METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AIRCRAFT TAXI STRIKE ALERTING
First Claim
1. An aircraft collision alerting system comprising:
- one or more light projectors mounted at one or more projector locations on an aircraft and configured to project spatially-patterned light from the one or more light projectors onto a scene external to the aircraft, thereby illuminating a spatially-patterned portion of the scene;
one or more cameras mounted at one or more camera locations on the aircraft, respectively, each of the one or more cameras configured to receive light reflected from the scene, and further configured to focus the received light onto a focal plane array comprising a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, thereby forming an image of the scene, the image comprising pixel data generated by the plurality of light-sensitive pixels; and
an image processor configured to identify pixel coordinates corresponding to a subset of the plurality of light-sensitive pixels upon which the spatially-patterned light projected by the one or more light projectors and reflected from the spatially-patterned portion of the scene is focused, the image processor further configured to use triangulation, based on the one or more projector locations of the one or more light projectors, the one or more camera locations of the one or more cameras and the identified pixel coordinates, to calculate position values and range data of object(s) in the scene from which the spatially-patterned light projected by the light projector is reflected.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and associated methods relate to ranging an object nearby an aircraft by triangulation of spatially-patterned light projected upon and reflected from the object. The spatially patterned light can have a wavelength corresponding to infrared light and/or to an atmospheric absorption band. In some embodiments, images of the object are captured both with and without illumination by the spatially-patterned light. A difference between these two images can be used to isolate the spatially-patterned light. The two images can also be used to identify pixel boundaries of the object and to calculate ranges of portions of the object corresponding to pixels imaging these portions. For pixels imaging reflections of the spatially-patterned light, triangulation can be used to calculate range. For pixels not imaging reflections of the spatially-patterned light, ranges can be calculated using one or more of the calculated ranges calculated using triangulation corresponding to nearby pixels.
16 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An aircraft collision alerting system comprising:
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one or more light projectors mounted at one or more projector locations on an aircraft and configured to project spatially-patterned light from the one or more light projectors onto a scene external to the aircraft, thereby illuminating a spatially-patterned portion of the scene; one or more cameras mounted at one or more camera locations on the aircraft, respectively, each of the one or more cameras configured to receive light reflected from the scene, and further configured to focus the received light onto a focal plane array comprising a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, thereby forming an image of the scene, the image comprising pixel data generated by the plurality of light-sensitive pixels; and an image processor configured to identify pixel coordinates corresponding to a subset of the plurality of light-sensitive pixels upon which the spatially-patterned light projected by the one or more light projectors and reflected from the spatially-patterned portion of the scene is focused, the image processor further configured to use triangulation, based on the one or more projector locations of the one or more light projectors, the one or more camera locations of the one or more cameras and the identified pixel coordinates, to calculate position values and range data of object(s) in the scene from which the spatially-patterned light projected by the light projector is reflected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for generating an alert signal of a potential aircraft collision, the method comprising the steps of:
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projecting light of a spatial pattern from one or more projector locations onto a scene, thereby illuminating a spatially-patterned portion of the scene; receiving light reflected from the scene; focusing the received light onto a focal plane array comprising a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, thereby forming an image of the scene, the image comprising pixel data generated by the plurality of light-sensitive pixels; identifying pixel coordinates corresponding to pixels upon which the projected light of the spatial pattern and reflected from the spatially-patterned portion of the scene is focused; and calculating spatial location values and range value data of object(s) in the scene from which light of the spatial pattern projected from the one or more projector locations is reflected, wherein the calculating range value data of object(s) in the scene is based on the one or more projector locations, a location at which the light reflected from the scene is received and focused, and the identified pixel coordinates. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification