Route Image Generation for Terrain Clearance Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft display systems, such as those specified in TSO-151c, lack effective visual presentation of terrain information and ground track guidance, making it difficult for pilots to discern terrain clearances and approaching obstacles.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for generating a route image on a display unit, divided into terrain clearance-dependent sections, using navigation data and object data to create image data sets that highlight non-penetrated and penetrated segments of the ground track, allowing for visual representation of terrain clearances and obstacles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional HITS or abbreviated pathway images are displayed, then guidance information is provided, but terrain clearance information and ground track visibility are difficult to discern
Solution Approach 1:
The route image is divided into multiple segments based on terrain clearance distances. Each segment is highlighted with different visual characteristics (colors, patterns, or intensities) to represent different clearance zones. This segmentation allows pilots to easily distinguish between safe and potentially hazardous terrain areas without overwhelming the display with complex information.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the route image are assigned different visual qualities based on their terrain clearance characteristics. For example, segments with adequate clearance may be displayed in normal color, while segments with marginal or insufficient clearance are highlighted with alert colors or enhanced visual markers. This local differentiation provides targeted information where needed without complicating the entire display.
2Reliability
If detailed terrain and object data are processed, then terrain clearance awareness is improved, but system complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes terrain and object data to calculate clearance distances and identifies critical segments before generating the final route image. By performing these calculations in advance and storing the results, the system reduces real-time computational requirements while maintaining accurate terrain awareness information during flight operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the essential terrain clearance information needed for safe flight operations from the complete terrain and object database. Rather than processing and displaying all available data, the system identifies and extracts critical clearance zones and presents them in a simplified visual format, reducing processing complexity while maintaining reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A present novel and non-trivial system, device, and method for generating a route image presentable on a display unit is disclosed, where a route may be presented to draw a viewer's attention to one or more objects located along or below the route. An image generator (“IG”) may be configured to receive navigation data; receive object data; construct one or more raised ground track profiles as a function of the first elevations and one or more object clearance distances; identify, if any, one or more penetrated segments of one or more raised ground track profiles; and generate an image data set representative of an image of a divisible route configured to present a plurality of route section highlighters comprised of one or more first route section highlighters corresponding to non-penetrated segment(s) and at least one second or subsequent route section highlighters corresponding to first or subsequent penetrated segment(s), respectively.