Flight Management System Alert Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current flight management systems lack an integrated alerting system that effectively notifies pilots of deviations from flight plans without disrupting the primary flight display, potentially leading to delayed response times in critical situations.
Innovation Solution
A flight management system that includes a processor-executable code to receive flight plan and aircraft status information, generate alerts for deviations, and provide user interface controls for pilots to view and modify the flight plan, integrated with a display system to present alerts within the existing flight display without changing its content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an integrated alerting system is added to notify pilots of flight plan deviations, then pilot awareness and response times are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the alerting system with the existing flight management system and display system into an integrated architecture. The alert generation module receives flight plan information and aircraft status information, compares them, and generates alerts that are displayed through the existing display system, merging multiple functions into a unified system that improves reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The display system serves multiple functions: it displays flight plan information, aircraft status information, and alert information simultaneously. The user interface provides multiple interaction modes allowing pilots to view additional information and modify flight plans through the same interface, reducing the need for separate dedicated systems.
2Reliability
If alerts are displayed on the flight display, then pilot awareness is improved, but the primary flight display content may be disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent displays alerts in specific designated areas of the display system rather than overwhelming the entire display. Different types of information (flight plan, status, alerts) are presented in differentiated regions with distinct visual characteristics, allowing pilots to quickly locate and process alert information without being distracted from primary flight display content.
Solution Approach 2:
The display system is segmented into multiple functional areas: flight plan display portion, aircraft status display portion, and alert display portion. This segmentation allows each type of information to be presented independently and simultaneously, enabling pilots to monitor multiple parameters without information overlap or disruption.
3Ease of operation
If pilots are provided with interactive controls to view additional information and modify flight plans, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface is designed to be dynamic and adaptive, changing its presentation based on the current situation and pilot interactions. The system provides different interaction modes that can be activated as needed, allowing the interface complexity to increase only when required for specific operations while maintaining simplicity for routine monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The flight management system acts as an intermediary between the pilot and the complex aircraft systems. It provides a simplified user interface that mediates pilot inputs and translates them into appropriate system commands, shielding pilots from underlying system complexity while maintaining full functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A flight management system includes a display for displaying a user interface and a processor coupled with the display and configured to receive flight plan information regarding a flight plan of an aircraft and aircraft status information from an aircraft monitoring system. The processor generates an alert indicating a deviation from the flight plan based on a comparison of the aircraft status information to the flight plan information, and provides the alert on a portion of the user interface displaying information indicative of the aircraft status information. The alert provides one or more user interface controls configured to enable a pilot to interact with the portion of the user interface displaying the information indicative of the aircraft status information to at least one of view additional information regarding the difference between the status information and the flight plan information and modify the flight plan of the aircraft.