Wearable Device Alerts for Aircraft Crew Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern aircraft systems present a challenge in efficiently communicating alerts and warnings to flight crews due to their complexity and the numerous tasks involved, making it difficult for crews to maintain safe and efficient operation.
Innovation Solution
A wearable device that receives aircraft parameters and communicates alerts based on a rule set stored in a database, using a processing unit to evaluate conditions and initiate responses specific to the operator's identity and the aircraft mode, providing visual, audible, and haptic alerts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If aircraft systems advance in sophistication and complexity to improve functionality and safety, then the number of tasks required by flight crews increases, but the ease of operation deteriorates and operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a wearable device as an intermediary between the aircraft system and the flight crew. This device receives alerts from the aircraft system and presents them in a simplified, user-friendly format on a portable display, mediating the complex information flow and reducing the operational burden on crew members while maintaining safety awareness
2Reliability
If the number of flight crew members increases to handle complex operations, then operational capability improves, but the difficulty of managing and coordinating tasks increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wearable device enables each crew member to independently receive and process alerts relevant to their role without requiring constant coordination or communication with other crew members. The device autonomously filters and presents information based on the user's identity and current aircraft mode, reducing coordination complexity while maintaining operational capability
3Loss of information
If conventional alert systems are used in the cockpit, then alerts can be communicated to flight crews, but operators outside the cockpit do not receive timely warnings and continuous awareness is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the alert communication dimension from the fixed cockpit environment to portable wearable devices that crew members can carry outside the cockpit. This spatial extension ensures continuous access to alerts and aircraft status information regardless of the crew member's location, eliminating information loss and enabling timely response even when outside the cockpit
Data Source
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AI summary
A wearable device is provided to be worn by an operator of an aircraft. The wearable device includes a communication unit configured to receive aircraft parameters from an aircraft system; a database configured to store a rule set that defines at least a first rule with a first alert condition and a first response associated with the first alert condition; a processing unit coupled to the communication unit and the database, the processing unit configured to evaluate the first alert condition in view of the aircraft parameters and to initiate the first response when the aircraft parameters violate the first condition; and an alert unit coupled to the processing unit and configured to communicate the first response to the operator.