Systems and methods for enhancing situational awareness of an aircraft on the ground

• US 8,242,950 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2006
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: L3 Technologies, Inc. (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Aviation Communication and Surveillance Systems LLC (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stone, Cyro A., Stayton, Gregory T., Manberg, Charles C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brainard, Timothy A
• Application Number:
  US11/451,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20070080848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,255 Days
• Field of Search: 342 29- 32, 342 62- 63, 342/455, 340/3.41, 340/901, 340/961, 367/909, 700/255, 701/301
• US Class Current: 342/29
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/934 on airport surfaces, e.g. while taxiing
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9329 cooperating with reflectors or transponders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/04 Display arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0065 for taking-off
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91

Abstract

A delineated collision avoidance system may comprise a processor for executing one or more instructions that implement one or more functions of the collision avoidance system, a transceiver for transmitting information from and receiving information for the host aircraft, and memory for storing the one or more instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the collision avoidance system to: receive from the transceiver information from another aircraft, generate from the received information a track for the other aircraft, and determine whether the track will intersect within a predefined period of time a region of interest around the host aircraft. In a variation, the system may include a display and the memory may include instructions to: determine whether a predefined condition is satisfied and change an appearance of a symbol shown on the display to indicate that the predefined condition is satisfied.

Claims

1. A collision avoidance system for a host aircraft, the system comprising:

a processor for executing one or more instructions that implement one or more functions of the collision avoidance system;

a transceiver for transmitting information from and receiving information for the host aircraft; and

memory for storing the one or more instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the collision avoidance system to;

receive from the transceiver information from another aircraft;

generate from the received information a track for the other aircraft; and

determine whether the track will intersect, within a predefined period of time, a region of interest around the host aircraft, wherein at least one boundary of the region of interest is at least partially based on a geographical feature.

2. The collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the memory stores further instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the collision avoidance system to display on a cockpit display in the host aircraft the track if the track will intersect within the predefined period of time the region of interest around the host aircraft.

3. The collision avoidance system of claim 2 wherein the memory stores further instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the collision avoidance system to determine whether the track will intersect within another predefined period of time a collision avoidance region of interest around the host aircraft, after the initial determination indicates that the track will intersect within the predefined period of time the region of interest around the host aircraft.

4. The collision avoidance system of claim 3 wherein the memory stores further instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the collision avoidance system to generate a signal for proving one or more of an aural alert and a visual alert within host aircraft, after the system determines that the track will intersect within the other predefined period of time the collision avoidance region of interest around the host aircraft.

5. The collision avoidance system of claim 3 wherein the region of interest around the host aircraft is larger than the collision avoidance region of interest around the host aircraft.

6. The collision avoidance system of claim 3 wherein the region of interest around the host aircraft is the same as the collision avoidance region of interest around the host aircraft.

7. The collision avoidance system of claim 3 wherein the determination of whether the track will intersect within the other predefined period of time the collision avoidance region of interest around the host aircraft employs a region of interest around the track.

8. The collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the determination of whether the track will intersect within the predefined period of time the region of interest around the host aircraft employs a region of interest around the track.

9. The collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver comprises a separate receiver and a separate transmitter.

10. The collision avoidance system of claim 1 wherein the memory stores further instructions for execution by the processor to implement the one or more functions of the collision avoidance system to display on a cockpit display in the host aircraft ground data that is descriptive of any feature of the ground or any vehicle on the ground.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical feature includes at least one of:

a runway and a taxiway.