Touchscreen Partitioning for Aircraft Flight Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current primary flight displays (PFDs) in aircraft use low-resolution touchscreen technology, requiring large 'touchable' menu items and are not optimized for the unique conditions of an airplane cockpit, such as vibration and acceleration, making them unsuitable for precise and urgent pilot operations.
Innovation Solution
The enhanced flight display system incorporates a touchscreen interface with partitioned, large 'Hot Spots' that are invisible but responsive to touch, allowing pilots to perform flight display functions independently of primary controls, and includes a processing system to manage both touchscreen and conventional input methods, providing an intuitive interface with minimal design changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If low-resolution touchscreen technology is used, then the display can be simpler and more durable, but the touchable menu items must be large which reduces information density
Solution Approach 1:
The touchscreen display is segmented into multiple functional zones including a primary flight information display area, a secondary touchscreen area with menu items, and a control area. This segmentation allows the touchscreen elements to be positioned in optimized locations that balance touchability with information presentation, resolving the contradiction between large touch targets and information density.
2Ease of operation
If large touchable menu items are used, then the touchscreen can be operated accurately in turbulent environments, but the display format must be redesigned which increases complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The display system dynamically adapts its interface based on operational context. The touchscreen menu items and flight display elements can be repositioned and resized according to flight conditions, turbulence levels, and operational phase, allowing large touch targets during turbulent flight while maintaining information density during stable flight, thus reducing overall design complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The touchscreen display serves multiple functions simultaneously: it displays primary flight information, provides touchable menu interfaces, and offers control capabilities. By integrating these functions into a unified display system rather than separate components, the patent reduces overall system complexity while maintaining ease of operation with large touch targets.
3Ease of operation
If the touchscreen interface is optimized for portable computing, then the interface can be simple and intuitive, but it is not suitable for aircraft cockpit conditions with vibration and acceleration
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the touchscreen display have different properties optimized for their specific functions. The primary flight display area maintains high information density with stable presentation, while the secondary touchscreen areas have larger, more spaced-out menu items optimized for touch operation. This local differentiation allows intuitive operation in turbulent environments without compromising overall system reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
An enhanced flight display system for an aircraft, including primary display controls, a flight display, and processing elements. The primary display controls provide a primary capability for performing defined display functions. The flight display includes a touchscreen input device being partitioned into a plurality of fixed touch regions that are responsive to touch so as to provide a secondary capability for performing defined flight display functions. The processing elements are operatively associated with the primary display controls and the flight display for implementing the defined flight display functions in response to utilization of the primary display controls or the touch of one of the touch regions, wherein operation of the fixed touch regions is configured to be independent of the primary display controls. This system provides an intuitive, aircraft optimized touchscreen interface to an aircraft flight display with no or minimal display design changes.