MONITOR DISPLAY MEANS

• US 3,789,356 A
• Filed: 07/10/1972
• Issued: 01/29/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Harold L. Harenberg Jr, James H. Shannon
• Original Assignee: Harold L. Harenberg Jr, James H. Shannon
• Inventors: Shannon, James H., Harenberg, Harold L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Claffy, Kathleen H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Myers, Randall P.
• Application Number:
  US05/270,379
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 340/25,27NA,27AT,27R 343/18R,18M,18SM
• US Class Current: 340/972
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913

Abstract

A cockpit display for indicating the assessments made by a performance and failure assessment monitor of the overall performance of an automatic flight control system or of the pilot during the landing maneuver. The display processes signals from the monitor and operates thereon to display a representation of the runway, the expected landing point thereon and the relative uncertainty that the aircraft will land on the predicted spot. After landing the display may show the position of the aircraft on the runway and the expected lateral excursion thereof plus a discrete display of the distance the aircraft will travel before it can be stopped. Other discrete displays are also provided at critical times either to compliment the normal display or in substitution therefor.

Claims

1. Display means for an aircraft performance and assessment monitor which produces outputs which are predictions of the future touchdown point of an aircraft on a runway and the possible instant errors involved therewith, said display means including:

at least one display device;

means connected to the monitor outputs for displaying on said display device a representation of the runway;

means connected to the monitor outputs for displaying the predicted touchdown point on said runway representation; and

means connected to the monitor outputs visually displaying an area about said predicted touchdown point in which touchdown is certain at that time instant so that the area of probable touchdown is defined thereby.

2. The display means defined in claim 1 wherein said means for displaying a representation of the runway include:

means connected to the monitor outputs to cause said runway representation to move on said display device as a function of the distance between the aircraft and the runway.

3. The display means defined in claim 2 wherein said runway moving means include:

means to correlate the runway representation movement with said predicted touchdown point so that the said predicted touchdown point moves on said display device with said runway representation.

4. The display means defined in claim 1 wherein said means for displaying a representation of a runway include:

means for displaying a preferred landing area on said runway representation.

5. The display means defined in claim 1 wherein said means for displaying said predicted touchdown point and said means for displaying the area of probable touchdown include means for generating and positioning a cross on said runway representation, said cross having vertical and horizontal arms, whereby said predicted touchdown point is indicated by the center of said cross, the lengths of said vertical arms represent the longitudinal area of probable touchdown about said predicted touchdown point, and the lengths of said horizontal arms represent the lateral area of probable touchdown about said predicted touchdown point.

6. The display means defined in claim 1 wherein the aircraft monitor produces outputs which are representative of the position of the aircraft when the aircraft is on the runway and outputs which predict the future lateral excursions of the aircraft on the runway, said display means including:

means to display the position of the aircraft on said runway representation which include means for generating and positioning a vertical line with respect to said runway representation whereby said vertical line indicates the position of the aircraft on the runway; and

means to display the predicted lateral excursion of the aircraft with respect to said runway representation which include means for generating a horizontal line extending away from said vertical line whereby, the length and direction of said horizontal line indicate the predicted lateral excursion of the aircraft on the runway.

7. The display means defined in claim 6 wherein the aircraft monitor produces outputs which are representative of the predicted distance the aircraft will travel down the runway before stopping, said display means including:

discrete symbology means responsive to the distance outputs of the monitor to display a readout of the distance on said display device.

8. A method of displaying on display means the outputs of an aircraft performance and assessment monitor which are predictions of the future touchdown point of the aircraft on a runway and the maximum amount of error that can be in the prediction of the future touchdown point at that time instant, said method including the steps of:

generating a runway on the display means;

displaying the predicted touchdown point with respect to the represented runway; and

displaying the area about the predicted touchdown point into which the touchdown is certain at that time instant, the outer limits of which area represent said maximum amount of error.

9. The method defined in claim 8 including the step of:

displaying a preferred landing area on said runway representation.

10. The method defined in claim 8 wherein said step for displaying the area about the predicted touchdown point into which the touchdown is certain at that time instant includes the substeps of:

displaying a line which passes through the displayed predicted touchdown point in alignment with the represented runway, the length of said line beyond and before the displayed predicted touchdown point indicating the longitudinal distance from the displayed predicted touchdown point in which touchdown is certain at that time instant; and

displaying a line which passes THROUGH the displayed predicted touchdown point at right angles to the represented runway, the length of said line to the sides of the displayed predicted touchdown point indicating the lateral distance from the displayed predicted touchdown point in which touchdown is certain at that time instant.

11. The method defined in claim 8 wherein the aircraft monitor produces outputs which are representative of the position of the aircraft on the runway and outputs which are representative of predicted future possible lateral excursion of the aircraft including the steps of:

displaying a first line in alignment with the runway representation whose lateral position corresponds to the lateral position of the aircraft on the runway;

displaying a second line perpendicular to the first line and extending away therefrom, the length and direction of extension of said second line indicating the predicted future possible lateral excursion of the aircraft on the runway.