System for selective display of airport traffic information

• US 7,860,641 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Meunier, Hugues
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUDE, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US11/962,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20100042312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/118, 701/119, 701/120, 701/207, 701/208, 701/211, 701/213, 340/945, 340/947, 342/29, 342/33, 342/36
• US Class Current: 701/120
• 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 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

This system for displaying, on the flight deck of an aircraft travelling on the surface of an airport, an airport map mentioning the surface traffic, for the purpose of a taxiing aid and protection of the ground movements of the aircraft, shows on the airport map only the traffic occupying the airport thoroughfares close to the aircraft, this closeness being defined by the existence of a joining path comprising a number of thoroughfare sections that is less than an arbitrary limit of the order of 1 or 2.

Claims

1. A system of selectively transferring traffic information onto an airport traffic map displayed on the flight deck of an aircraft, said system comprising:

means for registering a current position of the aircraft,

at least one airport cartographical database listing, by section, thoroughfares of an airport and storing, for each section, specific geographic position and connectivity data,

means for generating an airport traffic map compatible with the current position of the aircraft, based on the geographic position data extracted from the cartographic database,

means for identifying the thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft,

means for selecting, for the purpose of the traffic display, thoroughfare sections from the displayed airport traffic map, said thoroughfare sections being separated from a thoroughfare section used by a path of the aircraft by intermediate thoroughfare sections, wherein the number of said thoroughfare sections is less than an arbitrary limit,

means for registering a location of the traffic in the vicinity of the current position of the aircraft,

means for identifying thoroughfare sections used by the traffic, and

means for displaying the traffic of the selected thoroughfare sections.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein a thoroughfare section is delimited by an intersection or a stopping point that can be passed subject to the authorization of an authority controlling airport traffic.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the means for registering the location of the traffic consider only the traffic in a closing direction relative to the aircraft.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for selecting select thoroughfare sections from the displayed airport traffic map separated from the thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft by intermediate thoroughfare sections numbering less than an arbitrary limit.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for selecting select the thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft and the thoroughfare sections that cross said thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for selecting select the thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft and the thoroughfare sections that cross said thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft in front of the aircraft.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for selecting select the thoroughfare sections that the aircraft will use, over a distance of two intersections, and the thoroughfare sections crossing these used thoroughfare sections.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said means for selecting select the thoroughfare sections crossing the thoroughfare sections that the aircraft will use, over a protection distance extending in front of the aircraft, corresponding to a minimum threshold increased by a value that is a function of the current speed of the aircraft.

9. A system of selectively transferring of traffic information onto an airport traffic map displayed on the flight deck of an aircraft, said system comprising:

means for registering a current position of the aircraft,

at least one airport cartographical database listing, by section, thoroughfares of an airport and storing, for each section, specific geographic position and connectivity data,

means for generating an airport traffic map compatible with the current position of the aircraft, based on the geographic position data extracted from the cartographic database,

means for identifying the thoroughfare section occupied by the aircraft,

means for selecting, for the purpose of the traffic display, thoroughfare sections from the displayed airport traffic map, separated from a thoroughfare section used by the path of the aircraft by intermediate thoroughfare sections numbering less than an arbitrary limit,

means for registering the location of the traffic in the vicinity of the current position of the aircraft,

means for identifying thoroughfare sections used by the traffic, and

means for displaying the traffic of the selected thoroughfare sections,

wherein the means for registering the location of the traffic consider only;

the traffic in front of the aircraft, using the same thoroughfare section in the same direction or in the opposite direction,

the traffic converging on the aircraft using the thoroughfare sections directly connected to that used by the aircraft, and

parallel traffic in the same direction as the movement of the aircraft, over sections of optional thoroughfare, that can be used by the aircraft after travelling the thoroughfare section on which it stands.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the means for registering the location of the traffic also consider the traffic on the thoroughfare sections connected indirectly to that used by the aircraft, when they converge on the aircraft or move in the same direction as the aircraft while these thoroughfare sections are optional thoroughfare sections that can be used by the aircraft.