SYSTEM FOR AIDING THE GUIDANCE OF AN AIRCRAFT ON AN AIRPORT

• US 20090045982A1
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Deker, Guy, Marty, Nicolas, Caillaud, Christophe
• Granted Patent: US 7,999,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/972
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

The general field of the invention is that of systems for aiding the guidance of an aircraft on an airport. The system according to the invention comprises means for determining at least one element of the topology of the airport in relation to the position of the aircraft for selecting. Selecting means are provided by the pilot of the aircraft for the element. Generating means are provided to generate at least one guidance or safety set-point using the topological element. Presenting means are provided for the element or the associated set-point on a man-machine interface to the pilot of the aircraft.

Claims

1. System for aiding the guidance of an aircraft on an airport comprising:

means for determining at least one element of the topology of the airport in relation to the position of the aircraft;

means for selecting by the pilot of aircraft said topological element;

means for generating at least one guidance or safety set-point using the topological element; and

means for presenting said topological element or the associated set-point on a man-machine interface to the pilot of the aircraft.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the elements of the topology are either topographic information, or information on the nature or the state of the runway followed by the aircraft, or information on the designation of the runway.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the determining means comprise an airport-type database.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the determining means comprise sensors of signs representative of the runway followed by the aircraft.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the determining means comprise means for extracting, filtering and recognizing the signs representative of the runway in the database using the data arising from the sensors.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the selecting means comprise a designator of “

mouse”

or “

scroll-pad”

type or a selection button of the selector/rotator type.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the selecting means comprise selection display means.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the elements that can be selected arise from elements of the database and that the selector comprises means making it possible to indicate the position or the movement to be performed by the aircraft towards the element.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the selecting means comprise means making it possible to engage or to disengage the movement to be performed by the aircraft.

10. The system according to claim 6, wherein the elements are disposed in a list and ranked in an order of priority configurable by the user, which order of priority may be an alphabetic order or a ranking of the elements as a function of their distance with respect to the aeroplane.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the presentation means comprise a collimated viewing device of Head-Up display type, the presentations of the topology elements or associated set-points being carried out in at least one specific visual field.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the presentation means comprise a viewing screen called “

display”

, this screen possibly being either the screen termed “

Navigation Display”

, or the screen termed “

Multi Function Display”

, the presentations of the topology elements or associated set-points being carried out either in at least one specific window or on a specific page on the screen.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the topology or set-point elements are presented in the form of a symbology of “

flight director”

type.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the presentation means comprise a display dedicated to the presentation of the topology elements or associated set-points.

15. System according to one of claim 11, wherein the presentation of the topology elements or associated set-points is performed simultaneously on at least either the head-up display, or on the viewing screen, or on the dedicated display.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein said system is coupled to automatic means for guiding the aircraft on the runway.