Vehicle display system and method with enhanced vision system and synthetic vision system image display

• US 20080180351A1
• Filed: 01/26/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: He, Gang
• Granted Patent: US 10,168,179 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/1.1
• 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 5/0052 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 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935

Abstract

A vehicle display system displays enhanced vision (EV) and synthetic vision (SV) images to an operator of a vehicle. The display system includes: an EV vision image sensor for generating EV images; an SV database containing information regarding terrain and objects of interest for a travel path of a vehicle; an SV image generating unit for generating SV images based on travel of the vehicle and information from the SV database; an EV image sensor control unit for controlling a field of view of the EV image sensor as a function of object of interest information from the SV database; and a display for displaying images generated by said EV image sensor and the SV image generating unit.

Claims

1. A vehicle display system for displaying enhanced vision (EV) and synthetic vision (SV) images to an operator of a vehicle, comprising:

an EV image sensor for generating EV images;

an SV database containing information regarding terrain and objects of interest for a travel path of a vehicle;

an SV image generating unit for generating SV images based on travel of said vehicle and information from said SV database;

an EV image sensor control unit for controlling a field of view of said EV image sensor as a function of object of interest information from said SV database; and

a display for displaying images generated by said EV image sensor and said SV image generating unit.

2. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein said EV image sensor control unit controls a viewing area size for said EV image sensor based on an integrity level assigned to said object of interest.

3. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein said display displays SV and EV images side-by-side.

4. The vehicle display system according to claim 3, wherein the SV and EV images are indexed based on objects of interest.

5. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein said EV image sensor is a steerable and/or zoom-able Infrared video camera.

6. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein said EV image sensor is a steerable and/or zoom-able millimeter-wave video camera.

7. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein said vehicle is an aircraft.

8. The vehicle display system according to claim 7, further comprising:

a flight management system for providing flight positioning information for said aircraft, wherein

said SV image generating unit generates said SV images based on flight positioning information from said flight management system.

21. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein said display displays the SV and EV images in a fused format.

22. The vehicle display system according to claim 1, wherein a level of zooming for said EV image sensor is dependent upon SV data integrity or operator selection.

9. A vehicle display system for displaying enhanced vision (EV) and synthetic vision (SV) images to an operator of a vehicle, comprising:

an EV image sensor for generating EV images;

an SV database containing information regarding terrain and objects of interest for a travel path of a vehicle;

an SV image generating unit for generating SV images based on travel of said vehicle and information from said SV database;

an EV image enhancement control unit for controlling enhancement of an area of an EV image generated by said EV image sensor as a function of object of interest information from said SV database; and

a display for displaying images generated by said EV image sensor and said SV image generating unit.

10. The vehicle display system according to claim 9, wherein said EV image enhancement control unit controls an enhancement area size for an image generated by said EV image sensor based on an integrity level assigned to said object of interest.

11. The vehicle display system according to claim 9, wherein said display displays SV and EV images side-by-side.

12. The vehicle display system according to claim 11, wherein the SV and EV images are indexed based on objects of interest.

13. The vehicle display system according to claim 9, wherein said EV image sensor is a steerable Infrared video camera.

14. The vehicle display system according to claim 9, wherein said EV image sensor is a steerable millimeter-wave video camera.

15. The vehicle display system according to claim 9, wherein said vehicle is an aircraft.

16. The vehicle display system according to claim 15, further comprising:

a flight management system for providing flight positioning information for said aircraft, wherein

said SV image generating unit generates said SV images based on flight positioning information from said flight management system.

17. The vehicle display system according to claim 9, wherein

said EV image sensor is has a wide field of view substantially overlapping an image area for a SV image generated by said SV image generating unit.

18. A method for displaying enhanced vision (EV) and synthetic vision (SV) images to an operator of a vehicle, comprising:

generating EV images using an enhanced vision image sensor;

accessing an SV database containing information regarding terrain and objects of interest for a travel path of a vehicle;

generating SV images based on travel of said vehicle and information accessed from said SV database;

controlling a field of view of the EV image sensor or an enhancement area for an EV image generated the EV image sensor as a function of object of interest information from said SV database; and

a display for displaying images generated by said EV image sensor and said SV image generating unit.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein

said controlling step controls a field of view of the EV image sensor as a function of object of interest information from the SV database.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein

said controlling step controls an enhancement area for an EV image generated by the EV image sensor as a function of object of interest information from the SV database.