Lateral Guidance Processor for Terrain Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS) lack effective lateral guidance, which is crucial for avoiding terrain threats during flight, as they primarily focus on altitude-based warnings rather than providing specific turn angles to safely navigate around obstacles.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a navigation system, terrain database, airport database, and lateral guidance processor that determines minimum turn angles to avoid terrain threats by analyzing aircraft position, altitude, and flight phase, generating lateral guidance data to alert pilots of potential collisions and provide necessary turn instructions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If TAWS provides altitude-based terrain threat warnings, then pilot awareness of vertical terrain threats is improved, but lateral guidance to avoid terrain threats is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments terrain threat information into vertical components (altitude-based warnings) and lateral components (turn angles and directions). The lateral guidance processor separately calculates minimum left turn angles and minimum right turn angles, presenting this segmented information to pilots alongside traditional vertical warnings, thereby providing comprehensive both vertical and lateral avoidance guidance.
2Device complexity
If TAWS uses simple altitude comparison warnings, then system complexity is reduced, but the ability to provide specific lateral navigation guidance is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a lateral guidance processor as an intermediary component between the terrain database and the pilot interface. This processor receives terrain threat data, calculates minimum turn angles using geometric relationships, and presents processed lateral guidance information. This intermediary layer adds computational capability without significantly complicating the overall system architecture.
3Loss of information
If TAWS focuses on warning alerts only, then the system remains simple to implement, but pilots lack specific instructions for lateral terrain avoidance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent calculates minimum turn angles in advance before pilots need them. The lateral guidance processor continuously computes minimum left and right turn angles based on current aircraft position and terrain database, so that when terrain threats are detected, the guidance information is already prepared and immediately available to pilots without requiring complex real-time calculations during critical moments.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for generating lateral guidance image data and presenting information representative of the image data is disclosed. A system is disclosed for determining lateral guidance information based upon the elevation of terrain cells and a level of terrain threat associated with the elevation. A left or right turn angle, or both could be formed between a projected flight path and a vector extending to a tangent point of a terrain boundary to the left and right, respectively. The degree of angle could be determined for each, and lateral guidance image data based upon the boundary location of a level of terrain threat with respect to the projected flight path determined. A lateral processor provides an alert signal associated with the generation of the lateral guidance information and provide such signal to a crew visual and aural alerting system.