Cabin Navigation Platform Using Localized Lighting Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Passengers and crew members in crowded and unfamiliar aircraft cabins face challenges in navigating to their destinations due to dim lighting and lack of effective navigation aids in existing applications.
Innovation Solution
A computing system that leverages on-board servers and wireless communication devices to provide visual, audial, and haptic navigation aids by activating lighting and display devices based on the user's navigation intent, current location, and destination, using techniques like wireless location and biometric inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If existing applications only provide electronic boarding passes with seat numbers, then device complexity remains low, but navigation effectiveness and ease of operation deteriorate due to lack of guidance in crowded, unfamiliar environments
Solution Approach 1:
The navigation system is segmented into multiple independent components: location determination module, path computation module, and guidance provision module. Each component performs a specific function and can operate independently, allowing the system to provide comprehensive navigation without requiring a single complex device to handle all functions simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The system integrates multiple functions into a unified navigation platform that can provide location tracking, path computation, and various guidance methods (visual, auditory, haptic). This multi-functional approach allows a single system to replace multiple separate tools, improving ease of operation while managing complexity through integrated design.
2Illumination intensity
If lighting and display devices are activated throughout the cabin, then visibility and navigation effectiveness improve, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly illuminating the entire cabin, the system activates lighting and display devices locally along the specific path from the user's current location to their destination. This localized approach provides necessary visibility for navigation while minimizing energy consumption by leaving other areas in darkness.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting and display devices are activated periodically or intermittently along the navigation path rather than continuously throughout the cabin. This periodic activation provides sufficient visual guidance for the user while significantly reducing overall energy consumption compared to continuous illumination.
3Ease of operation
If comprehensive navigation guidance is provided, then navigation effectiveness improves, but device complexity and system requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system leverages existing technological capabilities already present in modern aircraft cabins, such as wireless communication devices, location determination systems, and display devices. By utilizing these existing components, the system provides comprehensive navigation guidance without requiring entirely new hardware, thus managing system complexity while maintaining high guidance quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a computing device that acts as an intermediary between the user and the aircraft's existing systems. This intermediary processes navigation requests, determines locations, computes paths, and coordinates activation of various guidance devices, thereby providing comprehensive navigation functionality while abstracting the complexity from the user.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described to provide navigational guidance to persons within crowded and unfamiliar environments such as aircraft cabins, stadiums, and theaters. An “activation arrangement” may be created to dynamically activate various lighting devices, personal electronic devices, and/or other devices to usher the person from a current location to a destination, such as a seat, entranceway, or lavatory. These techniques may be customized based upon existing conditions within the environment and/or based upon user-personalized settings to improve the comfort of persons in these environments.