GPU-Accelerated Radar Return Scrubbing for Airspace Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in accurately and efficiently processing and rendering large numbers of airspace radar returns, particularly in identifying and classifying objects in real-time, due to computational bottlenecks and discontinuous rendering issues.
Innovation Solution
A high-speed scrubbing system utilizing a data processing system with CPUs and GPUs to reorganize and render airspace radar returns in a continuous, interactive manner, allowing operators to navigate through time windows smoothly, thereby improving computing performance and reducing resource utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional CPU-based processing is used to render airspace radar returns, then system complexity is reduced, but rendering speed and interactivity deteriorate when handling tens of thousands of radar returns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the rendering workload by separating CPU and GPU responsibilities. The CPU handles data management and control logic, while the GPU handles parallel rendering of radar return points. This segmentation enables the system to process tens of thousands of radar returns at high speed without overwhelming either component, resolving the contradiction between rendering speed and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional CPU-based sequential processing to GPU-based parallel processing, effectively moving the computational workload to a different processing dimension. The GPU's ability to handle thousands of concurrent rendering operations simultaneously provides the dimensionality change needed to achieve high rendering speeds while maintaining manageable system complexity through specialized hardware acceleration.
2Reliability
If all radar return data is rendered continuously, then data completeness is improved, but system performance and responsiveness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and filters only the necessary radar return data for display based on spatial and temporal criteria. Rather than rendering all accumulated radar returns, the system selectively processes points within the current time window and spatial viewport. This extraction approach maintains data completeness for analysis while improving system performance by reducing the rendering workload to only visible and relevant data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial rendering by processing only the subset of radar returns that fall within the current display parameters rather than all historical data. This partial action approach ensures that the system maintains responsiveness and high performance while still providing complete and accurate representation of the relevant airspace situation.
3Measurement precision
If rendering resolution and detail are increased, then target detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and resource utilization worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by rendering radar returns with high precision only in regions of interest or where targets are detected, while using lower resolution for background or empty areas. This approach maintains high target detection accuracy in critical regions while reducing overall processing time and resource utilization by not uniformly applying maximum rendering detail across the entire display area.
Data Source
AI summary
High speed scrubbing of airspace radar returns is provided. A system can include a central processing unit (“CPU”) and a graphical processing unit (“GPU”). The CPU loads time-ordered airspace radar return data that includes radar returns each encoded as an object with location information, time information, and property information. The GPU generates arrays including the location information, the time information, and the property information reorganized into a location array, a time array, and a property-based array. The GPU receives an indication to scrub a display of at least a portion of the airspace radar return data to a time window prior to a current display time or subsequent to the current display time. The GPU retrieves, from the arrays, a location entry and a property-based entry that satisfy the time window. The GPU renders frames with pixels corresponding to the location entry, the time entry, and the property-based entry.