Certain seats within the passenger compartments of commercial aircraft may be designated for the use of flight attendants and crewmembers. Once the aircraft reaches a safe cruising altitude or flight segment, crewmembers may monitor any passenger security and safety issues firsthand as they move throughout the cabin. For example, Richard Reid was thwarted in his effort to detonate explosives concealed in his shoes aboard American Flight 63 when he was detected by cabin crew. However, during taxi, takeoff and landing (TTL) procedures cabin crew must monitor the safety of the cabin and passengers from assigned seats, in a safely seated and restrained (e.g., belted) position. Federal aviation guidelines provide that each such assigned seat provide a direct view of the cabin area for which the occupying crewmember is responsible. In practice, this means that each crewmember must have (from the seated and belted position) direct visual contact with the cabin area (and a minimum percentage of the passengers) and main aisles, such that the crew are aware of any emerging needs or issues relative to passenger safety.
While cabin crew should be proximate to an emergency exit should evacuation or other emergency procedures supervised by crewmembers be necessary, direct view can be a critical factor in the success or failure of such procedures. For example, in the 1985 British Airtours accident at Manchester Airport (caused by engine failure during an aborted takeoff, which resulted in catastrophic fire both outside and inside the aircraft) the TTL direct-view positions of forward crew members were obstructed by galley bulkheads. This frustrated the crew's ability to monitor cabin conditions and evacuate the aircraft, contributing to extensive casualties due to smoke inhalation by passengers unable to rapidly evacuate through limited exits (some of which were blocked by smoke and/or fire). In addition, contemporary and next-generation commercial cabin interiors may provide for additional seating classes or amenities and consequently additional partitions or bulkheads, either of which may frustrate direct view requirements by obstructing crew sightlines. For example, economy-class cabins may be further partitioned into standard-economy and premium-economy zones. In some cases, business-class or first-class seats may be further partitioned or enclosed for enhanced privacy. The height of said partitions, bulkheads, and walls may directly frustrate the sightlines of cabin crew in a seated and belted position, even if the partitions are only temporary in nature, e.g., curtains deployed to separate premium and economy seats. While these curtains may be opened during TTL phases, enhanced-privacy zones and compartments, however, may incorporate opaque floor-to-ceiling partitions rather than curtains, and thus it may not be possible to improve visibility. This is especially true if cabin crew seats are positioned at the front of the cabin (e.g., to maximize direct view of the cabin and aisles in a generally aft direction) and such premium or enhanced-privacy seating is positioned directly aft of the cabin crew seats (e.g., between the crew seats and the economy cabin proper).
In one aspect, embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed to an integrated imaging system for a connected aircraft. The system includes cameras mounted within the cabin interior of the aircraft. Each camera may have a particular field of view (FOV) which may include one or more defined zones within the aircraft. Each camera may capture an image stream including seating, aisles, and passengers within the camera's FOV. The system includes processors for receiving the image streams and assembling enhanced image streams, e.g., by stitching together or composing image streams from within the same zone or from different zones throughout the aircraft, or by overlaying the image streams with relevant environmental data. The enhanced or composite image streams may be transmitted wirelessly or sent via cable or other physical link to fixed-mount or mobile display devices (e.g., tablets, smartphones) for viewing by cabin crew.
Implementations of the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be better understood when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the included drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, and in which some features may be exaggerated and some features may be omitted or may be represented schematically in the interest of clarity. Like reference numerals in the drawings may represent and refer to the same or similar element, feature, or function. In the drawings:
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts disclosed herein in detail, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts are not limited in their application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components or steps or methodologies set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. In the following detailed description of embodiments of the instant inventive concepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure that the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features may not be described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instant disclosure. The inventive concepts disclosed herein are capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As used herein a letter following a reference numeral is intended to reference an embodiment of the feature or element that may be similar, but not necessarily identical, to a previously described element or feature bearing the same reference numeral (e.g., 1, 1a, 1b). Such shorthand notations are used for purposes of convenience only, and should not be construed to limit the inventive concepts disclosed herein in any way unless expressly stated to the contrary.
Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).
In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components of embodiments of the instant inventive concepts. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts, and “a’ and “an” are intended to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.
Finally, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment,” or “some embodiments” means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. The appearances of the phrase “in some embodiments” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed may include one or more of the features expressly described or inherently present herein, or any combination of sub-combination of two or more such features, along with any other features which may not necessarily be expressly described or inherently present in the instant disclosure.
Broadly, embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed to an integrated imaging system for enhancing direct view capability aboard a connected aircraft. It is an objective of the disclosed system to maximize the proportions of passengers, seats, aisles, and other relevant factors visible by cabin crew from a seated and belted position (rather than merely meeting minimum direct-view requirements) without adding crewmembers or removing revenue-generating seating. In addition, the system may enhance the direct view capability of each individual crewmember by providing access to views and perspectives not within their particular sightlines. Further, the system may account for additional partitions and bulkheads which may obstruct physical sightlines, and provide equal direct view capability to both sides of the aircraft. Finally, the system may provide for centralized, remote direct view assistance via ground-based control facilities.
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During TTL procedures, when the cabin crew 116 are seated and belted in their designated cabin crew seats, the cameras 102, 104, 106 may provide views of the interior cabin (e.g., passengers 118, aircraft seats 120, and aisles 122) visible to the cabin crew 116 via monitors (124) mounted in fixed location proximate to the cabin crew seats (e.g., a forward bulkhead 126). Fixed-mount monitors 124 may be mounted proximate to any cabin crew seat wherein a crewmember may be stationed during TTL procedures, or within the cockpit (not shown) for display to the command crew. For example, the cameras 102, 104, and 106 may capture image streams respectively corresponding to a first class zone 108, a business class zone 110, and an economy class zone 112. Each member of the cabin crew (116) may observe the image stream corresponding to a particular zone, or the image streams may be centrally processed into enhanced video streams accessible to all cabin crew, regardless of their positions within the aircraft 114. The IIS 100 may provide for the display of captured image streams via mobile devices 128 (e.g., tablets, smartphones, or other portable computing or communications devices) held by members of the cabin crew 116. For example, a crewmember may access the captured or enhanced image streams through his/her mobile device 128 via a wireless connection, and may be able to manipulate the displayed image via the mobile device 128 (e.g., scrolling through streams from multiple cameras 102, 104, 106; selecting a particular image stream or corresponding zone to watch; panning or zooming a particular camera; enlarging a displayed image; accessing passenger details or additional environmental data through a displayed image). The cabin crew (116) or command crew may activate the IIS 100 for direct view, or engage a direct-view mode of the IIS, via the fixed-mount monitors 124 or mobile devices 128, or via any other appropriate command and control interface of the aircraft 114.
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The IIS 100a may include cameras mounted within, and capturing direct views of, other interior areas or exterior surfaces of the aircraft. For example, the IIS 100a may capture (and display to the cabin crew 116a-c via fixed-mount monitors 124 and/or mobile devices 128) image streams of cargo compartments, galley areas, crew rest areas, and other remote areas of the aircraft (e.g., remote areas of the main cabin, cargo compartments, rest areas, and other parts of the aircraft interior not directly visible to the cabin crew). Similarly, the IIS 100a may include cameras mounted to exterior surfaces of the aircraft to monitor, e.g., cargo doors or control surfaces. Interior cameras, such as the camera 106, may be positioned and oriented so as to capture, through one or more windows (114a) of the aircraft 114, an image stream including an engine 132 of the aircraft. In this way the camera 106 may assist in rapid detection of a failure of the engine 132 during takeoff (e.g., the engine failure associated with the aforementioned Manchester Airport accident). In addition, if the image stream generated by the camera 106 indicates that a large number of passengers within the FOV 106a are looking outside their windows in the direction of the engine 132, this may indicate a potential problem with the engine 132, even if the potential problem is not directly visible by the camera 106. One or more of the cameras 102, 104, 106 may include an infrared (IR)-spectrum (NIR, SWIR, LWIR) thermographic imager for capturing thermal signatures (in addition to visible-light images) of exterior surfaces, cargo compartments, and other areas of the aircraft 114 (e.g., an anomalous thermal signature including the engine 132 may indicate a potential problem).
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It is to be understood that embodiments of the methods according to the inventive concepts disclosed herein may include one or more of the steps described herein. Further, such steps may be carried out in any desired order and two or more of the steps may be carried out simultaneously with one another. Two or more of the steps disclosed herein may be combined in a single step, and in some embodiments, one or more of the steps may be carried out as two or more sub-steps. Further, other steps or sub-steps may be carried in addition to, or as substitutes to one or more of the steps disclosed herein.
From the above description, it is clear that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are well adapted to carry out the objects and to attain the advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in the inventive concepts disclosed herein. While presently preferred embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the broad scope and coverage of the inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein.