Method and apparatus for identification of hazards along an intended travel route

• US 6,577,947 B1
• Filed: 03/01/2002
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Chackalackal, Mathew S., Walling, Karen L., Kronfeld, Kevin M., Lapis, Mary Beth
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIPALA, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US10/087,243
• Time in Patent Office: 466 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/14, 701/200, 701/202, 701/208, 701/300, 701/301
• US Class Current: 701/202
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3867 Geometry of map features, e.g. shape points, polygons or for simplified maps
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935

Abstract

Targets proximate to a travel route plan were evaluated to determine hazardousness. Projected geometric representation of a vehicle determines intrusion of hazardous targets along travel route plan. Geometric representation of hazardous targets projected along motion vector to determine intrusion upon travel route plan. Intrusion assessment presented on user display.

Claims

1. A method for identifying hazards along an aircraft travel route plan comprising the steps of:

receiving a target message that minimally defines the position of a target;

receiving a travel route plan for a vehicle;

identifying a target along the travel route plan that is within a predefined buffer zone;

marking as hazardous an identified target that meets a hazard condition criteria;

for an identified target marked as hazardous, creating or receiving a geometric representation of that hazardous target;

creating a geometric representation of the vehicle;

periodically assessing intrusiveness of the geometric representation of the hazardous target into the geometric representation of the vehicle by projecting the geometric representation of the vehicle along the travel route plan in time or distance; and

providing the assessment of intrusiveness.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of periodically assessing intrusiveness of the geometric representation of a hazardous target into the geometric representation of the vehicle comprises the steps of:

partitioning the time or distance of required projection into a finite number of increments;

at each successive increment;

projecting the geometric representation of the vehicle at the

increment along the flight plan;

if the projected geometric representation of the vehicle at that increment is coincident with the geometric representation of the hazardous target, setting a hazard-warning-flag for the segment of the travel route plan corresponding to that increment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing the assessment of intrusiveness comprises the steps of:

partitioning the travel route plan of a vehicle into a plurality of segments;

displaying a finite number of segments corresponding to a portion of the travel route plan; and

for each segment of the portion of the travel route plan displayed, if the state of a hazard-warning-flag comprising a segment descriptor corresponding to said segment is active, highlighting the displayed segment.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining a motion vector for a target marked as hazardous;

periodically assessing dynamic intrusiveness of the geometric representation of the hazardous target into the geometric representation of the vehicle by projecting the geometric representation of the vehicle along its travel route plan in time or distance and by projecting the geometric representation of the hazardous target in time and distance along it'"'"'s motion vector; and

providing the assessment of dynamic intrusiveness.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of periodically assessing dynamic intrusiveness of the geometric representation of a hazardous target into the geometric representation of the vehicle comprises the steps of:

partitioning the time or distance of required projection into a finite number of increments; and

at each successive increment;

projecting the geometric representation of the vehicle at the increment along the travel route plan;

projecting the geometric representation of the hazardous target along it'"'"'s motion vector; and

if the projected geometric representation of the vehicle at that increment is coincident with the projected geometric representation of the hazardous target at that increment, setting a hazard-warning-flag for the segment of the travel route plan corresponding to that increment.

6. The method of claim of 4 wherein the step of providing the assessment of dynamic intrusiveness comprises the steps of:

partitioning the travel route plan of a vehicle into a plurality of segments;

displaying a finite number of segments corresponding to a portion of the travel route plan; and

for each segment of the portion of the travel route plan displayed, if the state of a hazard-warning-flag comprising a segment descriptor corresponding to said segment is active, highlighting the displayed segment.

7. The method of claim of 6 wherein the step of highlighting the displayed, segment comprises the step of painting a line parallel to and offset from the segment to be highlighted.

8. The method of claim of 6 wherein the step of highlighting the displayed segment comprises the step of painting two lines parallel to and straddling the segment to be highlighted.

9. The method of claim of 6 wherein the step of highlighting the displayed segment comprises the step of flashing the displayed segment to be highlighted.

10. The method of claim of 6 wherein the step of highlighting the displayed segment comprises the step of displaying the segment to be highlighted in a color dissimilar to that used to display other segments of the flight plan.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving a target message comprises the steps of:

receiving a plurality of target messages;

extracting position data and attribute data from said target messages;

creating a plurality of target descriptors corresponding to said plurality of target messages comprising the extracted position and attribute data;

correlating said plurality of target descriptors to identify a set of target descriptors that represent the same target; and

fusing the attribute data from each target descriptor in the identified set into a single target descriptor comprising a union of attribute data.

12. The method of claim of 1 wherein the step of receiving a target message comprises the steps of:

receiving a radar image from a radar system on-board the vehicle;

identifying a target in the radar image; and

creating a target descriptor for the target that defines the position of the target relative to the vehicle or relative to a global coordinate system.

13. The method of claim of 12 further comprising the steps of:

generating target attributes for the identified target; and

storing said attributes into the target descriptor.

14. The method of claim of 12 further comprising the steps of:

generating a motion vector for the identified target; and

storing said motion vector into the target descriptor.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

receiving a target message from an off-board tracking system that minimally defines the position of a target;

creating a target descriptor from said target message that defines the position of the target relative to the vehicle or relative to a global coordinate system; and

if the target message received from the off-board tracking system comprises an attribute, extracting the attribute from the target message received from the off-board tracking system and storing same in the corresponding target descriptor.

16. The method of claim of 1 wherein the step of receiving a target messagecomprises the steps of:

receiving a weather cell report that minimally defines the position of a weather cell; and

creating a target descriptor that defines the position of the weather cell relative to the vehicle or relative to a global coordinate system.

17. The method of claim of 1 wherein the step of identifying targets along the travel route plan that are within a predefined buffer zone comprises the steps of:

accepting a buffer zone definition from a user or retrieving a buffer zone definition from computer readable media;

determining the perimeter of the buffer zone; and

marking a target descriptor as “

no-process”

if the target descriptor corresponds to a target whose position is outside the perimeter of buffer zone.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of marking as hazardous identified targets comprises the step of:

retrieving a target descriptor from computer readable media;

extracting a first target attribute from said target descriptor; and

setting a hazard flag in the target descriptor if said first attribute matches an entry in a predefined hazardous attribute list.

19. A travel route hazard assessment device comprising:

input port that receives a target message and a travel route plan;

buffer zone manager that marks a target message that correspond to a target that is within a predefined buffer zone along said travel route plan;

criticality manager that marks as hazardous a marked target message that corresponds to a target that meets a hazard criteria;

target shape manager that creates or receives a geometric representation for a target having a corresponding target message marked as hazardous;

intrusion detector that periodically determines if the geometric representation of a hazardous target intrudes upon said travel route plan and marks as hazardous segments of said travel route plan that correspond to incidents of such intrusion; and

output unit that provides hazardous segment reports for said travel route plan and highlights segments of said travel route plan that are marked as hazardous.

20. A method for fusing target messages comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of target messages;

extracting position data and attribute data from said target messages;

creating a plurality of target descriptors corresponding to said plurality of target messages comprising the extracted position and attribute data;

correlating said plurality of target descriptors to identify a set of target descriptors that represent the same target; and

fusing the attribute data from each target descriptor in the identified set into a single target descriptor comprising a union of attribute data.