Virtual Window for Aircraft Panoramic View
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aircraft cabin designs fail to provide passengers with a panoramic view of the horizon and sky similar to that of pilots, while avoiding modifications to the fuselage and ensuring safety, as previous solutions either require extensive changes or do not replicate the pilot's experience effectively.
Innovation Solution
A virtual window system comprising an internal flexible high-resolution display and an external paint scheme that mimics an actual window, providing a panoramic view without altering the aircraft structure, using a camera system and data processing to show real-time external images, creating the illusion of a real window.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If real panoramic windows are added to the fuselage to provide pilots' view to passengers, then the panoramic view capability is improved, but the aircraft structure must be modified which increases complexity and safety concerns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the pilot's panoramic window view using electronic displays and imaging technology. Instead of physically replicating the window structure, the system captures images from external cameras and displays them on internal screens, providing the same visual experience without structural modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical window structure with an electronic system consisting of cameras, image processing units, and display screens. This substitution eliminates the need for physical fuselage modifications while achieving the same functional outcome of providing panoramic views.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional exterior windows are installed in the fuselage to create panoramic view, then the visual experience is improved, but safety concerns and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual replica of the external view using electronic imaging and display technology. Multiple cameras capture images from different angles, and these are processed and displayed on internal screens to replicate the panoramic window experience without adding any physical windows to the fuselage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary electronic system between the external environment and the passenger's view. Instead of direct visual access through physical windows, cameras act as intermediaries to capture and transmit the external scene to display screens, eliminating safety concerns associated with additional exterior openings.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the cockpit is raised and rearward positioned to provide panoramic view, then the pilot's view is improved, but the passenger compartment configuration becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the pilot's panoramic viewing capability with the passenger experience by providing the same virtual window view in the passenger compartment. Instead of separating the cockpit elevation function from passenger access, the electronic system allows both to access the same panoramic view without structural reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical solution of raising and repositioning the cockpit with an electronic system that can be implemented without altering the aircraft's structural configuration. The virtual window technology allows any passenger to access the panoramic view regardless of their seat position or cockpit elevation.
4Loss of information
If video displays are used to show virtual imagery of the flight, then additional information is provided, but the panoramic horizon view similar to pilots' experience is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different display qualities to different viewing needs. While standard video displays provide general flight information, the virtual window system provides high-resolution, real-time panoramic imagery with specific visual characteristics that replicate the actual external view, including horizon details and sky perspectives that generic displays cannot achieve.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic viewing system where the virtual window display changes in real-time based on the aircraft's orientation, altitude, and external conditions. Unlike static video displays, the system continuously updates to reflect the actual panoramic view from multiple external cameras, providing living, dynamic imagery that moves with the aircraft's motion.
Data Source
AI summary
To create an environment in which the passenger has the same emotion, feel and visual experience that a pilot has with regard to freedom of flight and proximity to the exterior of the aircraft and where passengers have the impression that they are looking out of an actual panoramic window, a “virtual window” includes internal and the external aspects of a real window. The internal part can comprise a folded or flexible high resolution color display that conforms to the internal profile of the aircraft fuselage as if it were an actual window. The external part comprises a paint scheme that is indistinguishable from an actual window and which is placed on the outside of the aircraft fuselage in registry with the conformal display in the aircraft's interior.