Filtering of Relevant Traffic for Display, Enhancement, and/or Alerting

• US 20110125399A1
• Filed: 11/24/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Bowe, Roglenda R., Clark, Samuel T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,600,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0065 for taking-off
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media described herein provide for filtering relevant traffic from sensed or received traffic information for display, enhancement, or alerting, without requiring knowledge of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport. Traffic information is sensed or received regarding nearby aircraft or other vehicles and is filtered using one or more filtering strategies to determine a subset of relevant traffic for which to display traffic indicators and/or traffic data on a display unit in the aircraft. The subset of relevant traffic may be further tested for convergence or potential convergence and filtered using one or more additional filtering strategies to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions for which to enhance the display of the traffic indicators on the display unit or to alert the flight crew of the critical traffic conditions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for filtering traffic for relevance for display or enhancement on a display unit of a vehicle, the method comprising performing instructions under the control of one or more computer systems to:

receive traffic information;

apply a first filtering strategy to the traffic information to determine a subset of relevant traffic, wherein the first filtering strategy requires no knowledge of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport; and

generating a display of relevant traffic comprising one or more traffic indicators corresponding to the subset of relevant traffic for display on the display unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing instructions under the control of the one or more computer systems to regularly apply the first filtering strategy to updated traffic information and update the display of relevant traffic on the display unit as the vehicle is in operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic information comprises current state vectors and other information regarding nearby vehicles received via automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (“

ADS-B”

).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display of relevant traffic is overlaid on a navigation display or an airport moving map display on the display unit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first filtering strategy comprises a determination of an intersection between a projected track of the vehicle and projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first filtering strategy comprises a determination of an intersection of projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles with an area defined around a current position of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first filtering strategy comprises a determination that one or more nearby vehicles have parallel or near-parallel tracks with a projected track of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first filtering strategy comprises a determination that one or more nearby vehicles are within a defined area centered around the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing instructions under the control of the one or more computer systems to:

apply a second filtering strategy to the subset of relevant traffic to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions; and

enhance the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing instructions under the control of the one or more computer systems to provide at least one of an aural annunciation and alert alone or in conjunction with enhancing the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

11. A system for filtering relevant traffic for display or enhancement on a display unit of an aircraft, comprising:

a memory for storing a program containing computer-executable instructions for filtering traffic information to determine relevant traffic for display and enhancement; and

a processing unit functionally coupled to the memory, the processing unit being responsive to the computer-executable instructions and configured to;

receive the traffic information,

apply a first filtering strategy to the traffic information to determine a subset of relevant traffic, wherein the first filtering strategy requires no knowledge of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport, and

generate a display of relevant traffic comprising one or more traffic indicators corresponding to the subset of relevant traffic for display on the display unit.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the traffic information comprises current state vectors and other information regarding nearby vehicles received via ADS-B.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the display of relevant traffic is overlaid on a navigation display or an airport moving map display on the display unit.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the first filtering strategy comprises one or more of a track-track intersection strategy, a track-aircraft intersection strategy, a near-parallel track-position vector strategy, an ownship-traffic proximity strategy, and a determination of convergence or potential convergence.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

apply a second filtering strategy to the subset of relevant traffic to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions; and

enhance the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

16. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by an avionics computer of an aircraft, cause the avionics computer to:

receive traffic information,

apply a first filtering strategy to the traffic information to determine a subset of relevant traffic, wherein the first filtering strategy requires no knowledge of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport, and

generate a display of relevant traffic comprising one or more traffic indicators corresponding to the subset of relevant traffic for display on a display unit of the aircraft.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the traffic information comprises current state vectors and other information regarding nearby vehicles received via ADS-B.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the display of relevant traffic is overlaid on a navigation display or an airport moving map display on the display unit.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, comprising further computer-executable instructions that cause the avionics computer to:

apply a second filtering strategy to the subset of relevant traffic to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions; and

enhance the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, containing further computer-executable instructions that cause the avionics computer to provide an aural alert in conjunction with enhancing the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.