Optical Docking Guidance System for Aircraft Taxiing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial aircraft accidents and incidents during ground operations, particularly during taxiing, result in significant costs and lost opportunities due to collisions with objects that are outside the pilot's field of view, such as wingtips and engines.
Innovation Solution
An optical docking guidance system equipped with a camera and digital processor that provides alignment and obstacle detection metrics by identifying pixel coordinates of alignment fiducials and projecting structured light to calculate the range and location of objects, alerting pilots to potential collisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the pilot remains positioned in the central cockpit, then the cockpit structure remains simple and the pilot has good visibility of objects directly in front, but the pilot cannot detect obstacles near the wingtips and engines that are outside the field of view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces cameras as intermediary devices mounted on the aircraft structure (wings, tail, fuselage) to capture images of the environment around the aircraft. These cameras act as mediators between the pilot and the surrounding environment, providing visual information about obstacles that would otherwise be undetectable to the pilot in the cockpit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of extending the pilot's physical field of view (which would require moving the pilot or adding mechanical linkages) with an optical/electronic system. Cameras capture images that are transmitted to the cockpit, substituting the need for mechanical extensions of the pilot's perception with an electronic image transmission system.
2Loss of information
If cameras are mounted on the aircraft to provide external visibility, then the pilot can detect obstacles outside the field of view, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the camera system multi-functional by using the same cameras for multiple purposes: capturing images for obstacle detection, providing alignment information for docking, and enabling the pilot to assess the surrounding environment. This universal use of the camera system reduces the need for separate specialized devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by transmitting images from the cameras mounted on the aircraft back to the cockpit, where the pilot can view the surrounding environment through display devices. This feedback loop provides continuous visual information about obstacles and alignment status to the pilot throughout the taxiing and docking process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances pilot awareness of alignment with parking locations and potential collision hazards, reducing the risk of accidents by providing visual and audible alerts, thereby minimizing repair costs and operational disruptions.
Implementation Method 1
The camera is configured to mount at a camera location on an aircraft so as to generate a two-dimensional image of a scene external to the taxiing aircraft
Data Source
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AI summary
Apparatus and associated methods relate to using an image of a fiducial (62) located indicating a parking location for the aircraft (18) to provide docking guidance data to a pilot of an aircraft (18). The fiducial (62) has vertically-separated indicia (68, 70) and laterally-separated indicia (64, 66). A camera (54) is configured to mount at a camera location so as to be able to capture two-dimensional images (72A-I) of a scene external to the aircraft (18). The two-dimensional image (72A-I) includes pixel data generated by the two-dimensional array of light-sensitive pixels. A digital processor (56) identifies first and second sets of pixel coordinates corresponding to the two vertically-separated (68, 70) and the two laterally-separated (64, 66) indicia, respectively. The digital processor (56) then calculates, based at least in part on the identified first pixel coordinates corresponding to the two vertically-separated indicia (68, 70), a range (R) to the parking location.