Aircraft Light-Camera Housing With Frame-Synced Glare Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft systems face challenges in combining taxi and landing lights with video cameras without interference, as the emitted light can cause glare and distortions in captured video information, especially when operating in different lighting modes.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that integrate a housing for both lighting components and video cameras, allowing the lighting to be controlled in synchronization with the camera's frame rate to reduce glare, enabling operation in taxi and landing lighting modes while capturing high-quality video information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the lighting component is operated continuously to provide illumination for taxi and landing modes, then the lighting function is improved, but glare and distortion in captured video information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting component is controlled to operate periodically by synchronizing its on/off cycles with the camera's frame rate. The light is turned on during periods when the camera is not capturing images and turned off during capture periods, creating a periodic action pattern that eliminates glare while maintaining lighting functionality when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-synchronizing the lighting control with the camera's frame rate before video capture begins. The lighting component is turned off in advance of each camera exposure event, ensuring that no light interference occurs during the actual video capture process.
2Measurement precision
If the lighting component is turned off during video capture to reduce glare, then video quality is improved, but the lighting mode operation is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting component operates in periodic cycles that alternate between on and off states, synchronized with the camera's frame rate. This allows the lighting to be off during video capture (improving quality) while being on during intervals between frames (maintaining operational lighting), thus resolving the contradiction between video quality and lighting operation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If separate housings are used for lighting components and video cameras, then interference between light and camera is avoided, but device complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the lighting component and video camera into a single integrated housing, eliminating the need for separate housings. The synchronization control mechanism allows both components to coexist in the same housing without interference, reducing device complexity and space requirements while maintaining functional performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated housing serves multiple functions by accommodating both the lighting component and video camera within a single structure. This multi-functional design reduces the number of separate components and simplifies the overall system architecture while the synchronization control ensures both functions operate without interference.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces light interference during video capture, allowing for improved video quality by controlling the lighting in sync with the camera's frame rate, supporting both taxi and landing operations without undue interference.
Implementation Method 1
controlling the lighting component to emit light in a manner that supports at least one particular lighting mode and that includes switching off or turning down the lighting component in synchrony with the particular frame rate
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods to combine lights and cameras are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may carry a housing that holds both a lighting component and a video camera; receive instructions to operate the lighting component in at least one of two different lighting modes, including a landing lighting mode and a taxi lighting mode; control the video camera to capture video information at a particular frame rate; and control the lighting component to emit light in a manner that supports at least one particular lighting mode and that includes switching off or turning down the lighting component in synchrony with the particular frame rate to reduce glare and/or otherwise improve the captured video information.