding the aircraft for determining whether an object, such as another aircraft, is too close. Use is made of various types of monitors to display the on coming object and its location relative to the protected aircraft. An audio alarm is provided for alerting the pilot of the danger as well as providing localization information. Video recordings store information for accident and near miss studies. The video signals can also be used for the entertainment of airline passengers. One preferred embodiment of the invention permits ground based experts to point out interesting objects that are visible due to the improved view provided passengers.

Claims

1. An aircraft collision avoidance system comprising:

(a) one or more optical lenses feeding one or more video cameras, said lens or lenses located so as to “

see”

at least a substantial part of the space surrounding the aircraft permitting the viewing of other aircraft and other objects close enough to the protected aircraft to represent a potential hazard,

(b) a monitoring system connected to the video signals generated by the (a) video camera(s), said monitor system arranged so as to cause potentially hazardous objects to appear at a location where the object would be expected to collide with the protected aircraft,

(c) circuitry also driven by the signal derived from the (a) cameras for sensing the presence of dangerous objects that are perceived to present a hazardous situation, and

(d) audio circuitry driven by the (c) sensing circuitry for producing an alarm sound whenever an object is close enough to the protected aircraft to require evasive actions is sensed, said alarm sound projected by a surround sound system so as to cause the sound to be perceived by the aircraft'"'"'s pilot to be at a location where the dangerous object can be seen by the pilot on the monitor system.

2. The aircraft collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the (a) lens and video camera system incorporates:

(a) first video camera and lens combination mounted on the upper surface of the aircraft capable of “

seeing”

at least a substantial part of the visual hemisphere above the aircraft, and

(b) a second video camera and lens combination mounted on the lower surface of the aircraft capable of “

seeing”

at least a substantial part of the visual hemisphere below the aircraft.

3. The aircraft collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the (b) monitoring system comprises two miniature monitors, one mounted on the left lens of eyeglasses to be worn by the pilot of the aircraft and the other monitor mounted on the right lens of the eyeglasses, and incorporating a sensor for detecting the direction the pilot turns his or her head using the direction information to rotate the view displayed by the miniature monitors.

4. The aircraft collision avoidance system of claim 1, wherein the dangerous object is an approaching aircraft and circuitry is provided to compare the video signal of the approaching aircraft with a computer stored catalog of aircraft presently in use so as to identify the approaching aircraft and use its published dimensions to calculate its proximity to the protected aircraft as a factor in determining whether or not an alarm should be sounded.

12. The collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the (b) monitoring system incorporates a number of projection type displays located so as to project the hazardous object at approximately its correct location on the simulated sphere surrounding the aircraft.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein circuitry is provided that causes the object'"'"'s display to blink to further assist in alerting the pilot.

16. The aircraft collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the (b) monitoring system comprises a plurality of projection systems located so as to project the video images derived from the (a) video cameras along the walls, ceiling and floor of the cockpit.

17. The aircraft collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the (b) monitoring system comprises a plurality of projection systems located so as to project the video images derived from the (a) video cameras along the are enclosing the cockpit, said system integrated so as to utilize the cockpit windows as part of the structure for “

seeing”

the full space surrounding the aircraft.

18. The aircraft collision system of claim 3 wherein the sensor for detecting the direction the pilot turns his or her head using the direction information to rotate the view displayed by the miniature monitors includes gravity switches for determining the up, down or horizontal position of the pilot'"'"'s head and a combination of a right and left motion detector providing information as to whether the pilot head has be turned left or right or is in the forward looking direction.

19. The aircraft collision system of claim 3 wherein the sensor for detecting the direction the pilot turns his or her head using the direction information to rotate the view displayed by the miniature monitors comprises a cushion with pressure measuring sensors.

5. A system for providing entertainment and education to passengers of aircraft comprising:

(a) one or more optical lenses feeding one or more video cameras, said lens or lenses located so as to “

see”

at least a substantial part of the ground below the aircraft permitting the viewing of buildings and other landmarks that passengers might find interesting,

(b) a monitoring system connected to the video signals generated by the (a) video cameras, said monitor system arranged so as to view said landmarks from individual passenger seats.

6. The entertainment system of claim 5 incorporating a control circuit that permits passengers to select views manually.

7. The entertainment system of claim 5 wherein a control is provided which can be operated by airline employees to select special sites to be viewed by passengers.

8. The entertainment and education system of claim 7 wherein the aircraft'"'"'s location information is fed to the system so as to control preprogrammed voice announcements describing landmarks.

20. The entertainment and education system of claim 5 wherein a joystick is provided to permit passenger to select views manually.

9. A business plan utilizing an entertainment and education system for airline passengers comprising:

(a) one or more optical lenses feeding one or more video cameras, said lens or lenses located so as to “

see”

at least a substantial part of the ground below the aircraft permitting the viewing of buildings and other landmarks that passengers might find interesting,

(b) a monitoring system fed by the outputs of the (a) video cameras, said monitoring system arranged so as to view the landmarks from individual passenger seats,

(c) computer facilities for billing passengers according to the type of service he or she uses.

10. A system of recording collisions and near collisions, comprising:

(a) an optical/video system located on an aircraft so as to “

see”

at least a substantial part of the space surrounding the aircraft permitting the viewing of other aircraft and other objects close enough to the protected aircraft to represent a potential hazard,

(b) circuitry also driven by the signal derived from the (a) optical/video system for sensing the presence of dangerous objects that are perceived to present a hazardous situation, and

(c) a video recorder connected to the (a) optical/video system and controlled by the (b) sensing circuitry so as to record the signals fed to the monitors.

11. The recording system of claim 10 wherein the recorder continuously records and erases and only stores information briefly before, during and briefly after the object detection circuitry detects a dangerous situation.

14. A system for avoiding collisions and recording near miss events and also providing improved vision of the ground for passengers comprising:

(a) one or more optical lenses feeding one or more video cameras, said lens or lenses located so as to “

see”

at least a substantial part of the space surrounding the aircraft permitting the viewing of other aircraft and other objects close enough to the protected aircraft to represent a potential hazard,

(b) a monitoring system connected to the video signals generated by the (a) video camera(s), said monitor system arranged so as to cause potentially hazardous objects to appear at a location where the pilot would expect the object would collide with the protected aircraft,

(c) circuitry also driven by the signal derived from the (a) cameras for sensing the presence of dangerous objects that are perceived to present a hazardous situation, and

(d) audio circuitry driven by the (c) sensing circuitry for producing an alarm sound whenever an object is close enough to the protected aircraft to require evasive actions is sensed, said alarm sound projected by a surround sound system so as to cause the sound to be perceived by the aircraft'"'"'s pilot to be at a location where the dangerous object can be seen by the pilot on the monitor system,

(e) a video recorder connected to the (a) optical/video system and controlled by the (c) sensing circuitry so as to record the signals fed to the two monitors, and

(f) passenger monitoring equipment fed by at least some of the video signals generated by the (a) video cameras, said passenger monitoring equipment arranged so as to permit the viewing of landmarks from individual passenger seats.

15. A system for avoiding collisions and recording near miss events comprising a combination of lenses and video cameras positioned on the aircraft so as to be able to “

see”

a significant part of the optical sphere surrounding the aircraft and sensing equipment to sense sudden change of video signal and to sound an audio alarm and a video recorder activated by the alarm to assure that a video recording was made of the video during emergency conditions.

21. An entertainment and education system permitting passengers to view celestial bodies and landmarks comprising:

(a) one or more optical lenses feeding one or more video cameras, said lens or lenses located so as to “

see”

at least a substantial part of the ground below and the sky above the aircraft permitting the viewing of stars, planets and other celestial bodies as well as buildings and other landmarks that passengers might find interesting,

(b) a monitoring system connected to the video signals generated by the (a) video cameras, said monitor system arranged so as to view such objects from individual passenger seats, and

(c) pressure sensors, upon which passengers sit, for detecting the direction passengers turn their heads to view the monitors.

22. Equipment for providing improved vision for aircraft passengers of the space surrounding an aircraft and for sensing where individual passengers are looking at said space, comprising multiple video signal sources that are mounted so as to cover substantially the entire space surrounding the aircraft, monitors for passengers that permit them to view the surrounding space, and equipment that permits the direction an individual passenger has turned his or her head to be sensed.

23. The equipment of claim 22 further comprising an eye direction sensor to improve the accuracy of the determination of the direction an individual passenger is looking.

24. Equipment for entertaining and educating airline passengers permitting ground-based experts to describe points of interest to the airline passengers in the sky including transmission facilities to transmit the coordinates of one or more celestial bodies visible on the aircraft permitting an expert'"'"'s terrestrial sky charts to be lined up with the passengers'"'"' view of the sky.

25. Equipment for entertaining and educating airline passengers by providing communications between passengers on the aircraft and ground-based experts permitting said experts to describe points of interest on the ground or in the sky to the passenger;

including, transmission facilities to transmit the coordinates of celestial bodies or ground sites as displayed on the aircraft monitors that provides the required information to line up the maps and sky charts used by the experts with the passengers'"'"' monitors and facilities to permit passengers to transmit monitor coordinate information to the expert thereby permitting passengers to point to specific celestial bodies and ground sites during lectures.

26. Equipment for entertaining and educating airline passengers by communicating between aircraft passengers and one or more ground-based experts who may offer information to passengers re points of interest on the ground or in the sky, including facilities to transmit monitor coordinate information thus allowing the expert(s) to direct passengers to a specific location on the ground or in the sky.

27. Equipment for entertaining and educating airline passengers that permits ground-based experts;

such as, astronomers, wherein equipment is provided for sensing the direction towards which an airline passenger is looking connected to a communications channel to transmit that sensed direction information to said ground-based expert.