Aircraft ground proximity warning instrument
First Claim
1. In an aircraft instrument for providing information based on the glide slope radio beam at an airport, the beam having a desired pattern along the intended glide path, providing valid fly up and fly down information and having undesired but unavoidable patterns along other paths providing spurious fly up and fly down information, the aircraft including means for receiving the glide slope radio beam, said receiving means having a glide slope output signal including both the valid and the spurious fly up and fly down information, a glide slope validity detector comprising:
- means responsive to the glide slope output signal for generating a signal which represents spurious fly up and fly down information; and
means responsive to the signal which represents spurious fly up and fly down information to inhibit utilization of the glide slope output signal upon occurrence of a spurious information signal which is in excess of a predetermined level.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An aircraft instrument for warning the pilot that the aircraft is in an unsafe condition in proximity to the ground. The instrument has inputs representing aircraft configuration, flight condition with respect to the ground, and glide slope. Detector circuits process the inputs and give a warning of unsafe proximity to the ground. The boundary conditions for the warning are selected to avoid false warnings. A glide slope detector distinguishes between a valid glide slope signal and spurious signals, without need for pilot input.
73 Citations
29 Claims
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1. In an aircraft instrument for providing information based on the glide slope radio beam at an airport, the beam having a desired pattern along the intended glide path, providing valid fly up and fly down information and having undesired but unavoidable patterns along other paths providing spurious fly up and fly down information, the aircraft including means for receiving the glide slope radio beam, said receiving means having a glide slope output signal including both the valid and the spurious fly up and fly down information, a glide slope validity detector comprising:
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means responsive to the glide slope output signal for generating a signal which represents spurious fly up and fly down information; and means responsive to the signal which represents spurious fly up and fly down information to inhibit utilization of the glide slope output signal upon occurrence of a spurious information signal which is in excess of a predetermined level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. In an aircraft instrument for providing information based on the glide slope radio beam at an airport, the beam having a desired pattern along the intended glide path, providing valid fly up and fly down information and having undesired but unavoidable patterns along other paths providing spurious fly up and fly down information, the aircraft including means for receiving the glide slope radio beam, said receiving means having a glide slope output signal including both the valid and the spurious fly up and fly down information, a glide slope validity detector comprising:
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means responsive to the glide slope output signal for generating a signal which represents the rate of change of glide slope signal; and means responsive to the signal representing the rate of change of glide slope signal to inhibit utilization of the glide slope output signal upon occurrence of a glide slope rate signal which is in excess of a predetermined signal level. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A warning instrument for alerting the pilot of an aircraft to a condition of undesired proximity to the ground at an airport equipped with a glide slope radio beam transmitter, comprising:
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a source of signal in the aircraft responsive to said glide slope radio beam, said signal representing the direction and magnitude of angular deviation of the aircraft position above or below the glide slope defined by the glide slope radio beam; a detector responsive to the signal from said source for detecting a below glide slope deviation signal representing a below glide slope condition in excess of an established value, said detector producing a below glide slope warning initiate signal; and means responsive to the below glide slope warning initiate signal to actuate a pilot warning. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A ground proximity warning system for aircraft comprising:
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means for generating a signal representing the rate of change in the aircraft barometric altitude; means for generating a signal representing the aircraft altitude above ground; means for generating a signal representing the aircraft rate of change of altitude above ground; means, providing a glide slope deviation signal representative of aircraft deviation below the glide slope; means having inputs of said barometric rate signal, said altitude above ground signal, said rate of change in altitude signal and said glide slope deviation signal, to detect from said signals when the aircraft exceeds predetermined operating criteria with respect to the glide slope and aircraft altitude; and a pilot warning connected with said detecting means and actuated when the aircraft exceeds said operating criteria.
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27. A warning instrument for alerting the pilot of an aircraft of a condition of proximity to the ground, comprising:
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a source of signal representing the rate of change of barometric altitude of the aircraft; a source of signal representing the altitude of the aircraft above the ground; means for summing a signal representing a function of the rate of change of barometric altitude of the aircraft with a signal representing a function of the altitude of the aircraft above the ground; means responsive to the sum signal for detecting a rate of change of altitude which is in excess of a predetermined value for the altitude of the aircraft above the ground to produce a sink rate warning command signal; a source of signal representing the angular deviation of the aircraft position from a radio glide slope beam at an airport equipped with a glide slope radio beam transmitter; means for detecting a glide slope deviation representing a below glide slope condition in excess of a predetermined value to produce a below glide slope warning command signal; an OR gate having the sink rate warning command signal connected with one input and the glide slope warning command signal connected with another input and having a warning initiate output signal upon the occurrence of either warning command signal; and means responsive to a warning initiate output signal from said OR gate to initiate a pilot warning.
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28. A warning instrument for alerting the pilot of an aircraft of a condition of proximity to the ground, comprising:
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a source of signal representing the altitude of the aircraft above the ground; a source of signal representing the rate of change of altitude of the aircraft with respect to the ground; means for summing a signal representing a function of the altitude of the aircraft above the ground with a signal representing a function of the rate of change of altitude of the aircraft above the ground; means responsive to the sum signal for detecting a rate of change of altitude above the ground which is in excess of a predetermined value for the altitude of the aircraft above the groundl to produce a terrain closure rate warning command signal; a source of signal representing the angular deviation of the aircraft position from a radio glide slope beam at an airport equipped with a glide slope radio beam transmitter; means for detecting a glide slope deviation representing a below glide slope condition in excess of a predetermined value to produce a below glide slope warning command signal; an OR gate having the terrain closure rate warning command signal connected with one input and the glide slope warning command signal connected with another input and having a warning initiate output signal upon the occurrence of either warning command signal; and means responsive to a warning initiate output signal from said OR gate to initiate a pilot warning.
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29. A warning instrument for alerting the pilot of an aircraft of a condition of proximity to the ground, comprising:
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a source of signal representing the altitude of the aircraft above the ground; means responsive to a function of the altitude signal for detecting an altitude below a predetermined value for operation of the aircraft except in landing configuration, to produce a minimum terrain clearance signal; means responsive to the physical configuration of the aircraft to establish a signal condition when the aircraft is configured for landing; an AND gate having the aircraft landing configuration signal connected with one input and the minimum terrain clearance signal connected with another input, said AND gate having an output when the aircraft is below the minimum terrain clearance altitude and is not configured for landing, to produce a terrain clearance warning command signal; a source of signal representing the angular deviation of the aircraft position from a radio glide slope beam at an airport equipped with a glide slope radio beam transmitter; means for detecting a glide slope deviation representing a below glide slope condition in excess of a predetermined value to produce a below glide slope warning command signal; an OR gate having the terrain clearance warning command signal connected with one input and the glide slope warning command signal connected with another input and having a warning initiate output signal upon the occurrence of either warning command signal; and means responsive to a warning initiate output signal from said OR gate to initiate a pilot warning.
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Specification