Ground operations and imminent landing runway selection

• US 6,983,206 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2003
• Issued: 01/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Poe, John J., Gremmert, Scott R., Khatwa, Ratan, Ishihara, Yasuo, Conner, Kevin J, Corcoran, James J. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): To, Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US10/440,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20040030465A1
• Time in Patent Office: 964 Days
• Field of Search: 701/301, 701/16, 701/18, 701 4- 6, 701/17, 701/122, 701/120, 340/970, 340/384.R, 340/947, 340/951, 340/948, 340/972, 342/29, 342/65, 342/454
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/15 Aircraft landing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/916 Airport surface monitoring [ASDE]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

A method for locating aircraft with respect to airport runways and taxiways, generating and annunciating situational awareness advisories as a function of aircraft state parameters relative to a determination of the aircraft location.

Claims

1. A runway awareness computer program residing on a computer usable storage medium, the computer program comprising:

computer-readable program code means for receiving one or more signals representative of updated aircraft state parameter information; and

computer-readable program code means for accessing stored runway survey information as a function of the updated aircraft state parameter information;

computer-readable program code means for identifying a runway as a function of the updated aircraft state parameter information and the runway survey information;

computer-readable program code means for determining that the aircraft has encountered the identified runway;

computer-readable program code means for determining an orientation of the aircraft relative to the identified runway as a function of the updated aircraft state parameter information and the runway survey information;

computer-readable program code means for generating a runway awareness advisory as a function of;

the updated aircraft state parameter information, and the orientation of the aircraft relative to the identified runway.

2. The computer program of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable program code means for determining that the aircraft has encountered the identified runway further comprises:

computer-readable program code means for constructing an augmentation envelope around the runway; and

computer-readable program code means for comparing the aircraft position with the augmentation envelope.

3. The computer program of claim 2 wherein the computer-readable program code means for constructing an augmentation envelope around the runway further comprises computer-readable program code means for constructing the augmentation envelope as a function of a heading and a ground speed of the aircraft.

4. The computer program of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable program code means for determining an orientation of the aircraft relative to the identified runway further comprises computer-readable program code means for determining the relative orientation of the aircraft upon encountering the identified runway.

5. The computer program of claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code means for suppressing the runway awareness advisory as a function of altitude of the aircraft relative to the identified runway.

6. The computer program of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable program code means for generating a runway awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable program code means for generating a runway awareness advisory as a function of updated aircraft position, ground speed, orientation, and phase of flight state parameter information.

7. The computer program of claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code means for prioritization of the runway awareness advisory relative to one or more other aircraft advisories and alerts.

8. The computer program of claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code means for suppressing the runway awareness advisory as a function of the computer-readable program code means for generating a runway awareness advisory generating a prior runway awareness advisory.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for configuring a computer processor, the computer program product comprising;

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to receive at intervals samples of one or more instrument signals reporting updated aircraft position, ground speed, orientation, and phase of flight information;

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to retrieve runway survey information corresponding to each of a plurality of runways from an on-board database as a function of at least the updated aircraft position information;

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to construct an augmented annunciation envelope encompassing one or more of the plurality of runways individually as a function of the corresponding runway survey information, the aircraft ground speed information and the aircraft orientation information; and

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airport situational awareness advisory as a function of a coincidence of the updated aircraft position with the augmented annunciation envelope encompassing one of the runways and an alignment of the updated aircraft orientation relative to a centerline of the runway corresponding to the augmented annunciation envelope coincident with the updated aircraft position.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to retrieve runway survey information corresponding to each of a plurality of runways from an on-board database as a function of at least the updated aircraft position information further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to retrieve runway survey information corresponding to runways determined as a function of the updated aircraft position information to be within a selected range of the aircraft.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate one of:

an airborne airport situational awareness advisory, and an on-ground airport situational awareness advisory.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an on-ground airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate, as a function of the updated aircraft position and orientation relative to a centerline of the runway, one of:

a runway approach advisory, and a runway entry advisory.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an on-ground airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress the on-ground airport situational awareness advisory under conditions such that:

the updated aircraft position is coincident with the augmented annunciation envelope encompassing one of the runways,

the updated aircraft orientation is aligned within selected angular limits to a centerline of the runway corresponding to the augmented annunciation envelope coincident with the updated aircraft position, and

the updated aircraft ground speed is greater than a threshold ground speed.

14. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an on-ground airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an advisory representative of an immanent take-off from a taxiway under conditions such that:

the updated aircraft ground speed is greater than a threshold ground speed, and

the aircraft is not on a runway, as determined by at least one of;

the updated aircraft position is outside the bounds of all the augmented annunciation envelopes, and

the updated aircraft orientation is angled at greater than a selected angular limit to a centerline of the runway corresponding to an augmented annunciation envelope coincident with the updated aircraft position.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airborne airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate the airborne airport situational awareness advisory during a terminal phase of flight relative to a runway having an augmented annunciation envelope coincident with the updated aircraft position and a centerline aligned with the updated aircraft orientation within selected angular limits.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airborne airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress the airborne airport situational awareness advisory for heights above the runway greater than a selected height above the runway.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airborne airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress the airborne airport situational awareness advisory for heights above the runway within a selected range of heights above the runway.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airborne airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress the airborne airport situational awareness advisory after the airborne airport situational awareness advisory is generated a first time.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the airborne airport situational awareness advisory further comprises information identifying the runway.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein:

the runway survey information further comprises a runway endpoint; and

the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an airborne airport situational awareness advisory further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to;

determine the updated aircraft position relative to the runway endpoint;

compute a runway length available for landing; and

generate an advisory of the runway length available for landing.

21. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate an advisory of the runway length available for landing further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate the advisory as a function of a selected nominal runway length for a selected aircraft category.

22. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising a computer processor coupled to access the computer-readable code and structured for executing the code.

23. A runway awareness advisory apparatus, comprising:

a database of runway survey data;

a processor structured for receiving samples of one or more signals reporting one or more different aircraft state parameter data and for retrieving runway survey data from the database; and

one or more algorithms executable by the processor for generating, as a function of one or more of the aircraft state parameter data and the retrieved runway survey data, one of a plurality of different runway awareness advisories.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor further comprise algorithms resident on the processor.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor further comprise algorithms for retrieving from runway survey data from the database runway survey data describing one or more different runways as a function of a current position of an aircraft having the processor installed thereon.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor further comprise algorithms for constructing a plurality of envelopes each surrounding an individual runway.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor for constructing envelopes surrounding each individual runway further comprise algorithms for constructing the envelopes as having a maximum height-above-runway vertical extension limitation.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor for constructing a plurality of envelopes each surrounding an individual runway further comprises algorithms for constructing each of the envelopes as a function of the runway dimensions, a current ground speed of the aircraft, and a current heading of the aircraft.

29. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor for generating one of a plurality of different runway awareness advisories further comprise algorithms executable by the processor for generating a runway awareness advisory representative of an immanent take-off from a taxiway as a function of:

determining that a current aircraft ground speed is greater than a threshold ground speed; and

determining one of;

that a current aircraft position is not within bounds of an envelope surrounding an individual runway, and

that a current aircraft heading is skewed at greater than a selected angular limit to a runway corresponding to an envelope containing the current aircraft position.

30. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor further comprise algorithms for selecting one of the runways as a function of a current position of the aircraft being contained within an envelope surrounding the runway.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor further comprise algorithms for constructing envelopes surrounding each individual runway further comprise algorithms for constructing each envelope having a fan-shaped extension projected from one end of the runway.

32. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor for generating one of a plurality of different runway awareness advisories further comprise algorithms for generating one of the runway awareness advisories as a function of an orientation of a current heading of the aircraft relative to the selected runway.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the algorithms executable by the processor further comprise algorithms for suppressing the generating of a runway awareness advisory when the combined current aircraft position, heading and ground speed indicate that the aircraft is currently in a take-off phase of flight.

34. An apparatus for generating a runway awareness advisory, the apparatus comprising:

a searchable database of stored runway survey information;

a source of a plurality of instrument data signals each reporting updated aircraft state parameter data;

a memory having a plurality of machine instructions stored therein, the machine instructions being executable by a processor for generating one of a plurality of different runway awareness advisories as a function of airport survey information retrieved from the searchable database and one or more of the updated aircraft state parameter data; and

a processor coupled to receive the updated aircraft state parameter data and coupled to the memory for retrieving the machine instructions, the processor being structured to operate the machine instructions for;

determining as a function of the updated aircraft state parameter data one or more of a current aircraft position, ground speed, heading, phase of flight, and altitude,

accessing the searchable database for retrieving runway survey information as a function of the current aircraft position,

constructing an envelope individually around each of a plurality of runways as a function of the runway survey data and the current aircraft position, ground speed and heading, and

generating one of the plurality of different runway awareness advisories as a function of determining a coincidence of the current aircraft position with the envelope around one of the runways, and determining an angle between the current aircraft heading and a centerline of the runway.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the processor is further structured to operate the machine instructions for determining a current height of the aircraft above the runway as a function of the current aircraft altitude and the runway survey data.

36. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the machine instructions for constructing an envelope around each of the runways further comprise machine instructions for limiting each of the envelopes to a maximum height above the runway above which the generating of the runway awareness advisories is suppressed.

37. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the machine instructions for constructing an envelope around each of the runways further comprise machine instructions for constructing an extension of each envelope extending for a selected distance from an end of the runway along a centerline of the runway.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the machine instructions for extending each envelope a selected distance from an end of the runway further comprise machine instructions for constructing the extension limited by selected upper and lower glidepaths.

39. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the machine instructions for extending each envelope a selected distance from an end of the runway further comprise machine instructions for constructing the extension limited by selected suppression zones corresponding to a range of heights above the runway.

40. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the processor is further structured to operate the machine instructions for generating a runway awareness advisory representative of an imminent taxiway take-off under conditions indicating imminent take-off and the current aircraft position is outside the bounds of each of the envelopes.

41. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the processor is further structured to operate the machine instructions for generating a runway awareness advisory representative of an imminent taxiway take-off under conditions indicating imminent take-off and the angle between the current aircraft heading and the runway centerline is greater than a selected threshold angle.