Primary Flight Display Sky Veil for Brown-Over-Brown Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing avionic display systems fail to effectively indicate the position of the sky relative to terrain in brown-over-brown display conditions, leading to pilot confusion and disorientation.
Innovation Solution
An avionic display system that renders a partially transparent sky veil on the primary flight display, allowing the terrain to be visible through transparent portions of the sky veil, with the veil's position varying based on the aircraft's roll angle, enhancing situational awareness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a sky veil is rendered on the primary flight display to indicate sky position, then pilot situational awareness is improved, but the display complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A sky veil is introduced as an intermediary graphical element between the terrain rendering and the pilot's visual perception. The sky veil acts as a mediator that indicates sky position without requiring actual sky rendering, thus improving situational awareness while maintaining display simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of rendering the actual sky, the system creates a simplified copy representation of the sky's position and extent through the sky veil graphic. This copy approach provides the necessary information about sky location without the complexity of rendering actual atmospheric conditions.
2Loss of information
If the sky veil is made partially transparent to allow terrain visibility, then the display provides more information, but the rendering complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sky veil is applied with varying transparency across different regions of the display. Areas overlapping with terrain use higher transparency to allow terrain visibility, while areas over water or open sky use lower transparency to maintain sky indication clarity. This local quality variation optimizes information delivery without requiring full-display complex rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The sky veil is rendered partially transparent rather than fully opaque or fully transparent, providing just enough information about sky position while allowing sufficient terrain visibility. This partial action approach balances information completeness with rendering simplicity.
3Measurement precision
If the sky veil position is dynamically adjusted based on aircraft attitude, then the display accurately reflects current flight conditions, but the control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sky veil position and orientation are dynamically adjusted based on real-time aircraft attitude data from the flight control system. This feedback mechanism ensures the sky veil accurately reflects current flight conditions, providing precise situational awareness without requiring complex manual control.
Solution Approach 2:
The sky veil transitions from a static graphic to a dynamic element that automatically adjusts its position, orientation, and transparency based on real-time aircraft attitude changes. This dynamic adaptation provides accurate display information while the automation reduces control complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3c
AI summary
An avionic display software for an aircraft (2) comprising: a display device (3) coupled to receive image rendering display commands and responsively display rendered images; a terrain data source (4) to output terrain data representative of terrain in a field of view of a pilot (13) of the aircraft (2); an avionic flight data source (10) to output avionic data representative of an avionic state of the aircraft (2), including a roll angle thereof; and computing resources (6) coupled to the terrain data source (4) to receive terrain data therefrom, to the avionic flight data source (10) to receive avionic data therefrom, and to the display device (3) to supply image rendering display commands thereto based on the received terrain and avionic data. The avionic display software is executable by the computing resources (6) to cause, when executed, the computing resources (6) to become programmed to cause rendered images representative of an out-the-window view of a pilot (13) of the aircraft (2) to be displayed by the display device (3). A rendered image comprises one or both of rendered terrain (RT) and rendered sky (RS), which are representative of real-world terrain and sky outside of the aircraft (2) and whose positions and orientations are dependent upon position and orientation of the aircraft (2) relative thereto. A rendered image further comprises a rendered sky veil (SV). The sky veil (SV) is an overlapping graphic representation rendered at least partially transparent in such a manner that (i) portions of the rendered sky veil (SV) that (eventually) overlap with the rendered sky (RS) are not discernable from the rendered sky (RS), and (ii) the rendered terrain (RT) is viewable through transparent portions of the sky veil (SV) that overlap with the rendered terrain (RT). The sky veil (SV) is rendered as a band stationary in the rendered image during roll of the aircraft (2). The sky veil (SV) is rendered at least partially transparent along its width (W) such that a width (WR, WL) of a transparent region of the sky veil (SV) depends on a roll angle of the aircraft (2).