3D Airport Building Rendering for Pilot Obstacle Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft pilots face challenges navigating during night or adverse weather conditions, especially when unfamiliar with the area, due to difficulty in seeing obstacles like buildings, vehicles, and pedestrians, which existing navigation systems do not adequately address.
Innovation Solution
A ground navigation system that displays 3D buildings and objects during aircraft ground operations using a processing system, display device, communications system, and database, allowing for real-time rendering of airport maps with fixed or dynamic building heights and attributes to enhance visibility and reduce cognitive workload.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If traditional 2D navigation displays are used, then the system complexity is low, but the pilot's ability to detect obstacles in low-visibility conditions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms traditional 2D navigation displays into 3D volumetric displays that render buildings and obstacles with height information. This dimensional change allows pilots to perceive depth and vertical dimensions, improving obstacle detection in low-visibility conditions while managing the increased system complexity through structured data processing pipelines
2Measurement precision
If 3D building representations with variable heights are displayed, then the navigation accuracy is improved, but the data storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different height representations to different building types and locations based on local quality assessment. Not all buildings are rendered with full variable height data, but rather the height information is selectively applied where most relevant for navigation accuracy, reducing overall data storage requirements while maintaining precision where needed
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts building height parameters based on navigation context, pilot view angle, and obstacle relevance. By changing the height parameter dynamically rather than storing all possible height variations, the system achieves high navigation accuracy while minimizing data storage requirements
3Ease of operation
If detailed 3D graphical representations are rendered, then the pilot's cognitive workload is reduced, but the processing power requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the navigation display into multiple graphical elements representing different building types, obstacles, and environmental features. Each segment can be processed and rendered independently, allowing the system to distribute processing power across multiple manageable tasks rather than rendering a single complex 3D scene, thus reducing overall processing power requirements while maintaining ease of operation
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A methods, apparatus and system are provided for a vehicle with a ground navigational display. The system may include a display, a navigation system determining a location of the vehicle, a database storing a map including locations of buildings on the map and a processor. The processor may be configured to display the map on the display based upon the location of the vehicle, assign a fixed height to all of the buildings displayed on the display, and render the buildings displayed on the display in three-dimensions and having the assigned fixed height.