METHOD AND SYSTEM DISPLAYING CROSSWIND CORRECTION FOR APPROACH TO A RUNWAY

• US 20090326744A1
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: He, Gang, Wyatt, Ivan Sandy
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,039 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/10
• 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

Abstract

An aircraft display system (100) for illustrating a suggested crab angle has a processor (104) adapted to receive data representative of a desired ground tract (214) and representative of a ground tract deviation, and is configured upon receipt of these data to supply a ground tract rendering display command. A display device (116) coupled to receive the ground tract image rendering display commands is operable to render an icon (222) representative of the desired aircraft heading to maintain the desired ground tract (214). The method of how to maneuver an aircraft to correct for crosswind includes determining (306) a difference between a current ground track (224) and a current heading (218), determining a desired heading to maintain the desired ground track (214) based on the difference, and rendering on a display an aircraft icon (222) that is representative of the desired heading.

Claims

1. A method of illustrating how to maneuver an aircraft to correct for crosswind, comprising:

determining a difference between a current ground track and a current heading; and

rendering on a display the current ground track, current heading, and an aircraft icon that is representative of a crab angle.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering step comprises rendering an icon comprising one of a plurality of formats as determined by the magnitude of the crab angle.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the rendering step comprises rendering an icon comprising a format selected from one of the formats consisting of at least two colors, at least two sizes, and at least two positions.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering step comprises a user selecting the conditions to enable the aircraft icon that is representative of the crab angle.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering step is enabled when the desired crab angle exceeds a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein rendering step comprises rendering an icon comprising displaying a symbolic crab angle proportional to the crab angle as determined by aircraft dynamic characteristics.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering step comprises rendering an icon comprising a crab angle determined by considering other displayed directional symbols.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering step comprises displaying the aircraft icon with respect to the desired aircraft ground track as determined by one of an ILS navigation aid, a ground based navigational system, a GPS navigation aid, a flight management system, and an inertial navigation system.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising rendering a lateral deviation icon for indicating angular deviations form a desired course line.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising rendering a lateral deviation icon indicating linear deviations from the desired ground track.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the rendering a lateral deviation step comprises rendering a lateral deviation icon comprising one of a plurality of formats as determined by the magnitude of the crab angle.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the rendering a lateral deviation step comprises rendering an icon comprising a format selected from one of the formats consisting of at least two colors, at least two sizes, and at least two positions.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising rendering a lateral deviation icon indicating the direction in which the runway is positioned in relation to a heading indicated by the aircraft icon.

14. A method of displaying an icon representative of an aircraft crab angle to compensate for a crosswind, comprising:

determining a current ground track;

determining a current heading;

determining a difference between the current ground track and the current heading;

determining a desired ground track;

determining a desired heading reflective of the aircraft crab angle; and

rendering on a display an aircraft icon that is representative the aircraft crab angle.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the rendering step comprises rendering an icon comprising one of a plurality of formats as determined by the magnitude of the crab angle.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the rendering step comprises rendering an icon comprising a format selected from one of the formats consisting of at least two colors, at least two sizes, and at least two positions.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the rendering step is enabled when the desired crab angle exceeds a threshold.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising rendering a lateral deviation icon for indicating angular deviations form a desired course line.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the rendering a lateral deviation icon step comprises rendering a lateral deviation icon comprising one of a plurality of formats as determined by the magnitude of the desired heading.

20. An aircraft display system comprising:

a processor adapted to receive data representative of a desired ground tract, and data representative of a ground tract deviation, and configured upon receipt of these data to supply ground tract rendering display command; and

a display device coupled to receive the ground tract image rendering display commands and operable to render an icon representative of the desired aircraft heading to maintain the desired ground tract.