Avionics Timeline Display for Temporal Situational Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional avionics systems fail to provide pilots and crew with intuitive and comprehensive four-dimensional situational awareness, including temporal awareness, which is crucial for modern aircraft navigation involving time-sensitive events and waypoints.
Innovation Solution
An avionics display system that integrates a timeline display alongside primary flight displays, allowing for intuitive and interactive management of time-sensitive events, with a timeline split into an absolute time scale and a space scale, enabling pilots to visualize and manage time and distance relative to waypoints and events in real-time, and allowing for scrolling, zooming, and synchronization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional avionics systems display flight information, then basic navigation information is provided, but temporal awareness and four-dimensional situational awareness are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension to the traditional flight display by implementing a timeline display that shows events and waypoints along a time axis. This transforms the conventional two-dimensional spatial display into a four-dimensional display incorporating time, allowing pilots to visualize temporal awareness without completely replacing existing display systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The display system is segmented into multiple functional components: the traditional primary flight display and the overlaying timeline display. The timeline display is further divided into event markers, waypoint indicators, and time scale elements. This segmentation allows temporal information to be added without overwhelming the pilot with a completely new complex interface.
2Loss of information
If a timeline display is added to provide temporal awareness, then situational awareness is enhanced, but the display becomes more complex and may interfere with primary flight displays
Solution Approach 1:
The timeline display utilizes the vertical dimension of the display screen to represent time progression, allowing temporal information to be displayed without occupying horizontal space needed for primary flight information. This dimensional approach maintains display simplicity while adding temporal awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The timeline display is positioned in a specific local area of the display (typically the side or corner) rather than occupying the entire display area. This localized placement ensures that temporal information is accessible without interfering with the primary flight display information in the central viewing area.
3Measurement precision
If the timeline display shows a fixed time window, then current time information is clear, but future and past time reference information is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The timeline display implements dynamic time window adjustment where the displayed time range can be automatically updated based on flight progress or manually adjusted by the pilot. The time window expands and contracts to show different time scales, allowing both precise current time display and broader future/past time reference information.
Solution Approach 2:
The timeline display serves multiple functions: it shows current time with precision, displays future events and waypoints, reviews past flight progress, and allows different time scaling views. This multi-functionality is achieved through a single integrated timeline component that adapts to different informational needs.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system for flight and task management timeline display is disclosed. In embodiments, the timeline display (102) is positioned on an edge (104) of a primary flight display (PFD) or other avionics display (100), divided lengthwise into time (e.g., absolute time) and space (e.g., relative time and distance) scales. The timeline display (102) expands situational awareness into the temporal dimension by positioning waypoints (214) in the flight path based on the relative time to passage or flyover. The time scale (110) corresponds to an adjustable time range and automatically scrolls lengthwise according to the current time, but can be manually zoomed or scrolled in past and future directions as well. Based on updates from the flight management system (FMS), the space scale (112) displays relative time-distanced events, notifications for reminders and tasks, and waypoints (214) positioned according to the likely times they will be encountered (or, in the case of reminders and tasks, must be fulfilled).