Electronic flight instrument displays
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A flight display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
- a display of aircraft speed;
a display of aircraft altitude; and
a display of aircraft heading;
wherein said displays are superimposed upon a three-dimensional background representative of the earth'"'"'s surface formed by transforming terrain elevations stored in electronic media into perspective points taking into account aircraft heading, aircraft location, and aircraft altitude.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to novel primary flight displays, moving map displays and engine parameter displays for aircraft cockpits. These displays process data gathered from various aircraft sensors and, using an various electronic databases, generate intuitive symbols that aid the pilot. The present invention also uses various novel algorithms that use data gathered from inexpensive sensors to derive parameters normally requiring far more expensive sensors.
150 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A flight display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft speed;
a display of aircraft altitude; and
a display of aircraft heading;
wherein said displays are superimposed upon a three-dimensional background representative of the earth'"'"'s surface formed by transforming terrain elevations stored in electronic media into perspective points taking into account aircraft heading, aircraft location, and aircraft altitude. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A flight display for an electronic instrument system comprising a flight path marker that conforms to a three dimensional background.
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6. A flight display for an electronic instrument system comprising a display of obstructions formed by transforming location and dimension of the obstruction, stored in electronic media, into perspective points taking into account aircraft position.
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7. A panel flight display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft speed;
a display of aircraft altitude;
a display of at least one navigation object wherein said display of said navigation object comprises a three-dimensional symbol representative of said object'"'"'s relationship to the aircraft and formed by transforming said object'"'"'s location and orientation stored in electronic media into perspective points taking into account aircraft position. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A flight display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft heading;
a display of aircraft attitude; and
a three-dimensional background, wherein said displays of heading and attitude are conformal to said three-dimensional background.
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14. A flight display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft heading;
a display of aircraft attitude; and
a three-dimensional navigation object display, wherein said displays of heading and attitude are conformal to said three-dimensional navigation object display.
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15. A flight display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a display of aircraft attitude;
- said display of aircraft attitude further comprising a bank angle scale that disappears at selected bank angles.
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16. An angle of attack display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a colored bar having:
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a first colored region adjacent to a second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for stall;
a third colored region adjacent to said second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for best angle of climb, and a fourth colored region adjacent to said third colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for best rate of climb.
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17. An angle of attack display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a color bar having a first colored region adjacent to a second, colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for the best angle of climb.
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18. An angle of attack display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a colored bar having a first colored region adjacent to a second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for best rate of climb.
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19. An angle of attack display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a colored bar having:
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a first colored region adjacent to a second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for stall;
a third colored region adjacent to said second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for maximum time cruise flight; and
a fourth colored region adjacent to said third colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for maximum range cruise flight.
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20. An angle of attack display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a colored bar having a first colored region adjacent to a second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for maximum time cruise flight.
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21. An angle of attack display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a colored bar having a first colored region adjacent to a second colored region wherein the boundary between said regions reflects a target angle of attack for maximum range cruise flight.
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22. A moving map display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft position relative to navigation points from a database stored in electronic media; and
a display of airspace boundaries from a database stored in electronic media, said boundaries being colored as a function of aircraft altitude to reflect the vertical location of said boundaries in relation to the aircraft.
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23. A moving map display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft position relative to navigation points from a database stored in electronic media;
a display of terrain from a database stored in electronic media, said terrain being displayed and colored based upon aircraft altitude to reflect the vertical location of said terrain in relation to the aircraft.
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24. A moving map display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising:
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a display of aircraft position relative to navigation points from a database stored in electronic media; and
a display of obstructions from a database stored in electronic media, said obstructions being displayed and colored based upon aircraft altitude to reflect the vertical location of said obstructions in relation to the aircraft.
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25. An engine parameter display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising at least one circular indicating gauge, said gauge having at least one colored area, said colored area fluctuating in size and color as a function of a magnitude of an engine parameter.
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26. An engine parameter display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising at least one indicating gauge, said gauge having at least one quadrangular colored area, said colored area fluctuating in size and color as a function of a magnitude of an engine parameter.
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27. An engine parameter display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising at least one indicating gauge having two or more quadrangles, the size of each said quadrangle fluctuating as a function of a magnitude of a different engine parameters, the engine parameters being related, wherein the largest quadrangle is visually distinct from the other quadrangles.
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28. An engine parameter display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising at least one indicating gauge having two or more quadrangles, the size of each said quadrangle fluctuating as a function of a magnitude of a different engine parameters, the engine parameters being related, wherein the smallest quadrangle is visually distinct from the other quadrangles.
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29. An engine parameter display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising at least one indicating gauge having a graph with one axis reflecting time and a second axis reflecting a parameter value wherein the value of a parameter associated with the gauge is charted in a time-lapse fashion.
- 30. A display for an electronic flight instrument system wherein the displayed angle of attack is derived from values of acceleration in the vertical axis and airspeed.
- 32. A display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a display of attitude wherein the pitch component of the attitude display is derived from values of acceleration in the vertical axis, airspeed, vertical speed, and bank.
- 34. A display for an electronic flight instrument system comprising a display of attitude wherein the bank component of the attitude display is derived from values of airspeed and aircraft rate of turn.
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37. A method for deriving the instantaneous track and groundspeed of an aircraft in turning flight comprising the steps of:
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computing wind from values of track, groundspeed, heading and airspeed during relatively steady state flight; and
applying said computed wind to instantaneous values of heading and airspeed to derive instantaneous values of track and groundspeed during turning flight.
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Specification