Airborne Docking Guidance for Low-Visibility Gate Parking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Visual Docking Guidance Systems (VDGS) are inadequate in low visibility conditions and costly, with high maintenance requirements, posing challenges for aircraft pilots navigating to and parking at airport gates.
Innovation Solution
An airport docking guidance system comprising a ground-based subsystem and an aircraft-based subsystem, utilizing airport gate databases, position error receiving systems, and processing systems to determine and display aircraft position and heading deviations, enabling precise docking guidance without per-gate costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If Visual Docking Guidance System (VDGS) is used to provide visual indications and direction cues to pilots, then docking guidance capability is improved, but reliability deteriorates in low visibility conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the optical/visual-based VDGS with an electronic navigation system using electronic displays (NDH, HFD, VSD) that present navigation information in multiple formats (arrows, bars, numerical data) independent of external visual conditions. This substitution of visual-mechanical indication with electronic information processing ensures reliable operation in low visibility conditions.
2Measurement precision
If VDGS is installed at each airport gate to provide localized guidance, then docking precision is improved, but cost deteriorates due to per-gate installation requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal navigation system that can serve multiple gates simultaneously through a single aircraft-based system. The electronic navigation display system provides guidance for docking at any gate by processing position data and presenting appropriate navigation cues, eliminating the need for separate installations at each gate while maintaining docking precision.
3Ease of operation
If traditional VDGS with sensors and large display devices is deployed at each gate, then visual guidance is provided, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the guidance functionality from the ground-based VDGS infrastructure and relocates it to the aircraft-based electronic navigation system. By taking out the complex sensor arrays and large display devices from each gate and replacing them with compact electronic processors and displays within the aircraft, the system provides equivalent or superior guidance with reduced overall complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for providing airport docking guidance for an aircraft includes supplying, from an airport gate database, airport gate data parking data indicative of gate position points and a gate aircraft parking headings. Aircraft data is supplied from an aircraft data source. Position error data is supplied from a position error receiving system. Airport gate data for one airport gate is retrieved. A processing system processes the aircraft data and the position error data to determine, for the one airport gate, an aircraft position point, an aircraft position deviation, and an aircraft heading deviation. The position error data may be supplied from a ground-based position error transmission system that at least selectively determines, from airport gate data and a ground-based position measurement system, the position error data and transmits the position error data.