SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AIRCRAFT TAXIING AND GUIDANCE USING A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20110313645A1
• Filed: 06/01/2011
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Group India Pvt Ltd. (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Engineering Centre India Co.
• Inventors: Shukla, Vijay
• Granted Patent: US 8,666,648 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/120
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

A system and method for aircraft taxiing and guidance using ground station'"'"'s communication network is disclosed. In one embodiment, in a method of aircraft taxiing and guidance, a communication link between an aircraft computing system and a ground station system is established using a communication network provided by the ground station system. An aircraft taxi selection and guidance application residing in the aircraft computing system is displayed on a display device upon establishing the communication link. Further, one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services are displayed upon selecting the aircraft taxi selection and guidance application. One of the displayed pilot selectable taxiing and ground services is selected by a pilot of an aircraft. Information associated with the selected pilot selectable taxiing and ground service is then displayed on the display device using ground station data. The aircraft is taxied and guided by the pilot using displayed information.

Claims

1. A method of aircraft taxiing and guidance, comprising:

establishing a communication link between an aircraft computing system and a ground station system using a communication network provided by the ground station system;

displaying an aircraft taxi selection and guidance application residing in the aircraft computing system on a display device in an aircraft cockpit upon establishing the communication link;

displaying one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services upon selecting the aircraft taxi selection and guidance application;

selecting one of the displayed pilot selectable taxiing and ground services by a pilot of an aircraft;

displaying information associated with the selected one of the displayed pilot selectable taxiing and ground services on the display device using ground station data residing in the ground station system via the communication link; and

taxiing and guiding the aircraft by the pilot using the displayed information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the aircraft computing system is selected from the group consisting of a mobile computing system, an aircraft cockpit system, and an aircraft navigation system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises WiMax.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the communication link between the aircraft computing system and the ground station system, comprises:

establishing the communication link between the aircraft computing system and the ground station system using the communication network provided by the ground station system by an aircraft when approaching substantially near a landing position.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services are selected from the group consisting of taxiway services, connecting flight services, aircraft logbook services, pilot request services, and airport terminal information services.

6. A method of aircraft taxiing and guidance, comprising:

establishing a communication link between an aircraft computing system and a ground station system using a communication network provided by the ground station system;

displaying one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services on a display device in an aircraft cockpit upon establishing the communication link using an aircraft taxi selection and guidance application residing in the aircraft computing system, wherein the one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services are selected from the group consisting of taxiway services, connecting flight services, aircraft logbook services, pilot request services, and airport terminal information services;

displaying an array of pilot selectable and non-selectable gates associated with an airport on the display device using ground station data residing in the ground station system via the communication link upon selecting the taxiway services;

selecting a gate for parking from the displayed array of pilot selectable gates associated with the airport by a pilot of an aircraft;

displaying a runway map along with one or more paths on the display device using the ground station data residing in the ground station system via the communication link; and

taxiing and guiding the aircraft from a landed position to the selected gate by the pilot using the displayed runway map along with the one or more paths.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

placing the pilot selected gate in a standby lock mode; and

displaying the pilot selected gate in the standby lock mode in a different contrast mode from the pilot selectable gates on the display device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

replacing the standby lock mode by a permanent lock mode when the aircraft is at a parking position associated with the pilot selected gate.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the pilot selected gates placed in the standby lock mode and the permanent lock mode are displayed as non-selectable gates on the display device.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein selecting the gate for parking using one of the displayed array of pilot selectable gates associated with the airport by the pilot of the aircraft comprises:

displaying connecting flight data on the display device using the ground station data residing in the ground station system via the communication link upon selecting the connecting flight service displayed on the display device; and

selecting the gate for parking using one of the displayed array of pilot selectable gates and the displayed connecting flight data associated with the airport by the pilot in the aircraft cockpit.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for aircraft taxiing and guidance having instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

establishing a communication link between an aircraft computing system and a ground station system using a communication network provided by the ground station system;

displaying an aircraft taxi selection and guidance application residing in the aircraft computing system on a display device in an aircraft cockpit upon establishing the communication link;

displaying one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services upon selecting the aircraft taxi selection and guidance application;

selecting one of the displayed pilot selectable taxiing and ground services by a pilot in the aircraft cockpit;

displaying information associated with the selected one of the displayed pilot selectable taxiing and ground services on the display device using ground station data residing in the ground station system via the communication link; and

taxiing and guiding the aircraft by the pilot using the displayed information.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the aircraft computing system is selected from the group consisting of a mobile computing system, an aircraft cockpit system, and an aircraft navigation system.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the communication network comprises WiMax.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein establishing the communication link between the aircraft computing system and the ground station system, comprises:

establishing the communication link between the aircraft computing system and the ground station system using the communication network provided by the ground station system by an aircraft when approaching substantially near a landing position.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services are selected from the group consisting of taxiway services, connecting flight services, aircraft logbook services, pilot request services, and airport terminal information services.

16. A system for aircraft taxiing and guidance, comprising:

a processor;

memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory includes an aircraft taxiing and guidance module;

an aircraft computing system including a display device;

a ground station system; and

a communication network for establishing a communication link between the aircraft computing system and the ground station system, wherein the communication network is provided by the ground station system, wherein the aircraft taxiing and guidance module has instructions capable of displaying an aircraft taxi selection and guidance application residing in the aircraft computing system on the display device upon establishing the communication link, wherein the display device displays one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services upon selecting the aircraft taxi selection and guidance application, wherein the display device displays information associated with a selected one of the displayed pilot selectable taxiing and ground services using ground station data residing in the ground station system via the communication link, and wherein the displayed information is used by the pilot for aircraft taxiing and guidance.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the aircraft computing system is selected from the group consisting of a mobile computing system, an aircraft cockpit system, and an aircraft navigation system.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more pilot selectable taxiing and ground services are selected from the group consisting of taxiway services, connecting flight services, aircraft logbook services, pilot request services, and airport terminal information services.