Filtering of relevant traffic for display, enhancement, and/or alerting

• US 8,600,651 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2009
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Clark, Samuel T., Bowe, Roglenda R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): CASTRO, PAUL A
• Application Number:
  US12/624,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20110125399A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• Field of Search: 340/435, 701/120, 342/175
• US Class Current: 701/120
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media described herein provide for filtering relevant traffic from sensed or received traffic information for display, enhancement, or alerting, without requiring knowledge of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport. Traffic information is sensed or received regarding nearby aircraft or other vehicles and is filtered using one or more filtering strategies to determine a subset of relevant traffic for which to display traffic indicators and/or traffic data on a display unit in the aircraft. The subset of relevant traffic may be further tested for convergence or potential convergence and filtered using one or more additional filtering strategies to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions for which to enhance the display of the traffic indicators on the display unit or to alert the flight crew of the critical traffic conditions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for filtering traffic for relevance for display or enhancement on a display unit of a vehicle, the method comprising performing instructions under the control of one or more computer systems for:

receiving, by the one or more computer systems, traffic information;

applying, by the one or more computer systems, a first filtering strategy to the traffic information to determine a subset of relevant traffic, wherein the first filtering strategy being independent of one of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport and determines a first intersection between a projected track of the vehicle and projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles, a second intersection of projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles with an area defined around a current position of the vehicle, and a third intersection between a projected track of the vehicle with areas defined around one or more nearby vehicles; and

generating, by the one or more computer systems, a display of relevant traffic comprising one or more traffic indicators corresponding to the subset of relevant traffic for display on the display unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing instructions under the control of the one or more computer systems for regularly applying the first filtering strategy to updated traffic information and updating the display of relevant traffic on the display unit as the vehicle is in operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic information comprises current state vectors and other information regarding nearby vehicles received via automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (“

ADS-B”

).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display of relevant traffic is overlaid, by the one or more computer systems, on a navigation display or an airport moving map display on the display unit.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a second filtering strategy to determine, by the one or more computer systems, that one or more nearby vehicles have parallel or near-parallel tracks with a projected track of the vehicle based on an angle between a vehicle-traffic position vector and one of the projected track of the vehicle or the projected track of the one or more nearby vehicles being less than a threshold angle,

the vehicle-traffic position vector being defined between a current position of the vehicle and a current position of the one or more nearby vehicles.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a second filtering strategy to determine, by the one or more computer systems, that one or more nearby vehicles are within a defined area centered around the vehicle,

wherein the defined area being based on a radius having a value that varies based on a function of one of speed, altitude or phase of vehicle flight, and an angle from port to starboard across a projected track of the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing instructions under the control of the one or more computer systems for:

applying, by the one or more computer systems, a second filtering strategy to the subset of relevant traffic to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions; and

enhancing, by the one or more computer systems, the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising performing instructions under the control of the one or more computer systems for providing at least one of an aural annunciation and alert alone or in conjunction with enhancing the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

9. A system for filtering relevant traffic for display or enhancement on a display unit of an aircraft, comprising:

a memory for storing a program containing computer-executable instructions for filtering traffic information to determine relevant traffic for display and enhancement; and

a processing unit functionally coupled to the memory, the processing unit being responsive to the computer-executable instructions and configured to;

receive the traffic information,

apply a first filtering strategy to the traffic information to determine a subset of relevant traffic, wherein the first filtering strategy being independent of one of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport, the first filtering strategy comprises a track-track intersection strategy based on determining a first intersection between a projected track of the vehicle and projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles, and a track-aircraft intersection strategy based on determining a second intersection of projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles with an area defined around a current position of the vehicle, and a third intersection of the projected track of the vehicle with areas defined around one or more nearby vehicles, and

generate a display of relevant traffic comprising one or more traffic indicators corresponding to the subset of relevant traffic for display on the display unit.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the traffic information comprises current state vectors and other information regarding nearby vehicles received via ADS-B.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the display of relevant traffic is overlaid on a navigation display or an airport moving map display on the display unit.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is further configured to apply a second filtering strategy to the subset of relevant traffic to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions, the second filtering strategy comprises one or more of:

a near-parallel track-position vector strategy based on determining an angle between a vehicle-traffic position vector and one of the projected track of the vehicle or the projected track of the one or more nearby vehicles being less than a threshold angle, the vehicle-traffic position vector being defined between a current position of the vehicle and a current position of the one or more nearby vehicles;

or

an ownship-traffic proximity strategy based on determining that one or more nearby vehicles are within a defined area centered around the vehicle, wherein the defined area being based on a radius having a value that varies based on a function of one of speed, altitude or phase of vehicle flight, and an angle from port to starboard across a projected track of the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is further configured to

enhance the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by an avionics computer of an aircraft, cause the avionics computer to:

receive traffic information,

apply a first filtering strategy to the traffic information to determine a subset of relevant traffic, wherein the first filtering strategy being independent of one of runway, taxiway, or taxi route locations at an airport, the first filtering strategy comprises a track-track intersection strategy based on determining a first intersection between a projected track of the vehicle and projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles, and a track-aircraft intersection strategy based on determining a second intersection of projected tracks of one or more nearby vehicles with an area defined around a current position of the vehicle, and a third intersection of the projected track of the vehicle with areas defined around one or more nearby vehicles, and

generate a display of relevant traffic comprising one or more traffic indicators corresponding to the subset of relevant traffic for display on a display unit of the aircraft.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the traffic information comprises current state vectors and other information regarding nearby vehicles received via ADS-B.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the display of relevant traffic is overlaid on a navigation display or an airport moving map display on the display unit.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, comprising further computer-executable instructions that cause the avionics computer to:

apply a second filtering strategy to the subset of relevant traffic to determine traffic having critical traffic conditions; and

enhance the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, containing further computer-executable instructions that cause the avionics computer to provide an aural alert in conjunction with enhancing the display of the traffic indicators corresponding to the traffic having critical traffic conditions in the display of relevant traffic.