Flight Deck Display Zone of Protection for Ground Incursion Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft crew have limited situational awareness during ground maneuvers, increasing the risk of ground incursions due to difficulty in interpreting ADS-B information in tight, congested areas like holding areas and gate ramps, which can be hazardous and costly.
Innovation Solution
A flight deck display system that determines and visually represents a zone of protection around an aircraft using real-time data from the aircraft and airfield structures, providing image rendering commands to display envelopes that indicate potential encroachment zones, thereby reducing the workload and risk of incursions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ADS-B information is used to display aircraft position and altitude, then aircraft incursion prevention is improved, but interpretation difficulty increases in tight congested areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the protective zone into multiple segments: a first protective zone extending in the direction of movement and a second protective zone extending laterally from the first zone. This segmentation makes the complex spatial relationships in congested areas more manageable and interpretable for pilots.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from displaying only positional data to rendering three-dimensional protective zones that extend in multiple directions (forward, lateral, rearward). This dimensional expansion provides pilots with intuitive spatial awareness of safe zones and potential conflict areas.
2Reliability
If detailed aircraft information is displayed to improve situational awareness, then safety is improved, but display complexity and workload increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and displays only the most critical protective zone information needed for ground maneuver safety, separating it from other less critical flight data. This extraction reduces display clutter while maintaining essential situational awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The display system applies different visual properties to different zones: the first protective zone extends forward with specific visual characteristics, while the second protective zone extends laterally with different visual characteristics. This local differentiation helps pilots quickly understand spatial relationships without overwhelming detail.
3Reliability
If protective zones are displayed in multiple directions, then incursion detection is improved, but processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and displays protective zones based on current aircraft position, orientation, and dimensions before conflicts occur. This preliminary visualization allows pilots to proactively avoid incursions rather than react to warnings, reducing the need for complex real-time conflict resolution processing.
Data Source
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Figure 3
AI summary
An airborne processor (104) is linked to a ground-based, vehicle based, or satellite-based supplier of approaching aircraft data and/or terrain data, including airfield structures. The processor (104) also has access to the aircraft's state, e.g. position, speed, intended route, aircraft dimensional data, or the like. Algorithms (130) within the processor (104) calculate a zone of protection (312, 512, 612) about the aircraft in light of aircraft type, turning radius, and other identifying data. The processor (104) combines the present and estimated future positions of the aircraft (304, 504, 604) with the approaching aircraft (404, 704) and/or airfield structure (134) data, and creates an alert to the crew if a threat of a ground incursion(140) is detected. The display (112) provides a visual of the zone of protection (312, 512, 612) about the aircraft (304, 504, 604) and approaching aircraft (404, 704) and/or airfield structure (134) to draw the attention of the crew to the threat.