System for aiding the guidance of an aircraft on an airport

• US 7,999,699 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Caillaud, Christophe, Deker, Guy, Marty, Nicolas
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout; Brent
• Application Number:
  US12/134,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20090045982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 340945-980, 340/933, 701 3- 14, 701/120, 701/301, 244/1.R
• US Class Current: 340/958
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

The general field of the invention is that of systems for aiding the guidance of an aircraft on an airport. The system according to the invention comprises means for determining at least one element of the topology of the airport in relation to the position of the aircraft for selecting. Selecting means are provided by the pilot of the aircraft for the element. Generating means are provided to generate at least one guidance or safety set-point using the topological element. Presenting means are provided for the element or the associated set-point on a man-machine interface to the pilot of the aircraft.

Claims

1. A system for aiding guidance of an aircraft on an airport comprising:

means for determining at least one topology element of the airport in relation to a position of the aircraft, said determining means including

on-board cameras situated on or under the aircraft associated with automatic recognition devices or active sensors of signs representative of a runway followed by the aircraft, said active sensors of optical or electromagnetic type;

an airport-type database;

means for selecting by a pilot of aircraft said topological element;

means for generating at least one guidance or safety set-point by using the topological element; and

means for presenting said topological element or the associated set-point on a man-machine interface to the pilot of the aircraft.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the topology elements are either topographic information, or information on the nature or the state of the runway followed by the aircraft, or information on the designation of the runway.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the determining means comprise means for extracting, filtering and recognizing the signs representative of the runway in the database using the data arising from the on-board cameras or the sensors.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the selecting means comprise a designator of “

mouse”

or “

scroll-pad”

type or a selection button of the selector/rotator type.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the selecting means comprise selection display means.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the topology elements being selected arise from elements of the database and that the selector comprises means for indicating the position or the movement to be performed by the aircraft towards the element.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the selecting means comprise means for engaging or disengaging the movement to be performed by the aircraft.

8. The system according to claim 4, wherein the elements are disposed in a list and ranked in an order of priority configurable, which order of priority is an alphabetic order or a ranking of the elements as a function of distance of the elements with respect to the aeroplane.

9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising presentation means which include a collimated viewing device of Head-Up display type, the presentations of the topology elements or associated set-points being carried out in at least one specific visual field.

10. The system according to claim 1, further comprising presentation means which include a viewing screen called “

display”

, said screen being either the screen termed “

Navigation Display”

, or the screen termed “

Multi Function Display”

, the presentations of the topology elements or associated set-points being carried out either in at least one specific window or on a specific page on the screen.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the topology or set-point elements are presented in the form of a symbology of “

flight director”

type.

12. The system according to claim 1, further comprising presentation means which include a display dedicated to the presentation of the topology elements or associated set-points.

13. The system according to claim 9, wherein the presentation of the topology elements or associated set-points is performed simultaneously on at least either the head-up display, or on the viewing screen, or on the dedicated display.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein said system is coupled to automatic means for guiding the aircraft on the runway.