Flight Boundary Display for Pilot Situational Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft systems require significant pilot focus and attention during high-workload flight phases, particularly when navigating by instrument flight rules, as they lack effective situational awareness tools for decision heights, decision altitudes, and minimum descent altitudes, which can lead to increased risk of pilot error.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a display device, processors, and non-transitory machine-readable memory that generates a graphical representation of flight boundaries, including decision heights, decision altitudes, and minimum descent altitudes, displayed relative to the aircraft's current location, with adjustable cell sizes and aspect ratios to enhance situational awareness and reduce the risk of unintended boundary crossings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing aircraft systems are used to provide situational awareness during instrument approaches, then flight information is provided to the pilot, but the systems require significant pilot focus and attention during high-workload flight phases
Solution Approach 1:
The display is segmented into multiple regions including a flight information region, flight boundary region, and synthetic vision region. This segmentation allows different types of information to be presented in dedicated areas, reducing the cognitive load on pilots by organizing information spatially rather than requiring integrated interpretation of mixed data.
Solution Approach 2:
Flight boundaries are displayed as two-dimensional surfaces in a three-dimensional synthetic vision environment, allowing pilots to perceive altitude boundaries (such as decision height or minimum descent altitude) as spatial planes rather than abstract numerical values. This dimensional transformation enhances situational awareness by making boundary crossing visually apparent.
2Reliability
If traditional instrument approach procedures are used, then flight control is maintained, but the risk of pilot error increases due to lack of effective situational awareness tools for decision heights and minimum descent altitudes
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively displays flight boundary surfaces before the aircraft reaches critical altitudes, allowing pilots to anticipate and prepare for upcoming decision heights or minimum descent altitudes. This preliminary visual warning prevents inadvertent boundary crossings by providing advance notice of the upcoming constraint.
Solution Approach 2:
The synthetic vision system provides continuous visual feedback about the aircraft's proximity to flight boundaries by rendering the boundary surfaces at appropriate transparency levels. As the aircraft approaches a boundary, the visual representation maintains constant visibility, providing real-time feedback that helps pilots maintain situational awareness and make timely decisions.
3Loss of information
If detailed flight information is displayed during instrument approaches, then situational awareness is enhanced, but the display becomes obstructive and increases pilot workload
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the display are assigned different visual properties and information densities. The flight boundary surfaces are rendered with varying transparency based on their relevance to the current flight phase, while the synthetic vision background provides contextual terrain information. This local differentiation allows important information to stand out without requiring uniform high-detail presentation across the entire display.
Solution Approach 2:
The synthetic vision display serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides terrain awareness, displays flight boundaries, shows aircraft position, and indicates navigation cues. By integrating these functions into a single unified visual environment rather than separate displays, the system reduces overall display complexity while maintaining comprehensive situational awareness.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for assisting a pilot during flight of an aircraft are disclosed. The method includes receiving data indicative of a current location of the aircraft during flight and data indicative of a flight boundary, and determining that the flight boundary is relevant to the aircraft. The method also includes causing a display device to display a surface representing the flight boundary relative to the current location of the aircraft.