The present disclosure generally relates to methods and systems for presenting airport information in a display, and more particularly relates to methods and systems of presenting airport information of an uncontrolled airport to a pilot.
Uncontrolled airports are those airports that are not served by an operating air traffic control. When approaching an uncontrolled airport, a pilot needs to be familiar with the traffic pattern, and the landing direction of the airport. Typically, a Segmented Circle Airport Marker (SCAM) System that includes visual aids for providing this information is provided at a ground location of these uncontrolled airports. The visual aids are marked by a segmented circle that allows a pilot easily view and identify the visual aids from the cockpit when flying over the uncontrolled airport.
In order to make use of the segmented circle information when approaching an uncontrolled airport, a pilot needs to know the existence of the SCAM system, and a location of the SCAM system. Currently, there is no means for informing the pilot about the existence and location of the SCAM system. The pilot must fly over the airport to find and view the SCAM system and then return to join the traffic pattern. This results in increased flying time and increased fuel consumption during the landing phase of the aircraft.
Hence, there is a need for systems and methods for presenting this information to the pilot in the aircraft without requiring the pilot to fly over the airport. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.
A method is provided for displaying information on a display device of an aircraft. The method comprises determining graphics data for visual aids that represent segmented circle airport marker (SCAM) information; incorporating the graphics data into a user interface; and generating the user interface for display on the display device of the aircraft.
A system is provided for displaying information on a display device of an aircraft. The system comprises an information datastore; and a computer module. The computer module accesses the data storage device to determine graphics data for visual aids that represent segmented circle airport marker (SCAM) information, incorporates the graphics data into a user interface, and generates the user interface for display on the display device of the aircraft.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the method and system will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the preceding background.
The present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and wherein:
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the disclosure or the application and uses of the disclosure. As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Thus, any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. All of the embodiments described herein are exemplary embodiments provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary, or the following detailed description.
Referring now to
As shown in
The SCAM module 16 may include one or more instructions that may be executed by the processor of the computing device. The instructions of SCAM module 16 access the information datastore 14, determine SCAM information 21, and generate a user interface 20 having the SCAM information 21. As can be appreciated, depending on the location of the information datastore 14, the SCAM module 16 may communicate with the information datastore 14 directly, and/or may communicate with the information datastore 14 indirectly through one or more communication protocols.
The display 18 displays the user interface 20. The display 18 may be located in a cockpit of the aircraft 12 for viewing by, for example, a pilot of the aircraft 12. In various embodiments, the user interface 20 may automatically display the SCAM information 21 based on a flight condition of the aircraft 12. In various other embodiments, a pilot may interact with the user interface 20 to display the SCAM information 21 using one or more input devices of the computing system.
Referring now to
The SCAM data retrieval module 22 receives as input a data request 28. The data request 28 includes some indication that the SCAM information 21 is desired for a particular uncontrolled airport (e.g., an indication that the aircraft 12 is approaching a particular airport or a user simply requesting the information for a particular airport). When the SCAM information 21 is desired, the SCAM data retrieval module 22 retrieves SCAM data 30 associated with the particular airport from the information datastore 14. For example the particular airport may be referenced by an airport identifier and the data associated with that airport identifier is retrieved. If the SCAM data 30 is not available, the SCAM data retrieval module 22 generates a message 32 indicating such.
In various embodiments, when the information datastore 14 is a SCAM datastore, the information datastore 14 includes particular SCAM data 30 that may be easily interpreted to determine what SCAM information 21 to display. Such SCAM data 30 may include, but is not limited to, an airport identifier, a presence of a SCAM system at the airport, a radius of a segmented circle at the airport, a latitude and longitude of the segmented circle at the airport, a number of runways at the airport, runway orientations at the airport, traffic patterns of each runway at the airport, a presence of a wind direction indicator at the airport, a presence of a landing direction indicator at the airport, an a presence of a closed field indicator at the airport. Table 1 describes possible values for the SCAM data 30 of a SCAM datastore.
In various other embodiments, when the information datastore 14 is a navigation datastore, the information datastore 14 includes SCAM data 30 that may be further analyzed to determine what SCAM information 21 to display. Such SCAM data 30 may include navigation information that is typically stored in a navigation database.
The SCAM data analysis module 24 receives as input the SCAM data 30. The SCAM data analysis module 24 analyzes the SCAM data 30 to determine graphics data 34. The graphics data 34 includes data that defines graphical representations of visual aids that may be incorporated into the user interface 20 to illustrate the SCAM information 21. As shown in
The segmented circle 40 is used to identify the SCAM information 21. As shown, the segmented circle 40 is a circle defined by a segmented line. The wind direction indicator 42 identifies the direction of the wind at the uncontrolled airport. As shown, the wind direction indicator 42 is cone-shaped and is located at the center of the segmented circle 40. The wind direction indicator 42 points into the wind. The landing direction indicator 44 identifies the direction in which the landings and takeoffs of the uncontrolled airport are to be made. As shown, the landing pattern indicator 44 is T-shaped and is located at the center of the segmented circle 40. A short end of the landing pattern indicator 44 indicates the direction of the landings and a long end of the landing pattern indicator 44 indicates the direction of the takeoffs.
The landing strip indicators 46 identify an orientation of the landing strips and/or give an indication of the landing strip specified for use. As shown, the landing strip indicators 46 are lines located outside of the segmented circle 40 that show an orientation of landing strips and/or give a positive indication of the strip specified for use. The traffic pattern indicators 48 are associated with the landing strip indicators 46 and identify a direction of the traffic pattern when there is any variation from a normal left-hand pattern. As shown, the traffic pattern indicators when arranged with the landing strip indicators 46 are L-shaped lines located outside of the segmented circle 40 that show a direction of the turns (e.g., either left or right).
The closed field indicator 50 identifies whether a field of the airport is permanently closed to all traffic. As shown, the closed field indicator 50 includes a cross located in the center of the segmented circle 40. When this closed field indicator 50 is used, the wind direction indicator 42 and the landing direction indicator 44 are typically removed from the segmented circle 40 while other indicators may remain in place.
With reference back to
The SCAM data display module 26 receives as input the graphics data 34 and map data 36. The map data 36 can include data for displaying an airport map or other information associated with the uncontrolled airport. The airport map can include, for example, but is not limited to, a moving map, an airport moving map, or Synthetic Vision System (SVS).
The SCAM data display module 26 generates user interface data 38 to display the graphics data 34 in some relation to the map data 36. For example, the SCAM data display module 26 incorporates the graphics data 34 into the map data 36 by overlaying the graphics data 34 on the map data 36 to display SCAM information 21 on the map itself. The SCAM data display module 26 may overlay the graphics data 34 in a predefined location or at a location determined relative to the airport map. In another example, the SCAM data display module 26 incorporates the graphics data 34 by adding the graphics data 34 to the map data 36 to display the SCAM information 21 at a location adjacent to the airport map (e.g., in another area of the display 18).
Referring now to
In various embodiments, the method can be scheduled to run based on predetermined events, and/or can run continually during operation of the computing device of the aircraft 12.
The method may begin at 100. It is determined whether the data request 28 is received indicating that SCAM information 21 is desired at 110. If SCAM information 21 is not desired at 110, the method may end at 180.
If, however, the SCAM information 21 is desired (e.g., when approaching an uncontrolled airport), it is determined whether SCAM data 30 is available for the particular airport from the information datastore 14 at 120. If SCAM data 30 is not available at 120, the message 32 may be generated indicating such at 130 and the method may end at 180.
If, however, SCAM data 30 is available at 120, the SCAM data 30 associated with the uncontrolled airport is retrieved from the information datastore 14 at 140. The SCAM data 30 is analyzed, for example, as discussed above, to determine the graphics data 34 at 150. The user interface data 38 is generated based on the graphics data 34 and the map data 36 at 160. The user interface 20 is displayed based on the user interface data 38 at 170. Thereafter, the method may end at 180.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Some of the embodiments and implementations are described above in terms of functional and/or logical block components (or modules) and various processing steps. However, it should be appreciated that such block components (or modules) may be realized by any number of hardware, software, and/or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention. For example, an embodiment of a system or a component may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, digital signal processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, or the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments described herein are merely exemplary implementations
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal
In this document, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Numerical ordinals such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc. simply denote different singles of a plurality and do not imply any order or sequence unless specifically defined by the claim language. The sequence of the text in any of the claims does not imply that process steps must be performed in a temporal or logical order according to such sequence unless it is specifically defined by the language of the claim. The process steps may be interchanged in any order without departing from the scope of the invention as long as such an interchange does not contradict the claim language and is not logically nonsensical.
While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description of the invention, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing an exemplary embodiment of the invention. It being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.