SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRESENTING TAXI INSTRUCTIONS AND REDUCING RUNWAY INCURSIONS

• US 20120253649A1
• Filed: 04/01/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: McGuffin, Tom
• Granted Patent: US 8,718,911 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 are provided for presenting a taxi route for an aircraft at an airport. The method, for example, includes, but is not limited to receiving, by a processor, the taxi route, translating, by the processor, the taxi route into a graphical representation, displaying, on an aircraft display, a map of the airport and the graphical representation, and displaying, a location of a hold short instruction on the aircraft display.

Claims

1. A method for presenting a taxi route for an aircraft of an airport, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, the a taxi route;

translating, by the processor, the taxi route into a graphical representation;

displaying, on an aircraft display, a map of the airport and the graphical representation;

and

displaying, a location of a hold short instruction on the aircraft display.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting the taxi route to the processor with a controller pilot data link communication.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the translating the taxi route in the graphical representation further comprises:

parsing a communication of the controller pilot data link communication;

extracting the taxiway route; and

correlating the taxiway route with map data of the airport.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising issuing a first alert if a speed of the aircraft is greater than a first threshold as the aircraft is approaching the location of the hold short instruction.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising issuing a second alert if a speed of the aircraft is greater than a second threshold as the aircraft is approaching the location of the hold short instruction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first threshold and second threshold vary based upon a distance of the aircraft relative to the location of the hold short instruction.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second alert is audible and visual.

8. A system for presenting a taxi instruction for an aircraft, comprising:

a data link communications system configured to receive a taxi instruction;

a display; and

a processor coupled to the data link communication system and the display, the processor configured to;

translate the taxi instruction into a graphical presentation;

identify a hold short instruction within the taxi instruction received by the data link communications system;

transmit the graphical representation to the display; and

transmit a location of the hold short instruction to the display if a hold short instruction if a hold short instruction is identified within the taxi instruction.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the data link communications system is a controller pilot data link communication system.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor when translating the taxi instructions is further configured to:

parse the taxi instructions;

extract relevant taxiway instructions; and

correlate the extracted taxiway instructions with map data of the airport.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising a flight management system configured to monitor a position of the aircraft and a speed of the aircraft.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the location and speed of the aircraft from the flight management system and to issue a first alert if the speed of the aircraft is greater than a first threshold as the aircraft is approaching the location of the hold short instruction.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to issue a second alert if the speed of the aircraft is greater than a second threshold as the aircraft is approaching the location of the hold short instruction.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first threshold and second threshold vary based upon a distance of the aircraft relative to the location of the hold short instruction.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the second alert is audible and visual.

16. An aircraft, comprising:

a display;

a controller pilot data link communication (CPDLC) system configured to receive a CPDLC message including taxi instructions for the aircraft;

a processor configured to receive the taxi instructions from the CPDLC system, to translate the taxi instructions into a graphical representation of the taxi instructions and to display the graphical representation of the taxi instructions on the display,

wherein, if the taxi instructions include a hold short instruction, the processor is further configured to display a location of the hold short instruction on the display.

17. The aircraft of claim 16, further comprising:

a memory configured to store map data for an airport,

wherein the processor, when translating the taxi instructions, is further configured to;

parse the taxi instructions;

extract relevant taxiway instructions; and

correlate the extracted taxiway instructions with the map data of the airport.

18. The aircraft of claim 16, further comprising:

a flight management system configured to monitor a position of the aircraft and a speed of the aircraft,

wherein the processor is further configured to receive the location and speed of the aircraft from the flight management system and to issue a first alert if the speed of the aircraft is greater than a first threshold as the aircraft is approaching the location of the hold short instruction.

19. The aircraft of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to issue a second alert if the speed of the aircraft is greater than a second threshold as the aircraft is approaching the location of the hold short instruction.

20. The aircraft of claim 19, wherein the first threshold and second threshold vary based upon a distance of the aircraft relative to the location of the hold short instruction.