Aircraft Vision System Synthetic Element Representation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Combined Vision Systems (CVS) for aircraft face challenges in readability and interpretation, particularly in critical phases like landing and take-off, due to dependence on sensor image quality and frequency, leading to jerky displays and poor identification of elements of interest like runways in adverse weather.
Innovation Solution
A method for synthetic representation of elements of interest that dynamically adjusts based on sensor recognition, using a sequence of images to detect and display elements of interest in three-dimensional digital images, with distinct representations for detected and undetected elements, ensuring accurate positioning and differentiation through color, style, or symbol changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If sensor images are displayed directly to provide real-time visual information, then information availability is improved, but image quality and readability deteriorate in adverse weather conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges sensor-derived information with pre-stored high-quality cartographic data to create a composite display. The synthesis unit combines the spatial position and identification data from sensor processing with the detailed visual representation from cartographic databases, producing an enhanced image that maintains both information accuracy and visual quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary synthesis unit that mediates between raw sensor data and the final display. This synthesis unit processes sensor information, matches it with cartographic data, and generates an enhanced representation that eliminates the direct display of poor-quality sensor images while preserving their informational content.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If sensor images are used to detect elements of interest, then detection capability is improved, but display stability deteriorates due to image generation frequency limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-storing high-resolution cartographic images and element of interest data in databases before flight. During operation, the system retrieves and overlays this pre-prepared data with real-time sensor position information, eliminating the need to generate displays from raw sensor images at high frequency and thus preventing display stuttering.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic display update mechanism where the synthesis unit continuously refreshes the enhanced image by integrating new sensor position data with the stored cartographic framework. This allows the display to remain stable and continuous while still reflecting real-time changes in aircraft position and detected elements.
3Loss of information
If all sensor information is displayed simultaneously with synthetic image, then information completeness is improved, but readability and interpretation difficulty worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential informational elements from sensor data (spatial position and element identification) and separates them from the raw sensor imagery. This extracted information is then integrated with cartographic data, eliminating the visual clutter of raw sensor images while preserving the critical information needed for situational awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by displaying different types of information with appropriate visual characteristics. The synthesis unit enhances specific elements of interest with distinctive visual properties while maintaining the overall cartographic context, allowing pilots to easily distinguish between different types of information (terrain, runways, obstacles, aircraft position) without uniform visual treatment.
Data Source
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AI summary
The general field of the invention is that of synthetic representation methods for elements of interest in an aircraft visualization system, said visualization system comprising location sensors (1), cartographic databases (2) and databases of elements of interest (3), an image sensor (4), an image processing unit (5) and a generation unit (6) of three-dimensional digital images representative of the terrain flown over and a visualization device (7), characterized in that, when the terrain flown over includes an element of interest, said synthetic representation method comprises: - a first step (11, 12, 13, 14) of searching for and detecting said element of interest in each image of a sequence of images, and;- a second step (15, 16, 17) of generating three-dimensional digital images representative of the terrain flown over, the element of interest being represented according to a first representation if it has not been detected in any of the images in the image sequence and according to a second representation if it is detected.;