Aircraft External Environment Visualization System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing human-machine interfaces in aircraft limit the pilot's field of vision outside the aircraft, making it difficult to obtain a complete view of the environment, especially in situations like navigating near obstacles or with rotating aircraft designs.
Innovation Solution
A visualization and management system that includes image capture devices outside the aircraft, a calculator, reception devices, and visualization devices integrated into the cockpit and pilot's helmet, allowing for a comprehensive display of the aircraft's environment, including a surveillance area and a center of interest, with the ability to focus on specific points of interest.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a traditional human-machine interface is used in the aircraft cockpit, then the pilot can access flight information, but the field of vision towards the external environment is limited and reduced by structural elements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces cameras as intermediary devices mounted on the aircraft exterior to capture the external environment. These cameras transmit video feeds to display devices inside the cockpit, serving as a mediator between the pilot's limited direct vision and the need for comprehensive environmental awareness. The camera system overcomes the blocking effect of structural elements by positioning sensors outside the aircraft's structural envelope.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates visual copies of the external environment through camera captures and displays these copies on screens or heads-up displays within the cockpit. Instead of requiring the pilot to physically move or remove structural obstacles to see the environment, the system generates accurate visual replicas that can be viewed from any position in the cockpit, effectively copying the external scene for internal consumption.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the aircraft uses a rotary wing design that can move in all directions, then the aircraft gains versatility in movement, but the pilot's direct vision towards the rear and surrounding environment becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from direct line-of-sight vision (two-dimensional plane) to multi-dimensional environmental awareness by positioning cameras at multiple locations around the aircraft (front, rear, sides, top, bottom). This creates a three-dimensional surveillance volume that comprehensively covers all directions of movement, allowing the pilot to maintain awareness regardless of which way the aircraft is oriented or moving.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera system is designed to serve multiple functions simultaneously: it provides forward vision, rearward vision, lateral awareness, and vertical orientation information through a single integrated system. The same camera network supports all phases of flight and all directions of movement, making the vision system universally applicable to the aircraft's full range of motion capabilities.
3Ease of operation
If multiple screens are used to display the aircraft environment (dashboard screen and helmet screen), then the pilot can view the environment from different perspectives, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the display function into two distinct segments: a dashboard-mounted screen for comprehensive tactical/strategic overview and a helmet-mounted display for focused first-person perspective. Each display device serves a specific operational need with optimized characteristics, allowing the pilot to switch between different viewing modes depending on the task at hand, rather than attempting to combine all functions in a single complex display.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a method and system for visualizing and managing the environment of an aircraft (1). Such a system comprises a first visualization device (14), several cameras covering the external environment around the aircraft (1), a helmet worn by an occupant (2) and comprising a second visualization device (21), and at least one sensor measuring the position and orientation of said helmet. This system enables the determination (110) of a surveillance zone in the environment of said aircraft (1), and then the display (120) of a first image representing said surveillance zone on said first visualization device (14). Next, a point of interest is selected (130) within said surveillance zone, followed by the display (140) of a second image representing said point of interest on said second visualization device (21).Finally, the display (150) of a sighting marker indicating said center of interest is carried out.