3D Virtual Landing Corridor for Low-Visibility eVTOL Pilot Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current user interfaces in aerial vehicles, particularly during vertical takeoff and landing operations, are often cluttered and lack essential information, hindering pilots' ability to navigate safely, especially in urban air mobility contexts where visibility is limited.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method generates improved user interfaces with UAM visualization interfaces, including a virtual corridor within a virtual environment, providing egocentric, exocentric, and profile views to enhance situational awareness by depicting a safe operational volume and operational parameters, and dynamically adjusts based on flight sensor data and mode changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional user interfaces are used in aerial vehicles during vertical takeoff and landing, then the interface design is simple, but the interface becomes cluttered and lacks essential information for safe navigation
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface is segmented into multiple functional zones: a virtual corridor display showing safe flight paths, flight sensor data panels, mode indication areas, and warning message sections. This segmentation allows essential information to be organized in discrete, non-overlapping regions that reduce visual clutter while maintaining comprehensive information display.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface transitions from traditional 2D flat displays to a 3D virtual environment representation with depth perception. The virtual corridor extends in three-dimensional space, providing pilots with spatial awareness of safe flight volumes during vertical takeoff and landing operations, thereby reducing information loss without increasing perceived complexity.
2Reliability
If comprehensive flight information is displayed to enhance situational awareness, then navigation safety improves, but the user interface becomes overly cluttered
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the interface provide different types of information tailored to specific pilot needs during vertical takeoff and landing. The virtual corridor area emphasizes spatial boundaries, while other regions display sensor data, mode status, and warnings with appropriate visual weights. This local differentiation maintains navigation safety without creating uniform clutter across the entire interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy of the physical environment including the aerial vehicle, landing zone, and surrounding obstacles. This virtual replica provides pilots with intuitive spatial understanding without requiring complex data interpretation, thereby improving reliability while maintaining ease of operation through familiar visual metaphors.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple view modes (egocentric, exocentric, profile) are provided to enhance situational awareness, then operational precision improves, but the rendering complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The interface dynamically switches between egocentric, exocentric, and profile view modes based on the operational phase of vertical takeoff or landing. During critical phases such as final approach or hover, the system automatically provides the most appropriate view type, reducing rendering complexity while maintaining operational precision through context-aware display selection.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of the present disclosure assist pilots of aerial vehicles in performing particular operations utilizing improved user interface(s). In some contexts, pilots performing vertical takeoffs or vertical landings cannot visually inspect the environment around the vehicle. Embodiments of the present disclosure utilize virtual elements, including a virtual corridor and virtual vehicle corresponding to an aerial vehicle, to enable improved visualization and control of an aerial vehicle within a particular environment. Utilizing representation(s) of the virtual elements, including a virtual corridor and/or virtual vehicle, embodiments of the present disclosure provide improved user interfaces that assist a pilot in safely controlling an aerial vehicle (even without visual inspection of a real-world environment) during vertical takeoff and/or vertical landing.