LANDING SITE TRACKER

• US 20160086497A1
• Filed: 04/16/2014
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Australia Limited (BAE Systems Plc)
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Australia Limited (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Williams, Paul David, Crump, Michael Ross, Graves, Kynan Edward
• Application Number:
  US14/784,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20160086497A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/08 optical
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0676 specially adapted for landing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/13 Satellite images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/176 Urban or other man-made structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/182 Network patterns, e.g. roads or rivers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913

Abstract

A landing site tracker of an aircraft, including a track filter configured to process feature data representing the location of features of a candidate landing site, initialize and maintain tracks of the features as a track of the candidate site, compare geometry constraints for a landing site with the track to validate the candidate site as the landing site, and convert the track into navigation data, representing the position of the landing site, for a navigation system of the aircraft.

Claims

1. A landing site tracker of an aircraft, comprising a track filter configured to:

process feature data representing locations of features of a candidate landing site;

initialise and maintain tracks of the features as a track of the candidate site;

compare landing site geometry constraints with the track to validate the candidate site as a landing site; and

convert the track into navigation data, representing a position of the landing site, for a navigation system of the aircraft.

2. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 1, wherein the track includes filter state data that is suitable for being used to represent the features of the candidate site.

3. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 2, wherein the filter state data represents degrees of freedom of movement of the features of the candidate site relative to the aircraft.

4. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 3, wherein if the landing site is moving, the filter state data represents:

three position states;

a rate of change for each position state;

three attitude states;

a rate of change for each attitude state; and

geometry for features of the candidate site.

5. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 3, wherein if the landing site is static, the filter state data represents:

at least one camera position and depth; and

bearing and elevation for extents of the landing site relative to the aircraft.

6. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 4, wherein the filter state data is converted into said navigation data to provide a navigation state representation of the position and features of the landing site in a navigation frame of the navigation system.

7. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 6, wherein the track is coupled to the navigation system and said navigation state of the landing site is updated during approach and landing.

8. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 1, wherein the track filter validates the candidate site by processing the track at each of a plurality of state updates to determine whether the geometry constraints are within a tolerance for a geometry of the landing site.

9. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 8, wherein the landing site is a runway, flight deck or helipad.

10. The landing site tracker as claimed in claim 8, wherein the candidate site is validated as a runway when at least one of:

lengths of the runway are within a tolerance;

widths of the runway are within a tolerance;

alignment of the runway is within a heading tolerance;

a centre of the runway is within a tolerance for north, east and down directions; and

corrections for a number of the last updates are within a tolerance for extents of the runway.

11. A landing system for an aircraft comprising:

a landing site tracker including a track filter configured to process feature data representing locations of features of a candidate landing site, initialise and maintain tracks of the features as a track of the candidate site, compare landing site geometry constraints with the track to validate the candidate site as a landing site, and convert the track into navigation data, representing a position of the landing site, for a navigation system of the aircraft; and

a feature detection controller configured for processing image data obtained by a camera of the aircraft and generating said feature data.

15. The landing site tracking process as claimed in claim 11, further comprising generating the feature data from images obtained by at least one camera of the aircraft.

16. The landing site tracking process as claimed in claim 11, wherein said landing site is a runway, flight deck or helipad.

12. A landing site tracking process performed by an aircraft, comprising:

processing feature data representing locations of features of a candidate landing site;

initialising and maintaining tracks of the features as a track of the candidate site;

comparing landing site geometry constraints with the track so as to validate the candidate site as a landing site; and

coupling the track, as navigation data representing a position of the landing site, into a navigation system of the aircraft.

13. The landing site tracking process as claimed in claim 12, further comprising:

updating the track in said navigation system; and

landing the aircraft using said track.

14. The landing site tracking process as claimed in claim 13, wherein a state representation of said track is reduced for said navigation data to states representing the landing site position in a navigation frame and geometric dimensions of the site.

17. Computer readable non-transient media including computer program code for performing a landing site tracking process comprising:

processing feature data representing locations of features of a candidate landing site;

initialising and maintaining tracks of the features as a track of the candidate site;

comparing landing site geometry constraints with the track so as to validate the candidate site as a landing site; and

coupling the track, as navigation data representing a position of the landing site, into a navigation system of the aircraft.