Device for servoing graphic representations of the air environment

• US 8,290,640 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2007
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Filliatre, Eric, Neto, Philippe
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murshed, Nagi
• Application Number:
  US12/516,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,785 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/4
• 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: G01C 5/00 Measuring height; Measuring distances transverse to line of sight; Levelling between separated points; Surveyors' levels G01C3/20, G01C3/30 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft

Abstract

Device for servoing graphical representations of the aerial environment for aircraft, an avionics the device including a display, a computer and memory in communication with the computer, the memory storing means for generating images of environmental data, said data being servoed by the first calculation resource and periodically refreshed in a first time interval. The device comprises a calculation resource providing an angle of heading of the aircraft relative to North and its geo-referenced current position, these data being servoed, periodically, in real time in a second time interval. The representation of a part of the environmental data on the viewing screen of the device is servoed and refreshed during the second time interval and positioned and oriented graphically, by the display, according to the last current angle of the position of the aircraft calculated and of the last geo-referenced current position.

Claims

1. A device for presenting graphical representations of an aerial environment for an aircraft, said device comprising:

a processor;

a first display screen in communication with the processor;

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory adapted to store;

a series of instructions executable by the processor to periodically generate and store environmental data in a first time interval;

a series of instructions executable by the processor to calculate a heading of the aircraft relative to North and a geo-referenced current position of the aircraft, wherein the heading and the geo-referenced current position are periodically generated during a second time interval that is less than the first time interval; and

a series of instructions executable by the processor to generate an image of a predetermined subset of the environmental data that is periodically refreshed and displayed on the first display interval;

wherein the image of the predetermined subset of the environmental data periodically displayed on the first display screen is positioned and oriented graphically on the first display screen according to a last calculated heading and a last calculated geo-referenced position.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the memory is further adapted to store cartographic data, the cartographic data being transmitted by the processor to a second display screen in communication with the processor, the cartographic data being refreshed, oriented and positioned on the second display screen during the second time interval according to the heading and the geo-referenced position of the aircraft, wherein the image of the predetermined subset of the environmental data is overlaid on the cartographic data.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined subset of the environmental data is symmetric with respect to either side of the heading of the aircraft, wherein an origin of the predetermined subset of the environmental data is a geo-referenced current position of the aircraft.

4. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the predetermined subset of the environmental data comprises a first geographical zone and a second geographical zone, the second geographical zone included in the first geographical zone, and the area of the second geographical zone always remains included in the first geographical zone during the first time interval.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the environmental data comprises meteorological data.

6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the environmental data comprises altimetry data.

7. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the environmental data comprises digitized data from a symmetric angular sector on either side of the heading of the aircraft, said symmetric angular sector having a substantially constant range and having an origin point substantially coincident with the current position of the aircraft.

8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the angular sector comprises a plurality of radials, each radial having a range and a spread, each of the radials originating at the current position of the aircraft, the spacing between two adjacent radials given by an angle substantially equal to half the spread.

9. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the radials are calculated by the processor, successively in groups of four, during the second time interval, with the plurality of radials forming the angular sector, and the angular sector is calculated during the first time interval.

10. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the environmental data are transmitted to the first display by use of an ARINC 453 protocol.

11. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first time interval is substantially equal to 2.5 s and the second time interval is substantially equal to 25 ms.