SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AIRCRAFT TO AIRCRAFT EXCHANGE OF RADAR INFORMATION OVER LOW BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

• US 20100302093A1
• Filed: 05/27/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: True, Willard R., Grove, Michael M., Bunch, Brian P., Kuttler, Ken
• Granted Patent: US 8,223,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/26B
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/06 Cathode-ray tube displays or other two dimensional or three-dimensional displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18502 Airborne stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• 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 communicate weather information between aircraft using low bandwidth communication transceivers. An exemplary embodiment receives weather information from a weather radar system on board a remote aircraft, processes the received weather information into weather radar image information that is displayable on at least a display, processes the weather radar image information into a reduced size dataset, and communicates the reduced size dataset to an installation aircraft over the low bandwidth communication channel, wherein the low bandwidth communication channel is generated by a low bandwidth communication transceiver on board the remote aircraft.

Claims

1. A method for communicating weather information between aircraft using a low bandwidth communication channel defined by a capacity of approximately one mega-bits per second and less, the method comprising:

receiving weather information from a weather radar system on board a remote aircraft;

processing the received weather information into weather radar image information that is displayable on at least a display;

processing the weather radar image information into a reduced size dataset; and

communicating the reduced size dataset to an installation aircraft over the low bandwidth communication channel, wherein the low bandwidth communication channel is generated by a low bandwidth communication transceiver on board the remote aircraft.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the low bandwidth communication channel is configured for voice communications between a crew of the installation aircraft and a crew of the remote aircraft.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

reducing the amount of weather radar image information using run length encoding.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

reducing the amount of weather radar image information using fractal compression.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

reducing the amount of weather radar image information using at least one of JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) data compression.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving, the processing, and the communicating comprises:

initially receiving first weather information from the weather radar system on board the remote aircraft;

processing the received first weather information into first weather radar image information that is displayable on the display;

processing the first weather radar image information into a first reduced size dataset;

communicating the first reduced size dataset to the installation aircraft;

later receiving second weather information from the weather radar system on board the remote aircraft;

processing the received second weather information into second weather radar image information that is displayable on the display;

processing the first weather radar image information into a second reduced size dataset using at least one of JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) data compression, wherein the second reduced size dataset corresponds to changes between the first weather information and the second weather information; and

communicating the second reduced size dataset to the installation aircraft.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

selecting an altitude of interest;

selecting weather information at the altitude of interest;

processing the selected weather information at the altitude of interest into the weather radar image information; and

processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the radar image information is storable in a three dimensional (3-D) weather information database, and wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

selecting a two dimensional (2-D) area of weather with the highest radar return intensity from weather information stored in the 3-D weather information database;

processing the selected 2-D weather information into the weather radar image information; and

processing the selected weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

selecting a type of weather of interest;

selecting weather information corresponding to the selected type of weather;

processing the selected weather information corresponding to the selected type of weather into the weather radar image information; and

processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

selecting a first type of weather of interest;

selecting first weather information corresponding to the selected first type of weather;

processing the selected first weather information into a first reduced size dataset;

selecting a second type of weather of interest;

selecting second weather information corresponding to the selected second type of weather;

processing the selected second weather information into a second reduced size dataset;

communicating the first reduced size dataset to the installation aircraft; and

later communicating the second reduced size dataset to the installation aircraft.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

selecting a two dimensional (2-D) area of weather of interest from the weather radar image information;

defining the 2-D area of interest based upon a plurality of corner points of the 2-D area of interest; and

processing the corner points of the 2-D area of interest into the reduced size dataset.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the weather radar image information into the reduced size dataset comprises:

selecting a two dimensional (2-D) area of weather of interest from the weather radar image information;

defining the 2-D area of interest based upon at least one corner point and at least one boundary of the 2-D area of interest; and

processing the at least one corner point and the at least one boundary of the 2-D area of interest into the reduced size dataset.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an interrogation signal at the remote aircraft, the interrogation signal communicated from the installation aircraft,

wherein the reduced size dataset is communicated to the installation aircraft in response to receiving the interrogation signal.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the low bandwidth communication channel comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a HF (high frequency) channel, a VHF (very high frequency) channel, and a UHF (ultra high frequency) channel.

15. An aircraft to aircraft weather radar information communication system, comprising:

an onboard weather radar system on a first aircraft that generates weather information based on detected weather;

an onboard processing system coupled to the onboard weather radar system, wherein the onboard processing system processes the weather information into a reduced size dataset; and

an onboard low bandwidth communication transceiver coupled to the onboard processing system, wherein the onboard low bandwidth communication transceiver transmits the reduced size dataset to a remote low bandwidth communication transceiver onboard a second aircraft, and wherein a capacity of the onboard low bandwidth communication transceiver is approximately one mega-bits per second and less.

16. The aircraft to aircraft weather radar information communication system of claim 15, wherein the onboard low bandwidth communication transceiver and the remote low bandwidth communication transceiver support voice communications between crews of the first aircraft and the second aircraft.

17. The aircraft to aircraft weather radar information communication system of claim 15, wherein the processing system processes the weather information received from the weather radar system into weather radar image information that is displayable on at least a weather radar display, and wherein the reduced size dataset is based upon the displayable weather radar image information.

18. A method for receiving at an installation aircraft weather information detected by a remote aircraft, the weather information communicated using a low bandwidth communication channel defined by a capacity of approximately one mega-bits per second and less, the method comprising:

receiving at an onboard low bandwidth communication transceiver a reduced size dataset transmitted from a remote low bandwidth communication transceiver on the remote aircraft, wherein the reduced size dataset includes at least remote weather information pertaining to remote weather detected by the remote aircraft, and includes location information for the remote aircraft;

processing the received remote weather information into weather radar image information that is displayable on at least a weather radar display;

receiving local weather information from a weather radar system onboard the installation aircraft;

processing the received local weather information into local weather radar image information that is displayable on the weather radar display; and

displaying the local weather radar image information and the remote weather radar image information on the weather radar display.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

processing the local weather radar image information into a local reduced size dataset; and

communicating the local reduced size dataset to the remote aircraft using the low bandwidth communication channel.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the onboard low bandwidth communication transceiver comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a HF (high frequency) radio system transceiver, a VHF (very high frequency) radio system transceiver, and a UHF (ultra high frequency) radio system transceiver.