Weather radar system and method with latency compensation for data link weather information

• US 9,689,984 B1
• Filed: 08/21/2014
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Breiholz, Arlen E., Walling, Karen L., Kronfeld, Kevin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John B
• Application Number:
  US14/465,730
• Time in Patent Office: 1,041 Days
• Field of Search: 342 26 R, 342 26 A- 26 D
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/865 Combination of radar systems with lidar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/04 Display arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/10 Special adaptations of display systems for operation with variable images
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/12 Avionics applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/30 Control of display attribute
• 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 of displaying a weather condition indicator with respect to an aircraft includes receiving weather data from a weather radar system. The weather data includes data indicative of a first location of the weather condition. The method also includes determining a second location of the weather condition based on data indicative of a movement of the weather condition, and displaying the weather condition indicator with reference to the second location.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a weather condition indicator with respect to an aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving weather data from a weather radar system, the weather data including data indicative of a first location of the weather condition;

determining a second location of the weather condition based on data indicative of a movement of the weather condition with respect to the first location;

displaying the weather condition indicator with reference to the second location; and

adjusting a size of the weather condition indicator based on at least one of an error estimate and a change estimate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the size of the weather condition indicator includes increasing the size in proportion with a distance between the first location and the second location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least one of the error estimate and the change estimate from the weather radar system.

4. A method of displaying a weather condition indicator with respect to an aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving weather data from a weather radar system, the weather data including data indicative of a first location of the weather condition;

determining a second location of the weather condition based on data indicative of a movement of the weather condition with respect to the first location; and

displaying the weather condition indicator with reference to the second location, wherein the data indicative of the movement of the weather condition includes a motion vector, and wherein determining the second location includes determining a distance with respect to the first location using the motion vector.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising adjusting a size of the weather condition indicator based on at least one of an error estimate and a change estimate.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein data indicative of the first location of the weather condition includes data indicative of a respective first location for each of a plurality of weather cells, and wherein the data indicative of the movement of the weather condition includes a respective motion vector for each cell.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the second location includes determining a respective second location for each of the cells by determining a respective distance with respect to the first location for each cell, the respective distance for each cell determined using the motion vector for each cell.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the second location includes determining an estimated motion vector for a grouping of the plurality of weather cells.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the second location includes determining a respective distance with respect to the first location for each cell in the grouping using the estimated motion vector.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the second location includes determining a distance with respect to a first location for at least one cell outside of the grouping using the estimated motion vector.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the second location includes determining a second location for at least one of the cells by

determining a first respective distance with respect to the first location for the at least one cell based on the motion vector for the at least one cell;

determining a second respective distance with respect to the first location for the at least one cell based on an estimated motion vector for a grouping of the plurality of weather cells adjacent to the at least one cell; and

wherein displaying the weather condition indicator includes displaying an indicator of the at least one of the cells by adjusting a size of the indicator of the at least one of the cells based on the first and second distances.

12. An aircraft weather radar system, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory memory coupled to the processor and containing program instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to;

receive weather data from first and second ground-based weather radar systems having separate locations, the weather data including data indicative of a first location of a weather condition;

determine a second location of the weather condition based on data indicative of a movement of the weather condition with respect to the first location; and

generate an indicator of the weather condition with reference to the second location.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to select weather data from one of the first and second ground-based weather radar systems based on a respective tracking geometry for each to determine the second location.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to:

receive a first motion vector from the first ground-based weather radar system and a second motion vector from the second ground-based weather radar system;

determine an estimated motion vector based on the first and second motion vectors; and

determine the second location of the weather condition based on the estimated motion vector.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data indicative of the first location of the weather condition from each of the first and second ground-based weather radar systems includes data indicative of a respective first location for each of a plurality of weather cells, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to determine a quality estimate for each of the first and second ground-based weather radar systems and to select one of the first and second ground-based weather radar systems based on the respective quality estimate.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to:

determine correspondence of the cells in the weather data from the first ground-based weather radar system to the cells in the weather data from the second ground-based weather radar system;

evaluate a first criterion for the cells in the weather data from the first ground-based weather radar system and the corresponding cells in the weather data from the second ground-based weather radar system;

evaluate a second criterion for at least one of the cells for which the first criterion was evaluated;

select one of the cells in the weather data from the first ground-based weather radar system and the corresponding at least one of the cells in the weather data from the second ground-based weather radar system based on the evaluation of the first and second criterion; and

determine a second location of the selected one of the cells based on a motion vector indicative of the movement of the selected one of the cells with respect to the first location.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first criterion is based on negative factors associated with the weather data and the second factor is based on positive factors associated with the weather data.

18. A weather radar system, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory memory coupled to the processor and containing program instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to;

receive weather data including location and motion vector data for weather cells in a region of interest;

generate a grid pattern having grid points for the region of interest;

assign respective motion vector data received for each of the weather cells to one or more of the grid points near the location of the weather cell in the region of interest to generate a first set of assigned grid points;

assign linearly interpolated motion vector data to unassigned grid points between the grid points in the first set of assigned grid points to generate a second set of assigned grid points;

determine estimated motion vector data for unassigned grid points outside of the first set of assigned grid points to generate a third set of assigned grid points;

determine an updated location for each of the grid points using the motion vector data assigned to the first, second, and third sets of assigned grid points; and

generate an indicator of a weather condition associated with the weather cells with reference to the updated locations.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein one of linear extrapolation and a least squares fit is used to determine the estimated motion vector data for unassigned grid points outside of the first set of assigned grid points.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein an average motion vector is used to determine the estimated motion vector data for unassigned grid points outside of the first set of assigned grid points.