Touchscreen Cockpit Trajectory Simulation for Legacy Avionics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy aircraft cockpits lack the capability to provide advanced features like What-IF simulations due to limited hardware and graphical display capabilities, and introducing upgrades such as wireless gateways or software changes can be challenging and disruptive to existing systems.
Innovation Solution
A touchscreen controller system that communicates with avionics systems via existing interfaces, incorporating a data mining engine and flight plan and trajectory generating engine to compute and display theoretical flight trajectories without requiring hardware or software upgrades, allowing for advanced features like What-IF simulations without impacting other cockpit systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If advanced features like What-IF simulations are added to legacy cockpits through infrastructure upgrades (wireless gateways, wiring changes) and software upgrades, then the functionality and intelligence of the cockpit is improved, but the complexity of the system increases and certification requirements are triggered which may have a large impact on other cockpit systems
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into independent functional modules: a data collection module that interfaces with existing avionics systems through standard buses, a trajectory computation module that performs What-IF simulations, and a display module that presents results to the flight crew. This modular architecture allows advanced features to be added without integrating them into the core avionics systems, thus avoiding certification impacts on other cockpit systems while still providing enhanced functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If advanced features like What-IF simulations are added to legacy cockpits through infrastructure upgrades, then the intelligence and decision-making capability is improved, but the ease of operation is reduced due to the complexity of upgrades and certification processes
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary processing unit that sits between the existing avionics systems and the flight crew interface. This intermediary collects data through standard avionics buses, performs complex trajectory computations, and presents simplified results to the crew. This approach provides advanced intelligence without requiring direct modifications to existing systems, thereby maintaining ease of operation and avoiding complex certification processes.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of modifying existing MCDU hardware to provide What-IF simulation capabilities, the system creates a separate touchscreen-based interface that copies the essential data display functions while adding advanced simulation features. This allows the legacy MCDU to continue operating as before, maintaining ease of operation, while the new interface provides enhanced intelligence for decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for integrating flight crew decision aid applications in an aircraft cockpit includes a touch screen controller (TSC) that comprises a data mining engine configured to mine aircraft data from the already existing avionics interface and a flight plan and trajectory generating engine (FPTGE) configured to retrieve a trajectory request from a requesting flight crew decision aid application, compute one or more theoretical trajectories using the mined aircraft data, and transmit the one or more theoretical trajectories to the requesting flight crew decision aid application. The TSC also comprises a flight crew decision aid application configured to receive a flight crew request for simulated data from a touch screen user interface, generate and transmit one or more requested trajectory requests to the FPTGE, receive data from the one or more theoretical trajectories from the FPTGE, and display the requested simulated data on the touch screen user interface.