Terrain clearance warning system for aircraft
First Claim
1. A terrain clearance warning system for aircraft comprising:
- a radar altimeter for generating signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s altitude above the terrain;
a source of signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s speed;
a source of signals representing the position of aircraft landing gear;
means, responsive to said speed signal, for generating a reference altitude signal as a function of aircraft speed;
means, responsive to said altitude signals and said reference altitude signals, for comparing aircraft altitude above terrain with said reference altitude signal;
means, responsive to said landing gear signal and speed signal and said comparing means for generating a first type of warning signal when the aircraft has descended below a first predetermined altitude below a predetermined speed with the landing gear up; and
means, responsive to said landing gear signal, said speed signal and said comparing means for generating a second type of warning signal when the aircraft has descended below a second predetermined altitude above said predetermined speed with the landing gear up.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
By utilizing a radio altimeter in conjunction with a measure of the aircraft speed, landing gear position and flap position, an aircraft terrain warning system is made possible which provides a voice warning indicating that the aircraft is too low with respect to the terrain when the aircraft is above a predetermined speed. For aircraft speeds below the predetermined speed, a voice warning is provided when the aircraft is below a predetermined altitude with the landing gear up indicating that the aircraft is too low with the gear up and when the gear is down and the flaps are not in a landing position and the aircraft descends below a second predetermined altitude a voice warning is generated indicating that the aircraft is too low with flaps up.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A terrain clearance warning system for aircraft comprising:
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a radar altimeter for generating signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s altitude above the terrain; a source of signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s speed; a source of signals representing the position of aircraft landing gear; means, responsive to said speed signal, for generating a reference altitude signal as a function of aircraft speed; means, responsive to said altitude signals and said reference altitude signals, for comparing aircraft altitude above terrain with said reference altitude signal; means, responsive to said landing gear signal and speed signal and said comparing means for generating a first type of warning signal when the aircraft has descended below a first predetermined altitude below a predetermined speed with the landing gear up; and means, responsive to said landing gear signal, said speed signal and said comparing means for generating a second type of warning signal when the aircraft has descended below a second predetermined altitude above said predetermined speed with the landing gear up. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A terrain warning system for aircraft comprising:
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a radar altimeter for generating signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s altitude above the terrain; a source of signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s speed; a source of signals representing the position of aircraft flaps; means, responsive to said altitude signal, said speed signal and said flap position signal for generating a first type of warning signal when the aircraft has descended below a first predetermined altitude below a first predetermined speed with the flaps up; means, responsive to said altitude signal, said speed signal and said flap signal for generating a second type of warning signal when the aircraft has descended below a second predetermined altitude above said first predetermined speed with the flaps up. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A terrain clearance warning system for aircraft comprising:
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a digitial memory; a digital to analog converter circuit operatively connected to said digital memory; a speaker operatively connected to said digital to analog converter; a memory address logic circuit operatively connected to said digital memory effective to selectively output from said digital memory groups of predetermined information bits; a source of signals representing aircraft speed; a radio altimeter for generating a signal representing the aircraft'"'"'s altitude above ground; a source of signals representing the position of the aircraft landing gear; a source of signals representing the position of the aircraft'"'"'s flaps; an electronic computer responsive to said speed, altitude, flap and landing gear signals and operatively connected to said memory address logic, effective to cause the generation of a first type of vocie signal when the aircraft has descended below a first predetermined altitude below a first predetermined speed with the landing gear down, and a second type of voice signal when the aircraft has descended below a second predetermined altitude above said first predetermined speed. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A terrain clearance warning system for aircraft comprising:
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a source of signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s altitude above the terrain; a source of signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s speed; a source of signals representing the position of the aircraft'"'"'s landing gear; and computer means, responsive to said altitude signal said speed signal and said landing gear signal, for generating a too low, terrain voice warning when the aircraft is below a first predetermined altitude above the terrain and generating a too low, gear voice warning when the landing gear is up, below a predetermined speed. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A terrain clearance warning system for aircraft comprising:
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a source of signals representing the aircrafts altitude above the terrain; a source of signals representing the aircraft'"'"'s speed; a source of signals representing the position of the aircraft'"'"'s flaps; and computer means, responsive to said altitude signal said speed signal and said flap signal, for generating a too low, terrain voice warning when the aircraft is below a first predetermined altitude and generating a too low, flap voice warning when the aircraft is below a predetermined speed with the flaps not in a landing position. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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Specification