SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING RUNWAY-ENTRY AWARENESS AND ALERTING

• US 20140077975A1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Khatwa, Ratan, Hamblin, Chris
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/972
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0653 during a phase of take-off or landing
• 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 5/025 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

Systems and methods for providing runway entry awareness and alerting. An exemplary system includes a processing device that determines pilot intent based on one of a manual runway selection, automatic runway selection, aircraft information received from one or more sensors or received clearance information; receives at least one of aircraft position or motion information; determines if a no access condition exists based on the received information, the stored airport information and the determined pilot intent; and generates at least one of a hold-short gate still image or animation, if the no access condition exists.

Claims

1. A method performed on an aircraft, the method comprising:

at a memory device,

storing airport information;

at a processing device,

determining pilot intent based on one of a manual runway selection, automatic runway selection, aircraft information received from one or more sensors or received clearance information;

receiving at least one of aircraft position or motion information;

determining if a no access condition exists based on the received information, the stored airport information and the determined pilot intent;

generating at least one of a hold-short gate still image or animation, if the no access condition exists; and

at an output device,

outputting the generated at least one of a hold-short gate still image or animation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the clearance information comprises an identification of a runway associated with the determined intent.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the no access condition comprises closure information for the intended runway, no clearance information for the intended runway or a short runway condition.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the clearance information comprises at least one of takeoff clearance, taxi clearance or land and hold short clearance.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the closure information comprises data received via a datalink with a system remote from the aircraft.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the output device is a display device, wherein the at least one of a hold-short gate still image or animation is presented in a perspective view on an airport moving map image.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the perspective view is associated with the aircraft'"'"'s position relative to the airport associated with the airport moving map image.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the processing device,

determining if the aircraft is at least one of proceeding toward a hold-short line, associated with the hold-short gate still image or animation, faster than a predefined threshold speed or is within a threshold distance from the hold-short line associated with the hold-short gate still image or animation; and

altering the hold-short gate still image or animation presented on the output device, if the aircraft is determined to be proceeding toward the hold-short line faster than the predefined threshold speed or is within the threshold distance and the no access condition still exists.

9. A system located on a vehicle, the system comprising:

a memory device configured to store airport information;

a processing device in signal communication with the memory device, the picker device, and the FMS, the processing device configured to,

determine pilot intent based on one of a manual runway selection, automatic runway selection, aircraft information received from one or more sensors or received clearance information;

receive at least one of aircraft position or motion information;

determine if a no access condition exists based on the received information, the stored airport information and the determined pilot intent;

generate at least one of a hold-short gate still image or animation, if the no access condition exists; and

an output device configured to output the generated at least one hold-short gate still image or animation.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the clearance information comprises an identification of a runway associated with the determined intent.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the no access condition comprises closure information for the intended runway, no clearance information for the intended runway or a short runway condition.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the clearance information comprises at least one of takeoff clearance, taxi clearance or land and hold short clearance.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the closure information comprises data received via a datalink with a system remote from the aircraft.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the output device comprises a display device, wherein the at least one of a hold-short gate still image or animation is presented in a perspective view on an airport moving map image.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the perspective view is associated with the aircraft'"'"'s position relative to the airport associated with the airport moving map image.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the processing device is further configured to:

determine if the aircraft is at least one of proceeding toward a hold-short line, associated with the hold-short gate still image or animation, faster than a predefined threshold speed or is within a threshold distance from the hold-short line associated with the hold-short gate still image or animation; and

alter the hold-short gate still image or animation presented on the output device, if the aircraft is determined to be proceeding toward the hold-short line faster than the predefined threshold speed or is within the threshold distance and the no access condition still exists.