Aircraft Cabin Imaging System for Obstructed Sightline Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Cabin crew's direct visual contact with the cabin and aisles is obstructed by partitions and bulkheads during taxi, takeoff, and landing procedures, hindering their ability to monitor passenger safety and execute emergency evacuations effectively, especially in aircraft with enhanced privacy seating and additional partitions.
Innovation Solution
An integrated imaging system with cameras mounted within the cabin, processing image streams to provide enhanced views on mobile and fixed devices, allowing crew to access obstructed areas and receive real-time data, overcoming physical sightline limitations and enhancing visibility across the aircraft.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If partitions and bulkheads are added to create enhanced privacy zones and additional seating classes, then passenger comfort and privacy are improved, but cabin crew's direct visual contact with the cabin and aisles is obstructed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses cameras to create visual copies of the cabin areas that are obstructed from direct view. Multiple cameras capture images of passenger seats, aisles, and cabin areas, transmitting these visual copies to crew members' mobile devices, allowing them to monitor regions that physical partitions block from direct line-of-sight
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary imaging system between the crew members and the obstructed cabin areas. Cameras and image processing systems act as mediators, capturing and relaying visual information from behind partitions to crew members, bypassing the physical obstruction created by bulkheads and privacy screens
2Illumination intensity
If crew members are positioned at the front of the cabin to maximize direct view, then visibility of the cabin and aisles is improved, but enhanced privacy seating positioned directly aft obstructs their sightlines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional direct line-of-sight viewing to multi-dimensional visual access through the imaging system. Cameras positioned at various locations capture images from different angles and dimensions, allowing crew members to view areas that would be blocked in a direct line-of-sight configuration, effectively adding spatial dimensions to the monitoring capability
3Quantity of substance
If additional partitions are installed to separate economy and premium classes, then revenue-generating seating capacity is improved, but direct view requirements for cabin safety monitoring are frustrated
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system creates visual copies of all cabin areas including those separated by partitions. Cameras capture and transmit images of economy class, premium class, and aisle areas to crew members, ensuring that safety monitoring reliability is maintained despite the physical separations created by additional partitions for increased seating capacity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
An integrated imaging system (100a-d) for a connected aircraft (114) includes cameras (102, 104, 106) mounted within the passenger cabin and other interior and exterior areas of the aircraft (114). Each camera (102, 104, 106) may have a particular field of view (FOV) which may include one or more defined zones (108, 110, 112) within the aircraft (114). Each camera (102, 104, 106) may capture an image stream including direct views of passengers (118) and/or seating within the camera's FOV. The system (100a-d) includes image processors (140) for receiving the raw image streams and assembling enhanced image streams, e.g., by stitching together or composing image streams from within the same zone (108, 110, 112) or from different zones (108, 110, 112), or by overlaying the image streams with relevant environmental data. The enhanced or composite image streams may be wirelessly sent to fixed-mount (124) or mobile (128) display devices (e.g., tablets, smartphones) for viewing by cabin crew (116), who may scroll through or select different views of the aircraft (114) via the display devices (124, 128).