Ground operations and imminent landing runway selection

• US 7,363,145 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Issued: 04/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2002
• 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): To; Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US11/009,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20050192738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: 701/120, 701/3, 701/301, 701/213, 340/945, 340/967, 340/951, 340/960, 340/961, 340/948, 340/947, 340/964, 340/970, 340/973, 342/36, 342/465, 244/185, 244/186, 244/183, 244/87, 244/175, 244/100.R, 707/101
• US Class Current: 701/120
• 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, computer program product and apparatus for locating aircraft with respect to airport runways, generating and annunciating imminent landing situational awareness advisories as a function of aircraft height above runway.

Claims

1. An imminent landing situational 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 current aircraft phase of flight, altitude rate, and height above runway information; and

computer-readable program code means for generating at periodic intervals flare callouts as a function of the current aircraft phase of flight, altitude rate, and height above runway information, including;

computer-readable program code means for determining that the installation aircraft is currently configured in a landing phase of flight;

computer-readable program code means for determining that the installation aircraft is not currently climbing at a altitude rate in excess of a threshold altitude rate;

computer-readable program code means for determining that the installation aircraft has not currently touched-down; and

computer-readable program code means for generating at periodic intervals flare callouts that report the current height above the runway.

2. The computer program of claim 1 wherein the

computer-readable program code means for determining that the installation aircraft is currently in a landing phase of flight further comprises computer-readable program code means for determining that the aircraft height above the runway is less than a first maximum height above the runway for a first minimum time period;

and

computer-readable program code means for determining that the aircraft height above the runway is less than a second maximum height above the runway less than the first maximum height for a second minimum time period.

3. The computer program of claim 2 wherein the second minimum time period further comprises a time period that is less than the first minimum time period.

4. The computer program of claim 1 wherein the computer-readable program code means for determining that the installation aircraft has not currently touched-down further comprises computer-readable program code means for determining that the aircraft height above runway is greater than a maximum threshold.

5. The computer program of claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code means for suppressing the periodic flare callouts.

6. The computer program of claim 5 wherein the computer-readable program code means for suppressing the periodic flare callouts further comprises computer-readable program code means for determining that a ground speed of the installation aircraft is reduced below a minimum threshold ground speed.

7. The computer program of claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code means for determining that additional conditions are satisfied, and thereafter generating runway distance remaining callouts.

8. The computer program of claim 7 wherein the computer-readable program code means for determining that additional conditions are satisfied further comprises computer-readable program code means for determining at intervals a runway distance remaining.

9. The computer program of claim 8 wherein the computer-readable program code means for determining the runway distance remaining further comprises:

computer-readable program code means for retrieving runway information from a database of stored runway information; and

computer-readable program code means for computing the aircraft position relative to the end of the runway.

10. The computer program of claim 9, further comprising computer-readable program code means for suppressing the remaining runway distance advisories prior to the installation aircraft passing a midway point of the runway while traveling toward the end of the runway.

11. 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 phase of flight and height above runway information relative to an aircraft during flight, and to receive at intervals samples of one or more instrument signals reporting updated altitude rate information relative to the aircraft during flight;

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate at intervals and as a function of the updated phase of flight and height above runway information a series of callouts for annunciation on a cockpit audio device, the series of callouts reporting the updated height above the runway; and

computer-readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to determine that the aircraft height above the runway is less than a first threshold height above the runway for more than a first threshold time period; and

computer-readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to determine that the aircraft height above the runway is less than a second threshold height above the runway less than the first threshold height for more than a second threshold time period.

12. The computer program product claim 11, further comprising computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress generation of the callouts as a function of the updated altitude rate relative to a maximum threshold altitude rate.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the second threshold time period further comprises a threshold time period that is less than the first threshold time period.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising a computer processor structured to receive and operate the computer-readable code.

15. 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 phase of flight and height above runway information relative to an aircraft;

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate at intervals and as a function of the updated phase of flight and height above runway information a series of callouts for annunciation on a cockpit audio device, the series of callouts reporting the updated height above the runway; and

computer-readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress the periodic flare callouts as a function of determining that one of a plurality of conditions is TRUE, the conditions including;

the aircraft ground speed is reduced below a threshold ground speed, the aircraft altitude rate exceeds a threshold altitude rate, and the aircraft altitude is reduced below a threshold altitude.

16. 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 phase of flight and height above runway information relative to an aircraft, and to receive at intervals samples of one or more instrument signals reporting updated aircraft position information;

computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate at intervals and as a function of the updated phase of flight and height above runway information a series of callouts for annunciation on a cockpit audio device, the series of callouts reporting the updated height above the runway;

computer-readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to retrieve survey information about a runway as a function of the updated aircraft position information;

computer-readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to compute a length of the runway remaining as a function of the updated aircraft position information; and

readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to generate as a callout for annunciation on a cockpit audio device, the callout reporting the length of the runway remaining.

17. The computer program product claim 16 wherein the computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to generate the callout reporting the length of the runway remaining further comprises computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to suppress the callout reporting the length of the runway remaining when the length of the runway remaining is greater than one-half of an overall runway length.

18. An imminent landing situational awareness apparatus, comprising:

a processor structured to receive samples of one or more signals reporting phase of flight data and altitude above ground level data relative to an aircraft having the processor installed thereon;

one or more algorithms executable by the processor and configured to generate as a function of phase of flight and altitude above ground level data one or more flare callouts for annunciation on a cockpit audio device, wherein the one or more algorithms further comprises one or more algorithms configured to determine that a current phase of flight includes a landing phase of flight; and

one or more algorithms configured to determine that an aircraft height above a runway is less than a first threshold height above the runway for more than a first threshold time period, and further configured to determine that the aircraft height above the runway is less than a second threshold height above the runway less than the first threshold height for more than a second threshold time period.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising one or more algorithms executable by the processor configured to suppress the flare callouts.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the one or more algorithms executable by the processor configured to suppress the flare callouts further comprises one or more algorithms configured to suppress the flare callouts as a function of determining that an aircraft ground speed is reduced below a threshold ground speed.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the one or more algorithms executable by the processor configured to suppress the flare callouts further comprises one or more algorithms configured to suppress the flare callouts as a function of determining that the aircraft is executing a go-around.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the one or more algorithms configured to suppress the flare callouts as a function of determining that the aircraft is executing a go-around further comprises one or more algorithms configured to determine that an aircraft altitude rate exceeds a threshold altitude rate.

23. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the one or more algorithms executable by the processor configured to suppress the flare callouts further comprises one or more algorithms configured to determine that the aircraft is on the ground.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the one or more algorithms configured to determine that the aircraft is on the ground further comprises one or more algorithms configured to determine that the aircraft altitude is reduced below a threshold altitude.

25. An imminent landing situational awareness apparatus, comprising:

a processor structured to receive samples of one or more signals reporting phase of flight data and altitude above ground level data relative to an aircraft having the processor installed thereon, wherein the processor is further structured to receive samples of one or more signals reporting aircraft position and orientation data;

one or more algorithms executable by the processor and configured to generate as a function of phase of flight and altitude above ground level data one or more flare callouts for annunciation on a cockpit audio device, wherein the one or more algorithms further comprises one or more algorithms configured to determine that a current phase of flight includes a landing phase of flight;

a searchable database of runway survey data;

one or more algorithms configured to retrieve runway survey data from the database as a function of the aircraft position data; and

one or more algorithms configured to generate a one or more remaining runway distance advisories as a function of the aircraft position data relative to the retrieved runway survey data.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the one or more algorithms configured to generate the one or more remaining runway distance advisories as a function of the aircraft position data relative to the retrieved runway survey data further comprises one or more algorithms configured to suppress the one or more remaining runway distance advisories as a function of a midpoint of the runway being situated between the aircraft and an end of the runway determined as a function of the aircraft orientation.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the one or more algorithms configured to generate a one or more remaining runway distance advisories further comprises one or more algorithms configured to generate the remaining runway distance advisories for one or more of 3000, 2000, 1000, and 500 feet of remaining runway length.