SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REMOTE MONITORING OF WEATHER

• US 20100102992A1
• Filed: 10/28/2008
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Madden, Craig Kevin, Meyers, David W., Cornett, Alan, Becker, Robert Charles, Spoor, David Todd
• Application Number:
  US12/259,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20100102992A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/971
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/06 Cathode-ray tube displays or other two dimensional or three-dimensional displays
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/08 Adaptations of balloons, missiles, or aircraft for meteorological purposes; Radiosondes transmission of measurements G01D; transmitting circuits H04B; balloons in general B64B; aeroplanes in general B64D; missiles in general F42B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

Systems and methods are operable to capture images of weather along a portion of a flight path of an aircraft, and are operable to wirelessly communicate information corresponding to the captured images to the aircraft. An exemplary embodiment has at least one camera pointed in a direction corresponding to a portion of the flight path of the aircraft and configured to capture images of weather in proximity to the portion of the flight path, and has a transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate images captured by the at least one camera.

Claims

1. A method for communicating remotely captured images of weather to an aircraft, the method comprising:

capturing an image of the weather with a camera that is pointed at a portion of a flight path of the aircraft; and

wirelessly communicating information corresponding to the remotely captured image to the aircraft.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the weather is in proximity to a remote portion of a planned flight path of the aircraft that is beyond a discernable range of a crew of the aircraft.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the weather is in proximity to the remote portion of the planned flight path of the aircraft that is beyond a detection range of a radar of the aircraft.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a signal; and

wirelessly communicating information corresponding to the remotely captured image to the aircraft in response to receiving the signal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the received signal comprises information identifying a direction of interest, the method further comprising:

actuating a gimbal to point the camera in the direction of interest.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring meteorological information with at least one meteorological sensor;

combining the acquired meteorological information with the remotely captured image information; and

wirelessly communicating the information corresponding to the remotely captured image and the acquired meteorological information to the aircraft.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the meteorological sensor comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a precipitation sensor configured to detect amounts of precipitation, a barometric pressure sensor configured to detect barometric pressure, a wind direction sensor configured to detect wind direction, a wind speed sensor configured to detect wind speed, a humidity sensor configured to detect humidity, and a temperature sensor configured to detect temperature.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the remote image of the weather with the camera further comprises:

capturing an infrared image of the weather with an infrared sensitive camera.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing the remote image of the weather with the camera further comprises:

capturing an image of the weather at night with a night vision enhanced camera.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly communicating information corresponding to the remotely captured image to the aircraft further comprises:

wirelessly communicating information corresponding to the remotely captured image to a base station, therein the wirelessly communicated information is then communicated to the aircraft.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

actuating a gimbal to point the camera in a direction of interest.

12. A weather imaging system for communicating remotely captured images of weather to an aircraft, comprising:

at least one camera pointed in a direction corresponding to a portion of a flight path of the aircraft and configured to capture images of weather in proximity to the portion of the flight path; and

a transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate images captured by the at least one camera.

13. The weather imaging system of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one meteorological sensor configured to acquire meteorological information, wherein the acquired meteorological information is combined with the captured image information.

14. The weather imaging system of claim 13, wherein the meteorological sensor comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a precipitation sensor configured to detect amounts of precipitation, a barometric pressure sensor configured to detect barometric pressure, a wind direction sensor configured to detect wind direction, a wind speed sensor configured to detect wind speed, a humidity sensor configured to detect humidity, and a temperature sensor configured to detect temperature.

15. The weather imaging system of claim 12, further comprising:

gimbal configured to move the at least one camera in a predefined direction of interest.

16. The weather imaging system of claim 12, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a signal from the aircraft that specifies a direction of interest, and further comprising:

a gimbal configured to move the at least one camera in the direction of interest.

17. The weather imaging system of claim 12, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a signal from the aircraft, and wherein the transceiver communicates the captured image information to the aircraft in response to receiving the signal.

18. A system for communicating remotely captured images of weather to an aircraft, the method comprising:

means for capturing an image of the weather with a camera that is pointed at a portion of a flight path of the aircraft;

means for processing the captured image of the weather into information configured for communication in a wireless format; and

means for wirelessly communicating the processed information to the aircraft.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for wirelessly communicating is configured to receive a signal from the aircraft, and is configured to wirelessly communicate the information corresponding to the remotely captured image to the aircraft in response to receiving the signal.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for pointing the means for capturing in a direction of interest.