System and method for assisting the prevention of controlled flight into terrain accidents
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for assisting in the prevention of controlled flight into terrain accidents comprising:
- (a) a database of stored terrain information;
(b) a signal processing device, coupled to receive signals representative of a position of the aircraft, a flight path of an aircraft and a speed of the aircraft, and coupled to said database, for;
(i) defining a look ahead distance as a function of the speed of the aircraft;
(ii) defining a first alert envelope, indicative of a first severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said first alert envelope are determined as a first function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance, and a terrain floor boundary;
(iii) defining a second alert envelope, indicative of a second severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said second alert envelope are determined as a second function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance and said terrain floor boundary; and
(iv) outputting an alert signal when a subset of the stored terrain information is located with in the boundaries of at least one of said first and said second alert envelopes; and
(c) a display, coupled to receive a subset of said terrain information, for displaying terrain in a vicinity of the aircraft.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A terrain awareness system (TAS) provides LOOK-AHEAD/LOOK-DOWN as well as LOOK-UP terrain advisory and warning indications to the pilot of an aircraft of a hazardous flight condition. The TAS includes an airport data base as well as a terrain data base that is structured to provide various resolutions depending on the topography of the particular geographic area of interest. Navigational data from a satellite-based navigational system, such as a global positioning system (GPS), is used to provide a LOOK-AHEAD/LOOK-DOWN and LOOK-UP terrain advisory and terrain warning indications based upon the current position and projected flight path of the aircraft. Since the terrain advisory and the warning signals are a function of the flight path of the aircraft, nuisance warnings are minimized.
129 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for assisting in the prevention of controlled flight into terrain accidents comprising:
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(a) a database of stored terrain information; (b) a signal processing device, coupled to receive signals representative of a position of the aircraft, a flight path of an aircraft and a speed of the aircraft, and coupled to said database, for; (i) defining a look ahead distance as a function of the speed of the aircraft; (ii) defining a first alert envelope, indicative of a first severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said first alert envelope are determined as a first function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance, and a terrain floor boundary; (iii) defining a second alert envelope, indicative of a second severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said second alert envelope are determined as a second function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance and said terrain floor boundary; and (iv) outputting an alert signal when a subset of the stored terrain information is located with in the boundaries of at least one of said first and said second alert envelopes; and (c) a display, coupled to receive a subset of said terrain information, for displaying terrain in a vicinity of the aircraft. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for assisting in the prevention of controlled flight into terrain accidents comprising:
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(a) a database of stored terrain information; (b) a signal processing device, coupled to receive signals representative of a position of the aircraft;
a flight path of an aircraft and a speed of the aircraft, and coupled to said database for;(i) defining a look ahead distance as a function of the speed of the aircraft; (ii) defining a first alert envelope, indicative of a first severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said first alert envelope are determined as a first function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance, and a terrain floor boundary; (iii) defining a second alert envelope, indicative of a second severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said second alert envelope are determined as a second function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance and said terrain floor boundary; (c) a display, coupled to said signal processing device for displaying at least a subset of said stored terrain information located within the boundaries of at least one of said first and said second alert envelopes. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for assisting in the prevention of controlled flight into terrain accidents comprising the steps of:
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receiveing signals representative of a position of an aircraft, a flight path of the aircraft and a speed of the aircraft, and terrain data; defining a look ahead distance as a function of the speed of the aircraft; defining a first alert envelope, indicative of a first severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said first alert envelope are determined as a first function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance, and a terrain floor boundary; defining a second alert envelope, indicative of a second severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said second alert envelope are determined as a second function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance and said terrain floor boundary; outputting an alert signal when a subset of the stored terrain information is located with in the boundaries of at least one of said first and said second alert envelopes; and displaying at least a portion of said terrain data.
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15. A method for assisting in the prevention of controlled flight into terrain accidents compromising the steps of:
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receiveing signals representative of a position of an aircraft;
a flight path of the aircraft and a speed of the aircraft, and terrain data;defining a look ahead distance as a function of the speed of the aircraft; defining a first alert envelope, indicative of a first severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said first alert envelope are determined as a first function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance, and a terrain floor boundary; defining a second alert envelope, indicative of a second severity of terrain threat, wherein boundaries of said second alert envelope are determined as a second function of the flight path angle, said look ahead distance and said terrain floor boundary; and displaying at least a subset of said stored terrain information located within the boundaries of at least one of said first and said second alert envelopes. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification