Runway Illusion Alleviation Display System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Visual illusions during aircraft approach to a runway can mislead flight crews, causing deviations from the intended flight path and potentially leading to landing issues such as touching down short of or overshooting the runway, due to environmental and runway conditions like terrain slopes, aspect ratios, and lighting.
Innovation Solution
A display system and method that determines the aircraft's position and orientation near a runway, analyzes terrain and runway data to identify illusion effects, and renders graphical runway illusion alleviation objects on the flight display to correct the pilots' perception, using a navigation subsystem, terrain database, runway database, and processor to provide accurate visual feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If visual reference objects are used during approach, then pilots can maintain proper glide path, but environmental and runway conditions create visual illusions that mislead perception
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a synthetic vision display as an intermediary between the pilot and the actual runway environment. This mediator presents a standardized, computer-generated representation of the runway and terrain that eliminates misleading visual cues while preserving essential spatial information, allowing pilots to maintain accurate glide path without being deceived by environmental illusions
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a synthetic copy of the runway environment that replicates essential geometric and spatial characteristics while removing misleading features. This copied representation is displayed to the pilot, providing a truthful model of the approach conditions that eliminates illusions caused by actual environmental variations
2Reliability
If synthetic approach texture objects are displayed, then runway perception is enhanced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The synthetic vision system performs multiple functions simultaneously: it provides runway alignment guidance, displays terrain information, indicates glide path deviation, and eliminates visual illusions. By consolidating these functions into a single display system, the patent achieves enhanced reliability without proportionally increasing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically detects the aircraft's position, orientation, and approach conditions, then generates and displays the appropriate synthetic runway representation without requiring manual pilot input. This self-service capability enhances reliability while minimizing the operational complexity for the flight crew
Data Source
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AI summary
Display systems and methods for generating a display providing runway illusion alleviation are disclosed herein. An exemplary method for generating a display includes the steps of determining a position of the aircraft in a vicinity of an approaching runway, retrieving terrain data regarding the vicinity of the approaching runway and retrieving runway data regarding the approaching runway, determining the existence of a runway illusion effect by analyzing the terrain data and the runway data. The method further includes the steps of rendering graphical terrain imagery and rendering graphical runway imagery on the flight display in accordance with the terrain data and the runway data and rendering a graphical runway illusion alleviation object on the flight display.