Flight Display Tape With Dynamic Non-Linear Scale Transitions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cockpit primary flight displays face challenges in providing comprehensive situational awareness by compromising between scale range, resolution, and display legibility, particularly in aircraft altitude and airspeed displays, due to the static nature of their scales, which limits the visibility of critical information and requires trade-offs.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a hybrid dynamic non-linear display system that incorporates central linear zones, end-point anchors, scale gradients, and Cubic Spline or Bezier algorithms to create a display that dynamically adjusts tick-marks and captions, ensuring optimal visibility and resolution across varying parameter ranges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a static linear scale is used in tape displays, then the display mechanism is simple, but the scale range and resolution cannot be optimized simultaneously, forcing a compromise between these parameters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic scale system where the tape display automatically adjusts its scale range and resolution based on the current parameter value. The scale transitions from static to dynamic, allowing the display to optimize resolution in the current viewing range while expanding the overall scale range, eliminating the need to compromise between these parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of scale range dynamically. When the parameter value approaches the scale limits, the system automatically adjusts the scale range and resolution parameters, transforming the fixed scale into an adaptive one that maintains optimal measurement precision across the entire operating range.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the scale range is expanded to cover the full operating envelope, then the display covers more parameter ranges, but the resolution decreases and critical information becomes less visible
Solution Approach 1:
The tape display implements dynamic scaling where the scale range expands or contracts based on the current parameter value. This allows the display to maintain full adaptability across the operating envelope while preserving high resolution in the current viewing range, as the scale adjusts dynamically rather than being fixed at a compromised setting.
Solution Approach 2:
The scale is segmented into multiple regions with different resolutions. The current viewing range maintains high resolution for critical information, while other regions have reduced resolution. This segmentation allows the display to provide detailed information where needed while still covering the full parameter range.
3Measurement precision
If the scale resolution is increased to provide detailed information, then the measurement precision improves, but the scale range must be reduced, limiting the visible parameter envelope
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the scale resolution based on the current parameter value. When high precision is needed, the scale focuses on a narrower range with higher resolution. When the parameter value moves, the high-resolution window follows, maintaining both precision and adaptability across the full operating envelope.
4Loss of information
If predictive information is added to provide Level 3 situational awareness, then the strategic capability improves, but the scale values are often parked off-scale due to limited range, compromising the display
Solution Approach 1:
The predictive information display benefits from the dynamic scale range. As the scale automatically expands when predictive values approach the limits, the forecasted parameter values remain visible within the scale range, preventing them from being parked off-scale and maintaining both information completeness and legibility.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic instrument system is described herein. The electronic instrument system includes a display device including a graphical user interface (GUI) display screen displaying computer-generated images thereon and a controller operably coupled to the display device. The controller includes one or more processors programmed to execute an algorithm to display an animated sequence of computer-generated images on the GUI display screen including the steps of receiving a current parameter value and rendering a parameter display screen on the GUI display screen including a hybrid dynamic non-linear display displaying the current parameter value. The one or more processors render the hybrid dynamic non-linear display including a parameter display tape including a linear scale region displayed between a first non-linear scale region and a second non-linear scale region along a scale axis.