External Lighting Control for Obstacle-Focused Collision Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Many aircraft, particularly unconventional types like UAVs and UAM vehicles, lack advanced collision avoidance systems, increasing the risk of collisions in congested airspaces, necessitating improved obstacle detection and illumination systems.
Innovation Solution
An external lighting system that adjusts illumination characteristics and axis automatically based on contrast ratio and ranging data to highlight priority obstacles, enhancing visibility and situational awareness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If advanced collision avoidance systems are installed on unconventional aircraft, then collision detection capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (obstacle detection, illumination control, and visual alerting) into a single integrated system. The lighting system serves dual purposes: normal external illumination and collision avoidance alerting, eliminating the need for separate dedicated collision avoidance equipment on unconventional aircraft.
Solution Approach 2:
The external lighting system is designed to perform multiple functions: providing normal illumination during flight operations and serving as a collision avoidance alerting mechanism. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity while maintaining safety capabilities.
2Illumination intensity
If external lighting system illuminates all regions uniformly, then overall visibility is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system dynamically adjusts illumination distribution based on detected obstacle locations and flight phases. Instead of uniform illumination, light is concentrated on relevant regions (obstacles and surrounding areas), providing adequate visibility while minimizing energy consumption in non-critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The illumination characteristics are dynamically adjusted in real-time based on obstacle detection results, ranging data, and current flight phase. The system transitions between different illumination modes (e.g., normal operation vs. obstacle alerting) to optimize energy usage while maintaining safety.
3Measurement precision
If lighting system continuously monitors all directions, then obstacle detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring field is segmented based on current flight phase and identified obstacles. The system focuses analysis on relevant portions of the external environment rather than continuously processing all directions, reducing processing time while maintaining detection accuracy for critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses ranging data to pre-identify potential obstacle regions before detailed image analysis. This preliminary filtering based on distance and flight phase information reduces the amount of data requiring detailed processing, thereby reducing overall processing time while maintaining detection accuracy.
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 system dynamically adjusts lighting to improve visibility of high-priority obstacles, reducing collision risks by maintaining focus on relevant threats in real-time, adapting to changing flight phases and environments.
Implementation Method 1
obtain image data for a region external to the vehicle using an imaging system associated with the vehicle
Implementation Method 2
identifying an obstacle within the analysis portion of the image data based at least in part on ranging data for at least a portion of the analysis portion of the image data
Implementation Method 3
automatically adjusting an illumination axis associated with a lighting system to illuminate the obstacle
Data Source
AI summary
Vehicle systems and methods are provided for visually alerting a vehicle operator to a potential obstacle in the vicinity of a vehicle using an external lighting system associated with the vehicle. An exemplary method involves identifying an analysis portion of image data captured for a region external to the vehicle based at least in part on current status information associated with the vehicle, identifying an obstacle within the analysis portion of the image data based at least in part on ranging data for the analysis portion, and in response to identifying the obstacle, automatically adjusting an illumination axis associated with a lighting system to illuminate the obstacle, determining a current value for a contrast ratio associated with the obstacle relative to the analysis portion of the image data, and automatically adjusting one or more characteristics of the lighting system based at least in part on the current value.