Dual-Mode Aviation Formation Light Obstructing Infrared Emission
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Solution Overview
Problem
Military aircraft formation lights struggle to maintain stealth capabilities while providing effective navigational assistance, as existing stealth technologies obscure the visibility of adjacent aircraft's attitude and distance, making it difficult for pilots to determine orientation and proximity in formation flights, especially during covert operations.
Innovation Solution
A dual-mode aviation formation-light system featuring an array of dual-mode lighting elements that emit visible light for non-covert operations and infrared light for covert operations, with the visible-light elements obstructing specific portions of the infrared-light pattern to create a hemispherical illumination in non-covert mode and a sub-hemispherical pattern in covert mode, allowing formation aircraft to maintain visibility while minimizing ground detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If stealth technologies are applied to military aircraft, then the aircraft's visibility and detectability are reduced, but the ability of formation pilots to determine adjacent aircraft's attitude and distance is impaired
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system is segmented into two distinct functional components: visible-light elements for formation navigation and infrared-light elements for stealth operation. This segmentation allows the system to provide different types of information to different observers - formation pilots receive visible light signals for navigation, while enemy detection is prevented through infrared-only operation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different light emission properties to different spatial directions. The visible-light elements provide omnidirectional illumination for formation pilots, while the infrared-light elements provide directional illumination that is obscured from ground-based enemy detectors. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction between providing navigation information and maintaining stealth
2Loss of information
If visible light is emitted for formation navigation, then adjacent aircraft's attitude and distance are clearly visible, but the aircraft becomes detectable to enemy forces
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between visible-light and infrared-light emission modes based on operational requirements. During formation navigation phases, visible light is emitted to provide clear attitude and distance information. During stealth phases, the system transitions to infrared-only emission, eliminating visible light signals that would compromise stealth while maintaining navigation capability through infrared channels
3Object-affected harmful factors
If infrared light is emitted for stealth operations, then enemy detection is minimized, but the light pattern is obscured in certain directions reducing navigation utility
Solution Approach 1:
The visible-light elements serve as intermediaries that perform dual functions: they provide visible illumination for formation pilots while simultaneously acting as obscuring elements for infrared light in specific directions. This intermediary role of the visible-light elements resolves the contradiction by using one light type to both reveal information to friends and hide information from enemies
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 dual-mode system provides maximally-sized indicator signals to adjacent aircraft while preventing enemy awareness, ensuring effective directional and distance information for allied pilots without compromising stealth capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
a visible-light element configured to emit visible light so as to provide a visible-light illumination pattern substantially throughout a solid-angle hemisphere
Implementation Method 2
an infrared-light element configured to emit infrared light so as to provide an infrared-light illumination pattern substantially throughout the solid-angle hemisphere while simultaneously emitting substantially no visible light
Implementation Method 3
Each of the visible-light elements obstructs a common solid-angle shadowed portion of the infrared-light illumination pattern, thereby dividing the solid-angle hemisphere into a solid-angle illuminated portion and the solid-angle shadowed portion
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A dual-mode aviation formation-light system (102) has an array of paired visible-light and infrared-light elements (114). Each pair (114) can be commonly orientated such that, in a non-covert mode, a hemispherical light pattern is emitted by each visible-light element, while in a covert mode, a body of each visible-light element obstructs a solid-angle portion of infrared-light emitted from its paired infrared-light element and prevents transmission therethrough. In some embodiments, the body is substantially opaque to the infrared light. When affixed to a lateralfacing side of an aircraft body, the infrared-light obstruction can be directional. Directional obstruction can prevent an observer on a ground surface from detecting infrared-light emission from an aircraft in the sky above. An exemplary dual-mode aviation-formation lighting system (102) can provide both covert and non-covert lighting signals to adjacent aircraft, while advantageously obscuring ground directed infrared-light emission in a covert mode.