Dynamic, multi-attribute hazard prioritization system for aircraft

• US 6,043,757 A
• Filed: 06/12/1998
• Issued: 03/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Patrick, Nicholas J. M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US09/096,543
• Time in Patent Office: 655 Days
• Field of Search: 340/945, 340/963, 340/968, 340/961, 340/964, 340/970, 340/980, 701/8, 701/9, 701/14, 244/1 R
• US Class Current: 340/963
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/91 for traffic control G01S13/93 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/933 of aircraft or spacecraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0095 Aspects of air-traffic control not provided for in the other subgroups of this main group
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

Signals from warning systems are passed to a hazard prioritization computer. The prioritization computer also receives inputs from the aircraft'"'"'s air data and inertial reference system. The alert prioritization computer includes three functional modules: (1) hazard detection, identification and monitoring, (2) threat assessment and (3) display and alert prioritization logic. The hazard prioritization computer processes the warning system signals, along with stored data from a hazard database to compute a severity component of threat and a proximity component of threat. These two components are processed to produce an overall threat value for each hazard. This overall threat value is then processed to provide alert and display generation and prioritization for the flight crew and/or the aircraft'"'"'s auto-flight system.

Claims

1. An aircraft dynamic, multi-attribute hazard prioritization system comprising:

at least two aircraft warning systems, each system operable to produce a hazard signal having associated therewith at least two hazard attributes including a time to hazard related signal, τ

;

said system further comprises a hazard database for storing a severity signal,s, for each of said at least two aircraft warning systems;

processing means for processing said hazard signals through a predetermined threat function, said processing means combining real-time measurements of said hazard attributes including time to hazard related signals, τ

, contained in each of said hazard signals and the retrieved severity signals, s, to continuously assess the real-time threat values for hazards identified and thus to assign threat priorities to the hazards identified by each of said at least two aircraft warning systems, and

aircraft display and alerting systems, responsive to the threat priorities of the signals from each of said at least two aircraft warning systems, to predeterminedly activate aircraft displays and alerts.

2. The system of either one of claim 1 wherein said aircraft display and alerting systems include means for activating aircraft displays and alerts such that the hazard having the higher assigned threat priority is given display and alert priority.

3. An aircraft dynamic, multi-attribute hazard prioritization system comprising:

a first aircraft warning system, said first aircraft warning system monitoring a first predetermined aircraft condition and producing a first signal representing a first time to hazard, τ

₁, in response thereto;

a second aircraft warning system, said second aircraft warning system monitoring a second predetermined aircraft condition and producing a second signal representing a second time to hazard, τ

₂, in response thereto;

logic control means including;

a) a hazard database for storing predetermined severity signals s₁, s₂, for said first and second aircraft warning systems, respectively, and

b) processing means for processing said first and second signals representing times to hazards τ

₁, and τ

₂ with the retrieved predetermined severity signals s₁ and s₂ through a predetermined prioritization function and generating a threat priority value for each of said first and second alert signals; and

display and alerting systems for providing flight crew displays and alerts of said first and second alert signals as a function of the threat values thereof.

4. In an aircraft hazard alerting system, a method for realizing a dynamic, multi-attribute hazard prioritization, the method comprising the steps of:

providing at least two aircraft warning systems, each system operating to produce a hazard signal having associated therewith at least two hazard attributes;

processing said hazard signals through a predetermined prioritization function combining the real-time values of the hazard attributes associated with the signals from each of said at least two aircraft warning systems to continuously determine a dynamic threat value for each hazard; and

implementing aircraft displays and alerts in response to the determined threat values of said hazard or hazards detected by said at least two aircraft warning systems.

5. The method of claim 4 including the further steps of:

providing each of said at least two aircraft warning systems with means for producing a time to hazard related signal, τ

;

providing a hazard database for storing a severity signal, s, for each of said at least two aircraft warning systems; and

implementing said processing means to process the time to hazard related signal, τ

, and the retrieved severity signal, s, through a threat function T (τ

, s), and determining said threat value for the hazard signal from each of said at least two aircraft warning systems.

6. The method of either one of claims 4 or 5 wherein the step of implementing aircraft displays and alerts includes activating aircraft displays and alerts such that the hazard having the higher assigned threat value is given display and alert priority.

7. A method for implementing an aircraft dynamic, multi-attribute hazard prioritization system, comprising the steps of:

implementing a first aircraft warning system, with said first aircraft warning system monitoring a first predetermined environmental condition and producing a first signal representing a first time to hazard, τ

₁, in response thereto;

implementing a second aircraft warning system, said second aircraft warning system monitoring a second predetermined environmental condition and producing a second signal representing a second time to hazard, τ

₂, in response thereto;

providing logic control means for performing the steps of;

a) providing a hazard database for storing predetermined severity signals s₁, s₂, for said first and second aircraft warning systems, respectively, and

b) processing said first and second signals representing times to hazards τ

₁, and τ

₂ with the retrieved predetermined severity signals s₁, and s₂ through a predetermined threat function and generating a threat value for each of said first and second signals; and

displaying and alerting to the flight crew alerts of the first and second hazards as a function of the threat value thereof.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of displaying and alerting includes producing flight crew displays and alerts such that the hazard having the higher threat value is given display and alert priority.

9. The method of claim 7 including the further step of subtracting from selected time to hazard signals, signals representative of a predetermined hazard response lead time to thereby produce a time-to-point-of-no-return alert signal.