Wingtip Camera Reticule for Aircraft Clearance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Pilots often misjudge the clearance distance of aircraft wingtips when operating in tight or unfamiliar spaces, leading to collisions with ground facilities and other aircraft, due to the lack of reliable depth perception from two-dimensional camera displays.
Innovation Solution
A wingtip-mounted camera system that generates a video stream, transmits it to a processor for reticule generation, and displays it on a cockpit device, including a horizon line, distance lines, and an eye-safe laser beam to provide clear wingtip clearance information, allowing pilots to avoid obstacles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a two-dimensional camera display is used to show wingtip clearance, then the system complexity is low, but the depth perception and clearance information reliability are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional camera display to a three-dimensional virtual representation of the wingtip and its trajectory. The system generates a virtual model of the wingtip that moves through three-dimensional space, allowing pilots to perceive depth and clearance distances more accurately. This dimensional enhancement resolves the contradiction by providing reliable depth perception while maintaining reasonable system complexity through software-based virtual modeling rather than complex hardware additions.
2Reliability
If a wingtip-mounted camera system with reticule is implemented, then the clearance information reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual model of the wingtip as an intermediary between the physical camera system and the pilot's perception. This virtual representation, displayed on standard cockpit displays, mediates the information from the camera to the pilot, providing intuitive three-dimensional clearance information without requiring complex additional hardware. The virtual wingtip model acts as a mediator that translates camera data into reliable, easy-to-interpret visual information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual copy or replica of the actual wingtip and its trajectory. This virtual copy is generated by the processor based on camera input and aircraft movement data, then displayed to the pilot. The virtual copy provides accurate clearance information while avoiding the complexity of building physical models or using multiple complex sensors, as it relies on software-based replication of the wingtip's spatial position and movement.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If depth perception is enhanced for wingtip clearance, then collision avoidance capability is improved, but the information processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the aircraft's existing navigation and flight control systems to provide the data needed for the virtual wingtip model. The processor leverages information already available in the aircraft's systems (position, velocity, orientation) to generate the three-dimensional representation. This self-service approach reduces information processing complexity by reusing existing data infrastructure rather than requiring separate complex sensing and processing systems.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Systems and methods for performing airport surface collision-avoidance. A wingtip-mounted camera allows the pilot to positively ascertain that the wingtip will clear objects located in the video. An exemplary system implemented on an aircraft includes a wingtip module having a camera that generates a video stream and a communication device that transmits the generated video stream. A processor receives the video stream and generates a reticule for the video stream. A display device simultaneously presents the video stream and the reticule. The reticule includes a horizon line and is based on a focal length of a lens of the camera and height of the camera above ground. The reticule includes curved and/or straight distance lines and curved or straight travel lines. The travel line(s) correspond to at least one aircraft component or a zone of importance and are based on location of the camera and trajectory of the aircraft.