Perspective view conformal traffic targets display

• US 20070001874A1
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: He, Gang, Wilson, Blake, Gannon, Aaron, Feyereisen, Thea, Shirley, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,286,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/995.100
• 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: G01D 7/02 Indicating value of two or more variables simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• 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 system and method for displaying traffic targets in a conformal perspective view. The system comprises a display screen for graphical display of data, one or more sensors for obtaining traffic data regarding traffic targets, and one or more processors for receiving traffic data from the one or more sensors and providing input to the display screen. The display screen displays traffic targets as icons in a 3-dimensional graphical representation of real space. The display size of the icons is selected from a finite set of sizes which correspond to a finite set of distance ranges based on the distance to the traffic targets.

Claims

1. A display system comprising:

a display screen for graphical display of data,

one or more sensors for obtaining traffic data regarding traffic targets,

one or more processors for receiving traffic data from the one or more sensors, and for providing input to the display screen, and

the display screen displaying traffic targets as icons in a 3-dimensional graphical representation of real space, wherein the display size of the icons is selected from a finite set of sizes which correspond to a finite set of distance ranges based on the distance to the traffic targets.

2. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the set of sizes comprises 3 sizes where one size corresponds to a range of greater than 5 miles, another size corresponds to a range of 2-5 miles, and another size corresponds to a range of less than 2 miles.

3. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the set of distance ranges comprises one range, and

the set of sizes comprises continuous size variations corresponding to distances within the one range, the size variations being bounded by a maximum and a minimum icon size.

4. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the one or more processors filters traffic data such that data is not provided to the display screen concerning traffic targets which do not pose a threat.

5. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the one or more processors are adapted to receive a user input to select between an egocentric and an exocentric view of the 3-dimensional graphical representation of real space.

6. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the display screen renders an indexing line for each selected traffic target,

wherein the indexing line being perpendicular to its associated traffic target'"'"'s plane of altitude and running from the plane of altitude to a specified altitude.

7. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the display screen renders an indexing line for each selected traffic target,

wherein the indexing line being perpendicular to its associated traffic target'"'"'s plane of altitude and running from the plane of altitude to terrain below the traffic target.

8. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the display screen renders an indexing line for each selected traffic target,

wherein the indexing line indicates the speed and trajectory of its associated traffic target.

9. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the display screen renders an indexing line for each selected traffic target,

wherein the indexing line indicates the ascension and descension rates of its associated traffic target.

10. The display system of claim 1 wherein,

the display system is a flight deck display system on board an aircraft.

11. The display system of claim 10 wherein,

the flight deck display system is a Heads-Up Display (HUD).

12. The display system of claim 10 wherein,

the icons'"'"' color and object format is based on standard Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) display icons.

13. A method for displaying conformal traffic in perspective view, the method comprising:

checking real-time traffic sensor outputs,

determining if detected traffic targets are within a field of view,

selecting icon display size from a finite set of sizes which correspond to a finite set of distance ranges based on the distance to the traffic targets, and

displaying the icons on a display screen.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

rendering an indexing line for each traffic target running perpendicular from the traffic target'"'"'s plane of altitude to terrain below the icon.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

rendering an indexing line for each traffic target running perpendicular from the traffic target'"'"'s plane of altitude to a specified altitude.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

rendering an indexing line for each traffic target indicating the speed and trajectory of its associated traffic target.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

rendering an indexing line for each traffic target indicating the ascension and descension rates of its associated traffic target.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

checking the threat posed by each detected traffic target,

selecting traffic target icon color and object format based on the threat posed by each traffic target.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

filtering traffic data to remove traffic that is not a travel path threat.

20. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

receiving traffic data from traffic sensors,

determining the distance to the traffic targets identified by the traffic sensors,

selecting a display size for each traffic target from a finite set of sizes which correspond with a finite set of distance ranges, based on the distance to each traffic target, and

sending instructions to a display to display an icon for each traffic target.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising:

calculating an altitude for each traffic target based on traffic data, and

sending instructions to the display to render an indexing line from each traffic target to terrain below each object.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising:

calculating an altitude for each traffic target based on traffic data,

calculating an altitude difference between the altitude for each traffic target and a selected altitude, and

sending instructions to the display to render an indexing line from each traffic target to the selected altitude.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 20 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising:

calculating a projected trajectory for each traffic target based on traffic data, and

sending instructions to the display to render an indexing line from each traffic target indicating the projected trajectory and velocity.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 20 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising:

calculating a rate of ascension or descension for each traffic target based on traffic data, and

sending instructions to the display to render an indexing line from each traffic target to indicate the rate of ascension or descension.