Avionic Display Symbology for Aerial Firefighting Situational Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aerial firefighting operations face high risks due to compromised visibility and dynamic environmental conditions, with existing Enhanced Vision Systems (EVS) not adequately addressing the unique challenges and mental tasks encountered by pilots, leading to a demand for avionic display systems with enhanced functionalities to improve situational awareness and decision-making.
Innovation Solution
An avionic display system incorporating a thermal image sensor, such as an infrared camera or millimeter wave radar, and a controller that generates a fire map and avionic displays with symbology, including a fire alert envelope and escape route graphics, to provide pilots with real-time, contextual information on fire zones, thermal data, and potential escape routes, while adjusting alerts and graphics based on aircraft position and environmental factors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If thermal image sensors and fire map graphics are integrated into the avionic display system, then situational awareness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines thermal image sensor data, fire map graphics, sensor FOV symbology, and escape route information into a single integrated avionic display system. The controller merges these multiple information sources to present a unified situational display that improves pilot awareness while managing system complexity through integration rather than separate displays.
Solution Approach 2:
The avionic display system performs multiple functions: it displays thermal imagery, overlays fire map data, indicates sensor field of view, shows escape routes, and provides situational awareness enhancement. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate systems into a single universal display platform.
2Illumination intensity
If real-time thermal image data and fire map graphics are processed and displayed, then visibility is improved, but processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes and maintains fire map data structures in readiness, so that when thermal image data arrives in real-time, the graphics can be rapidly rendered and displayed. Escape routes and fire zone boundaries are pre-calculated and stored, enabling quick visualization without extensive real-time computation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses graphical representations and symbology (such as overlay graphics representing fire zones, escape routes, and sensor FOV) that are computationally efficient copies or abstractions of the actual complex thermal and environmental data, allowing rapid display update rates.
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 system enhances pilot situational awareness and decision-making by providing clear, real-time visualizations of fire zones and escape routes, reducing the risk of accidents and fatalities by improving visibility and navigation through dynamic and hazardous environments.
Implementation Method 1
The thermal image sensor can be an infrared camera, a millimeter wave radar device, or another sensor suitable for gathering thermal image data within a sensor Field of View (FOV) external to an aircraft (A/C)
Data Source
AI summary
Avionic display systems and methods are provided for generating avionic displays including aerial firefighting symbology, which enhance pilot situational awareness and decision during aerial firefighting operations. In an embodiment, the avionic display system includes an avionic display device, a thermal image sensor configured to detect thermal image data external to the aircraft, and a controller operably coupled to the avionic display device and to the thermal image sensor. During operation of the avionic display system, the controller compiles a fire map of a fire-affected area in proximity of the aircraft based, at least in part, on the thermal image data collected by the thermal image sensor. The controller further generates a first avionic display on the avionic display device including graphics representative of a field of view (FOV) of the thermal image sensor and portions of the fire map outside of the FOV of the thermal image sensor.