SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AIRCRAFT WINDSHEAR DETECTION

• US 20090002196A1
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aviation Communication and Surveillance Systems LLC (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Aviation Communication and Surveillance Systems LLC (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zweifel, Terry L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,508,387 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/968
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/16 actuated automatically, e.g. responsive to gust detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W

Abstract

The present invention allows quick detection of actual hazardous windshears while ignoring the effects of normal turbulence. A system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a signal processor configured to determine a presence of hazardous windshear based on: (a) whether a measured windshear is beyond a first predetermined threshold, and (b) whether a measured turbulence level is beyond a second predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a signal processor configured to determine a presence of hazardous windshear based on;

(a) whether a measured windshear is beyond a first predetermined threshold; and

(b) whether a measured turbulence level is beyond a second predetermined threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processor is further configured to detect the presence of hazardous windshear based further on a maximum allowable speed loss and an elapsed time the measured windshear is beyond the first predetermined threshold.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processor comprises at least one of a digital signal processor and an analog signal processor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processor comprises a filter.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the filter comprises an order greater than one.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the signal processor comprises a second order filter.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the filter comprises at least one of a digital filter, a passive analog filter, and an active analog filter.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the measured turbulence level comprises an average turbulence level based on the measured windshear.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the average turbulence level is based on a half-wave rectification of the measured windshear.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more aircraft systems for providing the windshear measurement.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more aircraft systems comprise at least one of:

an air data computer, a sensor, and an inertial reference system.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a windshear alert system for providing an alert when the presence of windshear is determined.

13. A method comprising:

detecting a presence of windshear based on;

(a) whether a measured windshear is beyond a first predetermined threshold; and

(b) whether a measured turbulence level is beyond a second predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein detecting the presence of windshear is based further on a maximum allowable speed loss and an elapsed time the measured windshear is beyond the first predetermined threshold.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the measured turbulence level comprises an average turbulence level based on the measured windshear.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the average turbulence level is based on a half-wave rectification of the measured windshear.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing an alert when the presence of windshear is determined.

18. A system comprising:

a signal processor configured to;

(a) receive a windshear measurement; and

(b) provide a processed windshear measurement based on the windshear measurement, the processed windshear measurement for detecting a presence of windshear.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the signal processor is further configured to:

(c) receive a modified windshear measurement; and

(d) provide a processed modified windshear measurement based on the modified windshear measurement, the processed modified windshear measurement for indicating a level of turbulence.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the signal processor comprises at least one of a digital signal processor and an analog signal processor.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the signal processor comprises a filter.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the filter comprises an order greater than one.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the signal processor comprises a second order filter.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the filter comprises at least one of a digital filter, a passive analog filter, and an active analog filter.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the measured turbulence level comprises an average turbulence level based on the measured windshear.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the average turbulence level is based on a half-wave rectification of the measured windshear.

27. The system of claim 18, further comprising one or more aircraft systems for providing the windshear measurement.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the one or more aircraft systems comprise at least one of:

an air data computer, a sensor, and an inertial reference system.

29. A method comprising:

(a) receiving a windshear measurement; and

(b) providing a processed windshear measurement based on the windshear measurement, the processed windshear measurement for determining a presence of windshear.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the processed windshear measurement is provided by filtering the windshear measurement.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

(c) receiving a modified windshear measurement; and

(d) providing a processed modified windshear measurement based on the modified windshear measurement, the processed modified windshear measurement for indicating a level of turbulence.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising determining the presence of windshear based on the processed windshear measurement and the processed modified windshear measurement.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein determining the presence of windshear is based further on a maximum allowable speed loss and an elapsed time the measured windshear is beyond a predetermined threshold.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the processed windshear measurement is provided by filtering the modified windshear measurement.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the measured turbulence level comprises an average turbulence level based on the measured windshear.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the average turbulence level is based on a half-wave rectification of the measured windshear.

37. A system comprising:

(1) a filter configured to;

(a) receive;

(i) a windshear measurement; and

(ii) a modified windshear measurement; and

(b) provide;

(i) a filtered windshear measurement based on the windshear measurement; and

(ii) a filtered modified windshear measurement based on the modified windshear measurement; and

(2) a windshear detection system in communication with the filter, the windshear detection system configured to provide a windshear alert based on the filtered windshear measurement and the filtered modified windshear measurement.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the filter is configured to:

provide the filtered windshear measurement based further on a first natural frequency and a first damping ratio; and

provide the filtered modified windshear measurement based further on a second natural frequency and a second damping ratio.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the filter comprises an order greater than one.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the filter comprises a second order filter.

41. The system of claim 37, wherein the filter comprises at least one of a digital filter, a passive analog filter, and an active analog filter.

42. The system of claim 37, wherein the modified windshear measurement comprises an average turbulence level based on the windshear measurement.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the average turbulence level is based on a half-wave rectification of the measured windshear.

44. The system of claim 37, further comprising one or more aircraft systems for providing the windshear measurement.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more aircraft systems comprise at least one of:

an air data computer, a sensor, and an inertial reference system.

46. A method comprising:

(a) receiving;

(i) a windshear measurement; and

(ii) a modified windshear measurement; and

(b) filtering;

(i) the windshear measurement; and

(ii) the modified windshear measurement; and

(c) providing a windshear alert based on the filtered windshear measurement and the filtered modified windshear measurement.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the filtering of the windshear measurement is based on a first natural frequency and a first damping ratio and the filtering of the modified windshear measurement is based on a second natural frequency and a second damping ratio.

48. The system of claim 46, wherein the modified windshear measurement comprises an average turbulence level based on the windshear measurement.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the average turbulence level is based on a half-wave rectification of the measured windshear.

50. A system comprising:

(1) a first filter configured to;

(a) receive a windshear measurement; and

(b) provide a filtered windshear measurement based on the windshear measurement;

(2) a second filter configured to;

(a) receive a modified windshear measurement; and

(b) provide a filtered modified windshear measurement based on the modified windshear measurement; and

(3) a windshear detection system in communication with the first filter and the second filter, the windshear detection system configured to provide a windshear alert based on the filtered windshear measurement and the filtered modified windshear measurement.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein:

the first filter is configured to provide the filtered windshear measurement based further on a first natural frequency and a first damping ratio; and

the second filter is configured to provide the filtered modified windshear measurement based further on a second natural frequency and a second damping ratio.

52. The system of claim 50, further comprising one or more aircraft systems for providing the windshear measurement.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the one or more aircraft systems comprise at least one of:

an air data computer, a sensor, and an inertial reference system.

54. The system of claim 50, further comprising a rectifier in communication with the second filter for providing the modified windshear measurement.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the rectifier comprises a half-wave rectifier.

56. The system of claim 50, wherein the windshear measurement corresponds to a horizontal shear measurement and a vertical shear measurement, wherein the filtered windshear measurement corresponds to a filtered horizontal shear measurement and a filtered vertical shear measurement, and wherein the windshear detection system is configured to:

(a) detect, based on the filtered horizontal shear measurement and the filtered modified horizontal shear measurement, a presence of at least one of a headwind shear and a tailwind shear; and

(b) detect, based on the filtered vertical shear measurement and the filtered modified vertical shear measurement, a presence of at least one of an updraft shear and a downdraft shear.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein the alert provided by the windshear detection system comprises a windshear warning when at least one of the tailwind shear and the downdraft is present and wherein the alert provided by the windshear detection system comprises a windshear caution when at least one of the headwind shear and updraft is present.

58. The system of claim 50, wherein at least one of the first filter and the second filter comprises an order greater than one.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein at least one of the first filter and the second filter comprises a second order filter.

60. The system of claim 50, wherein at least one of the first filter and the second filter comprises at least one of a digital filter, a passive analog filter, and an active analog filter.

61. The system of claim 50, wherein the windshear alert is further based upon the windshear measurement, a maximum allowable speed loss, and an elapsed time the windshear measurement exceeds a predetermined threshold.

62. A method comprising:

(a) receiving, by a first filter, a windshear measurement; and

(b) providing, by the first filter, a filtered windshear measurement based on the windshear measurement;

(c) receiving, by a second filter, a modified windshear measurement; and

(d) providing, by the second filter, a filtered modified windshear measurement based on the modified windshear measurement; and

(e) providing a windshear alert based on the filtered windshear measurement and the filtered modified windshear measurement.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein:

the first filter provides the filtered windshear measurement based further on a first natural frequency and a first damping ratio; and

the second filter provides the filtered modified windshear measurement based further on a second natural frequency and a second damping ratio.

64. The method of claim 62, wherein the modified windshear measurement is a rectification of the windshear measurement.

65. The method of claim 64, wherein modified windshear measurement is a half-wave rectification of the windshear measurement.

66. The method of claim 62, wherein the windshear measurement corresponds to a horizontal shear measurement and a vertical shear measurement, wherein the filtered windshear measurement corresponds to a filtered horizontal shear measurement and a filtered vertical shear measurement, the method further comprising:

(a) detecting, based on the filtered horizontal shear measurement and the filtered modified horizontal shear measurement, a presence of at least one of a headwind shear and a tailwind shear; and

(b) detecting, based on the filtered vertical shear measurement and the filtered modified vertical shear measurement, a presence of at least one of an updraft shear and a downdraft shear.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein the windshear alert comprises a windshear warning when at least one of the tailwind shear and the downdraft is present, and wherein the windshear alert comprises a windshear caution when at least one of the headwind shear and updraft is present.

68. The method of claim 62, wherein at least one of the first filter and the second filter comprises an order greater than one.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein at least one of the first filter and the second filter comprises a second order filter.

70. The method of claim 62, wherein at least one of the first filter and the second filter comprises at least one of a digital filter, a passive analog filter, and an active analog filter.

71. The method of claim 62, wherein the windshear alert is further based upon the windshear measurement, a maximum allowable speed loss, and an elapsed time the windshear measurement exceeds a predetermined threshold.