Avionics Radar Text Update Prioritization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy weather radar displays, such as those using ARINC 453 and WXPD standards, face challenges in updating text information efficiently, particularly when pilots adjust parameters like altitude, leading to inadequate feedback due to limitations in update rates and compatibility with new operating modes like Automatic and Manual Weather Modes in the RDR-4000 radar.
Innovation Solution
The system introduces an intelligent updating mechanism that prioritizes updating radial lines containing text information when user interface changes are detected, allowing for faster text updates by interrupting conventional sweep patterns and focusing resources on the affected areas, thereby improving the update rate of text annunciations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If conventional sweep patterns are used to update display radials, then the display maintains compatibility with legacy standards, but the text information update rate is insufficient and delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the display update process into two segments: conventional full-sweep updates for general display maintenance, and targeted radial updates for text information. By segmenting the update strategy based on content type, the system can prioritize text-containing radials and update them more frequently without requiring complete display refreshes, thus improving text update rate while maintaining overall display efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic update rate adjustment based on the presence of text information. When text is detected in a radial, the system dynamically increases the update frequency for that specific radial beyond the standard sweep rate. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to optimize text information delivery without uniformly increasing the refresh rate of the entire display
2Speed
If the entire display is updated at high speed, then text information updates quickly, but the data transmission burden increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and identifies radials containing text information from the complete display data set. By separating text-containing radials from the rest of the display data, the system can apply selective high-priority updates only to the necessary portions, avoiding the need to transmit and process entire display frames at high speed, thus reducing overall data transmission volume while maintaining fast text updates
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different update qualities and frequencies to different regions of the display based on their content. Text-containing radials receive high-frequency, high-priority updates with enhanced quality, while non-text areas maintain standard update rates. This local differentiation optimizes data transmission by allocating bandwidth preferentially to text information without uniformly increasing transmission volume across the entire display
3Ease of operation
If legacy display standards are maintained, then hardware compatibility is preserved, but the update rate for text annunciations is insufficient for human factors requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary analysis of radial data to identify text-containing regions before executing the update process. By pre-identifying which radials contain text information, the system can prepare and prioritize their transmission and display updates in advance, ensuring rapid text appearance on the display without requiring complex real-time processing during the update cycle, thus maintaining hardware compatibility while improving responsiveness
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for efficiently updating text or symbol annunciations outputted by an avionics system on legacy displays. Instead of using a set sweeping pattern to update the display, a smart updating concept is used. The smart updating concept senses when the pilot is adjusting the selected altitude control (or other user interface device that will alter displayed annunciations), then gives priority to updating the radial lines on the display that contain the annunciation field. Once the annunciation field has been updated, the display returns to normal operation.