EFVS Image Integrity Verification for Aircraft Safety
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing Enhanced Flight Vision Systems (EFVS) in aircraft cockpits face challenges in ensuring the integrity of images acquired by the image acquisition system, leading to potential spatial and temporal offsets that can result in inappropriate piloting commands, especially during low-altitude approaches, thereby risking aircraft collisions.
Innovation Solution
The EFVS system associates ancillary information, such as time stamps or predefined patterns, with acquired images and checks their integrity; if integrity is compromised, the system deactivates the image display, forcing pilots to rely on alternative sources or procedures, ensuring safety by preventing incorrect piloting commands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the image acquisition system operates without integrity checking, then the system complexity and cost are reduced, but the reliability and safety of the EFVS system deteriorate due to potential spatial and temporal offsets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by implementing integrity checking mechanisms (time stamp verification and pattern recognition) before images are displayed to the pilot. The display system checks the integrity of received images by verifying time stamps or detecting predefined patterns, and only displays images that pass these checks. This prevents images with spatial or temporal offsets from reaching the pilot, thereby ensuring safety without requiring complete redesign of the image acquisition system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary integrity checking mechanism between the image acquisition system and the display system. This intermediary layer verifies image integrity through time stamp validation or pattern recognition, acting as a mediator that filters out compromised images before they can affect flight operations. This allows the image acquisition system to maintain its original design while still achieving high reliability through the added verification layer.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the EFVS system is used as the sole visual source for landing operations, then the aircraft can land in poor visibility conditions, but the risk of collision increases if image integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the display system continuously monitors the integrity of images received from the image acquisition system. Time stamp verification provides temporal feedback to ensure images are current and not delayed, while pattern recognition provides spatial feedback to detect offset errors. When integrity checks fail, the system immediately stops displaying affected images, providing real-time feedback that prevents pilots from acting on compromised visual information, thereby eliminating the collision risk while maintaining all-weather landing capability.
3Loss of information
If images with temporal offsets are displayed, then the pilot receives delayed visual information, but the system operation remains simple without integrity checking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by verifying time stamp integrity before displaying images to the pilot. The display system checks whether the time stamp on each received image indicates it is current and not delayed, and only displays images that pass this temporal verification. This preliminary time checking prevents temporal offsets from affecting the pilot's visual information while keeping the complexity addition minimal and focused solely on the time verification function.
Data Source
AI summary
The enhanced flight vision system of an aircraft comprises an image acquisition system provided to acquire images of an outside environment of the aircraft, and a display system configured to allow information to be displayed on a display unit overlayed with the outside environment of the aircraft. The display system is configured to receive images produced by the image acquisition system and to display these images on the display unit. The image acquisition system is configured to associate ancillary information with at least a part of the images produced and the display system is configured to check the integrity of an image received from the image acquisition system, based on the ancillary information associated with that image; and in the absence of integrity, deactivate the display on the display unit of at least the image received from the image acquisition system.