Terrain awareness system with false alert suppression

• US 7,633,430 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Rademaker, Richard M., McCusker, Patrick D., Woodell, Daniel L., Jinkins, Richard D., Wichgers, Joel M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gregory; Bernarr E
• Application Number:
  US11/901,084
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 342 13- 20, 342 26 R- 26 D, 342 27- 32, 342 61- 65, 342/159, 342/165, 342173-175, 342/195, 342118-123, 340/945, 340/963, 340/970, 455/226.1, 701/1, 701/3, 701/4, 701/8, 701/9, 701/300, 701/301
• US Class Current: 342/65
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/87 Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/935 for terrain-avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/04 Display arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/36 using visible light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• 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

A terrain awareness and warning system includes electronics for receiving radar returns and providing terrain and/or obstacle alerts or warnings in response to the radar returns. The electronics receives information from a database and the information is utilized to suppress false alerts or warnings.

Claims

1. A terrain avoidance system, comprising:

electronics for receiving radar returns and providing terrain alerts or warnings in response to the radar returns; and

a database configured to store at least one of terrain information and weather information,

wherein the electronics receive the at least one of terrain information and weather information from the database and utilize the at least one of terrain information and weather information to suppress at least one of the terrain alerts and warnings.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronics use the at least one of terrain information and weather information to suppress at least one of the terrain alerts and warnings due to spurious antenna responses or an environmental condition.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the spurious antenna responses are due to side lobes or reflection lobes.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the environmental condition is a radar reflectivity due to at least one of a precipitation rate higher than two inches per hour, hail, and a bright-band.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronics suppress at least one of the terrain alerts and warnings continuously.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronics suppress the at least one of the terrain alerts and warnings associated with certain portions of radar scans.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the certain portions are associated with known spurious antenna pattern responses.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the database is a terrain, obstacle, or a combined terrain and obstacle database.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronics and the database are for mounting in an aircraft and wherein the electronics receive the radar returns from an aircraft weather radar system.

10. A method of suppressing an alert or warning from a terrain awareness system, the method comprising:

receiving a first radar return;

processing the first radar return to determine a presence of a terrain or obstacle requiring an alert or warning;

retrieving information comprising at least one of terrain information from a terrain database and weather information from a non-weather radar source; and

suppressing the alert or warning if the information indicates that the determined presence of the terrain or obstacle was due to a false detection.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information comprises terrain information from the terrain database.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information comprises weather information from the non-weather radar source.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the false detection is caused by spurious antenna responses or weather.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing an indication of the suppression of the alert or warning to an aircraft display.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the receiving and processing steps are repeated until the presence of the terrain or obstacle requiring an alert or warning is detected.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the first radar return is a weather radar return.

17. A terrain avoidance system, comprising:

processing means for receiving radar returns and for providing terrain alerts or warnings in response to the radar returns; and

data storage means for storing at least one of terrain information and weather information,

wherein the processing means receives the at least one of terrain information and weather information from the data storage means and utilizes the at least one of terrain information and weather information to determine whether the alerts or warnings should be suppressed; and

wherein the processing means suppresses the terrain alerts or warnings when the processing means determines that the alerts or warnings should be suppressed.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the terrain alerts or warnings comprise an obstacle alert or warning.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing means determines velocity information from the radar returns and utilizes the velocity information to determine whether the alerts or warnings should be suppressed.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one of terrain information and weather information comprises known radar returns for a location or an obstacle and the known radar returns are compared to the received radar returns to determine whether the alerts or warnings should be suppressed.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing means and data storage means are for mounting in an aircraft and wherein the processing means receives the radar returns from an aircraft weather radar system.