Airport Availability Display for Landing Decision Support

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Solution Overview

Problem

Pilots face cognitive overload when integrating diverse information sources for landing decisions, as they must manually correlate NOTAM messages with other data like METAR reports, lacking a comprehensive and intuitive display of airport availability and suitability.

Innovation Solution

An aircraft information display system that integrates and analyzes data from on-board and external sources, dynamically updating and visually distinguishing related information to facilitate intuitive decision-making during landing scenarios.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If pilots manually integrate information from multiple sources (NOTAM, METAR, airport data), then they can assess airport availability and suitability, but the cognitive burden and time required increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveairport availability assessment accuracyVSAvoidinformation integration complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system merges multiple information sources (NOTAM, METAR, airport data, runway status) into a single integrated display interface. Related information items are automatically linked and presented together, eliminating the need for pilots to manually search and correlate data from separate sources. This reduces cognitive burden while maintaining comprehensive assessment capability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that automatically correlates and contextualizes information from different sources. The display system acts as a mediator, automatically establishing relationships between NOTAM messages, weather reports, and airport data, thereby simplifying the information integration process for the pilot.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If pilots manually search and correlate information from multiple sources, then they can make informed landing decisions, but the time required for preparation increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvelanding decision accuracyVSAvoidlanding preparation time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary action by pre-correlating and pre-organizing information from multiple sources before the pilot needs to make a landing decision. Related information items are pre-linked and displayed in an integrated format, allowing the pilot to immediately access comprehensive information without time-consuming manual searching and correlation during critical decision-making periods.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Loss of information

If the display shows comprehensive airport information from multiple sources, then the completeness of landing assessment improves, but the difficulty of quickly visualizing and integrating information increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation completenessVSAvoidinformation visualization difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments comprehensive information into distinct, visually separated information items while maintaining their interrelationships. Related information is organized into structured groups with clear visual delimiters, allowing pilots to quickly scan and identify relevant data without being overwhelmed by the complexity of integrating all information manually. The segmentation maintains completeness while reducing visualization difficulty.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3333689B1Airport availability and suitability information display
Publication Date: 2021.07.14 HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC
  • EP3333689B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3333689B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3333689B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A system and method for an improved aircraft information display is provided. The provided embodiments integrate and analyze relevant data from on-board and external sources to render airport availability and suitability information on the aircraft information display. The airport availability and suitability information displayed on the aircraft information display incorporates links between related information, is intuitively arranged on the aircraft information display, and dynamically updates responsive to changes in data and to user interaction.