Onboard Database Decluttering for Aircraft Navigation Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for displaying geostationary data on aircraft screens with varying resolutions are inefficient, requiring significant computing power and often result in illegible or unusable displays due to high information density, leading to potential system crashes.
Innovation Solution
A method that precalculates display simplification attributes for each data item during database production, allowing only the most pertinent elements to be displayed at each resolution, using a Cartesian grid to determine relevance and offsetting edge effects, thereby reducing computational load and maintaining system availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If real-time decluttering algorithms are used to simplify display, then display legibility is improved, but computing power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by precalculating and storing simplification attributes for all data items during database production. This allows the onboard computer to simply retrieve and apply pre-computed attributes during display, rather than performing complex real-time decluttering calculations, thus significantly reducing computing power consumption while maintaining display legibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the display simplification process into two phases: a offline precalculation phase during database production where complex decluttering algorithms process data items individually, and an online execution phase during flight where the system simply retrieves pre-computed attributes. This segmentation moves computational burden from runtime to setup time, resolving the contradiction between display quality and computing resource consumption.
2Measurement precision
If real-time decluttering algorithms are used to simplify display, then display quality is improved, but system availability decreases due to computer unavailability
Solution Approach 1:
By performing all complex decluttering calculations during database production, the system ensures that the onboard computer is free and available during actual flight operations. The precomputed attributes are stored with the database and can be applied instantly without consuming computational resources, thus maintaining system availability while preserving display quality.
3Loss of information
If density of information to be displayed is not limited, then information completeness is improved, but computing time becomes unpredictable and system may crash
Solution Approach 1:
The system precomputes and stores simplification attributes that encode the necessary information about which elements should be displayed at each resolution level. During execution, the system simply retrieves these pre-determined attributes and applies them, avoiding the need for real-time density analysis. This eliminates unpredictable computing time variations and prevents crashes while maintaining information completeness through the pre-computed attribute sets.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is situated in the field of displaying on board an aircraft geostationary elements of the navigation database on a screen having different display resolutions for the purpose of this data display, and its subject is a method for simplifying the display of stationary elements of this onboard database. This method is characterized in that it consists in precalculating a “decluttering” during the process of producing the onboard database by meshing the Earth with a Cartesian grid oriented along the latitudes and longitudes of the Earth, and by allowing only the most pertinent obstacle to appear in each rectangle of this grid.