Method and on-board system for viewing weather hazards

• US 9,649,935 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gtd Air Services S.A.U.
• Original Assignee: Gtd Sistemas De Informacion
• Inventors: Bas Gago, Isidro, Dominguez Armesto, Oscar
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunnings, Travis
• Application Number:
  US14/736,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20150360566A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• 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: G01S 13/95 for meteorological use
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/24 the display being orientated or displaced in accordance with movement of object carrying the transmitting and receiving apparatus, e.g. true-motion radar
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/10 Devices for predicting weather conditions computers per se G06; display devices G09
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 2203/00 Real-time site-specific personalized weather information, e.g. nowcasting
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0047 Navigation or guidance aids for a single aircraft details of equipment G08G5/0017
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A method and a system for viewing weather hazards which is on-board an aircraft. The system (300) includes communication means (330) for receiving weather information relating to a given region, a processor (310) for determining, at each point of the region, the future instant at which the vehicle would reach this point, an expert system (340) for estimating, at each point of the region, from the weather information and the future instant, the weather hazard at that point, and a graphic interface (360) for displaying, at each point of the region, the weather hazards thus estimated by the expert system.

Claims

1. A system for viewing weather hazards in a predetermined region, said system being intended to be on-board an aircraft and comprising:

communication means for receiving weather information at each point of said region;

a processor for determining, for each point of said region, from a current position of the aircraft and navigation parameters of the aircraft, a future instant at which the aircraft would reach said each point;

an expert system using a Bayesian network representing a probabilistic model for estimating, at each point of said region, from said weather information, a weather hazard at said each point at said future instant; and

a graphic interface for representing, at each point of said region, the weather hazards estimated by the expert system, wherein;

the weather hazard is the presence of a weather event bounded by a boundary, and

the Bayesian network estimates the weather hazard at a point of said region at the future instant at which the aircraft would reach the point from at least the weather information in said region for the future instant, a distance separating the current position of the aircraft and the point, a distance to the boundary of the weather event along a path perpendicular to a straight line through the current position and the point, and the age of said forecast weather information.

2. The viewing system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined region is a corridor around a previously determined flight route of the aircraft.

3. The viewing system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined region is an angular sector the vertex of which is located at the current position of the aircraft.

4. The viewing system according to claim 1, wherein the weather information relates to a nowcast situation at a current instant and/or to forecast situations for a plurality of future instants, said weather information being stored in a database.

5. The viewing system according to claim 1, wherein the Bayesian network also estimates the weather hazard based on the confidence level of the weather information when it is forecast.

6. The viewing system according to claim 5, further comprising means for selecting an instant in a predetermined time range, wherein, in a second operating mode, the processor is adapted to calculate a position of the aircraft corresponding to a selected instant in this range and, conversely, to calculate a time for a selected position of the aircraft, the processor being further adapted to display on the graphic interface the calculated or selected position of the aircraft as well as the weather conditions at the selected or calculated time.

7. A method for viewing weather hazards to which an aircraft is likely to be exposed, within a predetermined region, said method comprising:

receiving weather information at each point of said region;

calculating, for each point of said region, from a current position of the aircraft and navigation parameters of the aircraft, a future instant at which the aircraft would reach said each point;

estimating using an expert system utilizing a Bayesian network representing a probabilistic model for estimating, at each point of the said region, from said weather information, a weather hazard at said each point at said future instant; and

displaying, at each point of the considered region, the weather hazard thus estimated at the preceding step, wherein;

the weather hazard is the presence of a weather event bounded by a boundary, and

the Bayesian network estimates the weather hazard at a point of said region at the future instant at which the aircraft would reach the point from at least the weather information in said region for the future instant, a distance separating the current position of the aircraft and the point, a distance to the boundary of the weather event along a path perpendicular to a straight line through the current position and the point, and the age of said forecast weather information.

8. The viewing method according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined region is a corridor around a previously determined flight route of the aircraft.

9. The viewing method according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined region is an angular sector the vertex of which is located at the current position of the aircraft.

10. The viewing method according to claim 7, wherein the weather information relates to a nowcast situation at a current instant and/or to forecast situations for a plurality of future instants.