693results about "Automatic aircraft landing aids" patented technology

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for transporting a payload is provided. The UAV comprises a body and one or more propellers rotatably connected to the body. The UAV further comprises a battery mounted to the body. The battery is releasable from the bottom of the UAV. The UAV further comprises a payload container mounted to the body. The payload container is releasable from the bottom of the UAV to a landing platform associated with a UAV station.

An apparatus and method of charging and housing of an unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is disclosed. The apparatus includes an accommodator to accommodate an aircraft, a landing platform on which the aircraft lands, a housing portion to monitor state data by housing or charging the aircraft, and a sensor to assist in landing of the aircraft by allowing the aircraft to communicate with the apparatus. The apparatus enhances operational efficiency by reducing a travel time of the aircraft.

A navigation apparatus with image recognition, includes: an imaging section for obtaining a stereo image of a target spot; an inertial information detecting section for measuring an attitude angle of a body and an acceleration of the body; an image process calculating section for calculating a relative position of the body with respect to the target spot based on the stereo image and the attitude angle; and a navigation calculating section for calculating navigation information based on the attitude angle, the acceleration and the relative position.

Systems and methods include UAVs that serve to assist carrier personnel by reducing the physical demands of the transportation and delivery process. A UAV generally includes a UAV chassis including an upper portion, a plurality of propulsion members configured to provide lift to the UAV chassis, and a parcel carrier configured for being selectively coupled to and removed from the UAV chassis. UAV support mechanisms are utilized to load and unload parcel carriers to the UAV chassis, and the UAV lands on and takes off from the UAV support mechanism to deliver parcels to a serviceable point. The UAV includes computing entities that interface with different systems and computing entities to send and receive various types of information.

A system is provided for managing the inbound flow of aircraft to an airfield by ensuring that aircraft are sequenced before departure into an arrival stream. Sequencing uses operational data obtained from airlines and then provides a methodology for sharing this data with the air traffic control (ATC) agency. The outcome is a daily arrival schedule providing a predetermined operational arrival time for each aircraft movement. The operational data used by the system relates to airline punctuality, taxi times at departure airfields and actual flight times predicted on a flight-by-flight basis by airline flight planning systems. This information is combined to effect a predictive arrival time at a desired navigational fix.

A method of visually guiding a pilot flying an aircraft using one or more conformal symbols whose position is dynamically updated throughout the guidance is provided herein. The method includes the following stages: determining a desired flight route of an aircraft, based on a user-selected maneuver; presenting to a pilot, on a display, at least one 3D visual symbol that is: (i) earth-space stabilized, and (ii) positioned along a future location along the desired route; computing an updated desired route based on repeatedly updated aircraft flight data that include at least one of: location, speed, and spatial angle, of the aircraft; and repeating the presenting of the at least one 3D visual symbol with its updated location along the updated desired route.

A method and apparatus for managing a landing site for an aircraft is presented. The landing site is selected from a group of landing sites. A description is communicated to a platform about a state of the aircraft along a route of the aircraft over time to the landing site. The aircraft is flown to the landing site using the description of the state of the aircraft along the route of the aircraft over time.

There is provided a method for identifying, at the moment of verification, the situation of a threat to a protected ground, airspace and / or sea limits by an approaching ground vehicle, aircraft or sea-going vessel. The method includes an authorized driver / pilot / captain to select first state in which the vehicle, aircraft or sea-going vessel is not considered to present a threat and a second state in which the vehicle, aircraft or sea-going vessel is considered to present a threat. The method further provides entering the first and second PIN codes into a smart card for generating a One Time Indicia (OTI) for each of the PIN codes and disclosing the state associated with each of the first and second OTI codes to at least one control center. Upon the control center receiving an OTI code, the control center obtains positive identification of the driver / pilot / captain and the degree of the threat that the vehicle, aircraft or sea-going vessel presents.

A device to enable automatic wireless communication with an aircraft after the aircraft has parked at a gate. A terminal cellular bridge (TCB) enables the retrieval of data from, and the sending of data to the aircraft by an internet service provider. The internet service provider uses the Internet to send data to and receive data from a remotely located network operation center and data warehousing center. The data warehousing center provides secure data storage and retrieval, and data processing. The network operations center provides for system control and monitoring.

A display system and method for an aircraft simultaneously displays the terrain under the flight plan, or under the current track of the aircraft, as both a two-dimensional lateral situation view image and as a perspective vertical situation view image. This provides improved tactical flight planning, and that does not erroneously show the flight plan passing through the displayed terrain.

An apparatus and method for simulating airport lighting aids by providing a generator having a processor structured to receive a plurality of navigation signals representative of position and altitude of a host aircraft; a signal generator operated by the processor, the generator being structured to retrieve airport information from a database as a function of the position signal, compare the position and altitude signals with a glide path, and output a signal representative of a degree of coincidence with the glide path as a function of the position and altitude signals; and a plurality of indicators structured to receive the signal output by the signal generator and responsively output a visual indication of the degree of coincidence with the glide path.

A Ground Runway Awareness and Advisory System (GRAAS) that provides supplemental position information and airport situational awareness alerts and advisories to pedestrians and vehicle operators during surface operations by providing timely aural, textual, graphic or pictographic alerts and advisory messages to pedestrians and vehicle operators in a significant number of different scenarios that have led to past runway and taxiway incursion occurrences. These messages are optionally supplemented by a situational awareness video display wherein one or more of the user's position, heading and ground speed are superimposed on a graphic display of airport features of interest. The GRAAS thereby satisfies one clear requirement in reducing VPDs: that the pedestrians or vehicle operators have a clear understanding of the airport layout, including designations of runways and taxiways, and their position relative to the airport layout and features, including aircraft, other ground vehicle traffic and pedestrians where position information is available.

A display system and method for an aircraft simultaneously displays the terrain under the flight plan, or under the current track of the aircraft, as both a two-dimensional lateral situation view image and as a perspective vertical situation view image. This provides improved tactical flight planning, and that does not erroneously show the flight plan passing through the displayed terrain.

A device, method and computer program product for locating aircraft with respect to airport runways and taxiways, determining if a conflict exists between an aircraft having operating the invention and another aircraft, and generating and annunciating conflict awareness advisories as a function of determining that a conflict exists.

The invention discloses an automatic carrier-landing guiding method of a carrier-borne unmanned aircraft and belongs to the technical field of automatic carrier-landing guiding for carrier-borne aircrafts. The method comprises the following steps of determining a reference flight path at a capturing phase according to the initial course information and the positional information of the unmanned aircraft, determining a reference flight path at a tracking phase by considering the influence of deck movement, acquiring a flight-path error at the capturing phase by adopting a direct sightline method, and obtaining a flight-path error at the tracking phase by adopting a dynamic coordinate-system changing method; calculating longitudinal and transverse control-signal instruction values according to the flight-path errors, and guiding the carrier-borne unmanned aircraft to fly along the reference flight paths. The automatic carrier-landing guiding method of the carrier-borne unmanned aircraft provided by the invention has high realizability and operability, so that the carrier-landing performance of the unmanned aircraft under a specific carrier-landing environment is improved; the deck movement is directly led into a carrier-landing tracking-phase guiding algorithm, so that the addition of a deck-movement compensator to a controller is avoided, the complexity of a flight control system is lowered, and the reliability of a carrier-landing system is improved.

A multifunction airborne radar device includes a plurality of transmit antenna modules and / or receive antenna modules that are fixed relative to the aircraft, placed substantially over the surface of the aircraft so as to form transmit and receive beams, enabling targets to be detected for implementing a sense-and-avoid function. The airborne radar device may also comprise processing means for tracking the detected targets and for generating information sent to an air traffic control centre and / or to a control device on board the aircraft. The processing device may also receive data relating to the aircraft, enabling the antenna beams to be adjusted and the tracking calculations to be refined.

A device, method and computer program product for locating aircraft with respect to airport runways and taxiways, determining if a conflict exists between an aircraft having operating the invention and another aircraft, and generating and annunciating conflict awareness advisories as a function of determining that a conflict exists.

Methods and systems scheduling and negotiating air traffic within an airspace surrounding an airport and scheduled to land at the airport. An air traffic control (ATC) system is used to monitor the altitudes, speeds and lateral routes of aircraft as they enter the airspace. The ATC system generates a scheduled time-of-arrival (STA) for each aircraft at one or more meter fix points associated with the airport, the STA for each aircraft is stored, and data is received or inferred with the ATC system for at least a first of the aircraft, including a minimum fuel-cost speed and predicted trajectory parameters of the first aircraft based on current values of its existing trajectory parameters. Auxiliary data, including earliest and latest estimated time-of-arrival ETAmin and ETAmax at the meter fix point, are generated for the first aircraft using the predicted trajectory parameters. The ATC system determines whether the STA of the first aircraft is in or outside an ETA range bounded by its ETAmin and ETAmax. Instructions are transmitted to the first aircraft to ensure its arrival at the meter fix point at the STA or the ETAmin of the first aircraft, and the STA is updated for each aircraft stored in the queue.

The invention relates to the field of monitoring the landing phase of an aircraft.The invention is a method making it possible to calculate and monitor the provisional landing distance and the configuration of the aircraft and flight parameters during the changes in the landing phase manoeuvre. The method consists in determining the landing runway then in analyzing the configuration and the dynamic parameters of the aeroplane, the meteorological and airport data in order to assess, from a performance database, whether the planned braking is suitable and will stop the aeroplane before the end of the runway.The result of the analysis gives rise, if the situation demands it, to appropriate visual and oral alarms.

Systems and methods of the present invention are provided to generate a plurality of flight trajectories that do not conflict with other aircraft in a local area. Interventions by an air traffic control system help prevent collisions between aircraft, but these interventions can also cause an aircraft to substantially deviate from the pilot's intended flight trajectory, which burns fuels, wastes time, etc. Systems and methods of the present invention can assign a standard avoidance interval to other aircraft in the area such that a pilot's aircraft does not receive an intervention by an air traffic control system. Systems and methods of the present invention also generate a plurality of conflict-free flight trajectories such that a pilot or an automated system may select the most desirable flight trajectory for fuel efficiency, speed, and other operational considerations, etc.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method for better conveying information to a pilot and / or other members of a flight crew present on the flight deck of an aircraft. Embodiments of the invention are of particular use in the briefings that precede various phases of the flight operations of an aircraft (such as start-up of the engines, take-off, ascent to cruise altitude, descent from cruise altitude and landing). The system and method provide a briefing output relevant to the particular phases of a flight in both of a visual form and an audio form, with the briefing output including data of most relevance to the particular flight phase.

A system and method of generating a landing trajectory for use in landing an aircraft onto a deck of a waterborne ship includes sensing motion of the ship, and sensing wind speed and wind direction. The sensed motion of the ship is processed to generate estimates of ship attitude and vertical speed, and the sensed wind speed and wind direction are processed to generate estimates of air-wake disturbances ahead of the aircraft. The landing trajectory is generated based on the estimates of ship attitude and vertical speed and the estimates of air-wake disturbances. The system and method implement model predictive control to calculate the control maneuvers multiple steps ahead, which provides the capability to smoothly control the timing of the aircraft touchdown phase.

Systems and methods to accurately display lateral deviation symbology in offset approaches to runways is provided. A system for on-aircraft display of lateral deviation symbology for use in offset approaches comprises means for generating a conformal video display representation of an aircraft's current position, means for notifying a flight crew of the existence of an offset approach, means for displaying an extended runway center line, and means for displaying an approach line.

The invention discloses a method for arranging a traffic pattern of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method comprises the following steps of: determining each waypoint of the traffic pattern according to factors such as the geographical position of an airport, the approach constant-level flying height H of a plane, the glide line angle lambda of the plane, a waypoint switching distance D and the like; and arranging a point 2 and a point 3 of the traffic pattern on the longitudinal central line of a runway, a point 4 on an elongation line along the direction of the point 2 and the point 3, a point 1 on an elongation line opposite to the direction of the point 2 and the point 3, a point 0 and a point 5 on the same side of the runway and a point 6 and a point 7 at an intersection position between the end line at the end point of the runway and the longitudinal central line of the runway so as to realize positive and negative landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle and obtain a high-accuracy runway direction angle. The method disclosed by the invention has the advantages of providing a solution for autonomous take-off and landing as well as positive and negative landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle, conditions for ground control during the take-off and landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle and basis for the high-accuracy calculation of a runway course angle and greatly improving the take-off and landing safety of the unmanned aerial vehicle, along with simple structure and easy realization.

A system and method for determining a predicted stopping performance of an aircraft moving on a runway. A predicted stopping force acting on the aircraft to stop the aircraft is determined by a processor unit as the aircraft is moving on the runway. A predicted deceleration of the aircraft moving on the runway is determined by the processor unit using the predicted stopping force acting on the aircraft to stop the aircraft. The predicted stopping performance of the aircraft on the runway is determined by the processor unit using the predicted deceleration of the aircraft.

A method and system for locating aircraft with respect to airport runways and taxiways, generating and annunciating situational awareness advisories as a function of aircraft state parameters relative to a determination of the aircraft location.

A system is provided for managing the inbound flow of aircraft to an airfield by ensuring that aircraft are sequenced before departure into an arrival stream. Sequencing uses operational data obtained from airlines and then provides a methodology for sharing this data with the air traffic control (ATC) agency. The outcome is a daily arrival schedule providing a predetermined operational arrival time for each aircraft movement. The operational data used by the system relates to airline punctuality, taxi times at departure airfields and actual flight times predicted on a flight-by-flight basis by airline flight planning systems. This information is combined to effect a predictive arrival time at a desired navigational fix. When used in conjunction with an optimised sequencing process for the final arrival time, the system then creates a Tactical Arrival Time (TAT) for an individual flight. Airlines share proportionally in a measure of departures from requested TATs, such measures being optionally weighted.