Aircraft Interactive Interface for Faulty Control Status Display

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing aircraft display systems fail to provide clear indications of which controls remain operational during abnormal events, leading to increased workload and confusion for flight crews.

Innovation Solution

An interactive interface is generated on the aircraft display to indicate the status of actuatable switches, using visual representations such as color codes or icons to distinguish between functional and faulty controls.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If electronic flight instrument systems provide comprehensive information about aircraft systems, then system monitoring capability is improved, but information management complexity increases for flight crews during abnormal events

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem monitoring capabilityVSAvoidinformation management complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the comprehensive aircraft system information into organized electronic checklists that are displayed on the MFD. During abnormal events, the system divides the plethora of information into structured, manageable sections that guide flight crews through specific procedures step-by-step, reducing the cognitive load of managing complex information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that automatically filters, prioritizes, and organizes system information into actionable checklist items. This intermediary function translates raw system data into structured guidance, reducing the complexity flight crews experience when managing information during abnormal events.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If electronic checklists are provided to assist flight crews during abnormal events, then operational guidance is improved, but workload increases due to additional information processing

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveoperational guidanceVSAvoidworkload time
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system prepares and pre-organizes checklist information in advance based on predicted abnormal scenarios. When an abnormal event occurs, the relevant checklist is already structured and ready for immediate display, eliminating the time required for flight crews to manually organize information and reducing overall workload time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If aircraft systems are marked as unavailable during abnormal events, then safety is improved by preventing use of faulty systems, but operational flexibility decreases as functional systems become inaccessible

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovesafetyVSAvoidoperational flexibility
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies local quality differentiation by marking only the specific defective components or subsystems as unavailable, while leaving other functional systems and controls accessible. This localized approach maintains safety by preventing use of faulty elements while preserving operational flexibility allowing flight crews to utilize remaining functional systems.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP3729043B1Method of and apparatus for displaying an interactive interface during aircraft abnormal event
Publication Date: 2025.12.10 BOMBARDIER INC
  • EP3729043B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3729043B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3729043B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A method and apparatus for generating an interactive interface on a display of an aircraft comprising: determining that an aircraft system has a faulty condition, the aircraft system comprising a plurality of system functions, the system functions being independently 5 actuatable, the determining comprising: generating an indication of which one of the system functions is associated with the faulty condition; generating the interactive interface, the interactive interface comprising a visual representation of a control panel, the control panel comprising a plurality of actuatable switches, each one of the actuatable switches being associated with a corresponding one of the system functions, the generating comprising: 0 determining, based on the indication, which one of the actuatable switches is to be associated with a visual faulty status, and displaying, on the display, the interactive interface comprising the visual faulty status.