FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a display for an aircraft, and more particularly to a display for 3D aircraft visualisation and flight path features.

DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART

Instrument approach procedures (IAP) are traditionally presented to pilots in either a paper format or as a two-dimensional chart on a computer screen. The paper format has been in existence for over eighty years. Misinterpretation of these charts has been a lead contributing factor to many aircraft accidents, known as “Controlled Flight Into Terrain” (CFIT), where an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or obstacle.

Since records started in 1919 there have been over 30,000 lives lost in 395 airline accidents identified as CFIT, figures that do not include General Aviation, Business or Military aircraft. The leading cause of CFIT is loss of situational awareness by the pilots.

A current solution to mitigate CFIT is the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) also known as Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS). This system relies on a terrain database interfaced with position information from the aircraft's navigation system to provide a reactive warning system in the form of an aural warning to the pilot and a coloured display on the aircraft navigation display.

However, identified disadvantages of this type of system include that the system can be turned off, the system primarily provides aural warnings which is a sense that is diminished when the pilot is under stress, the system reacts only when the aircraft is close to a collision, the provision of warning alarms can create further stress on the pilot as it can cause confusion around where the aircraft is in relation to the terrain.

Further, conventional charts available to the pilot display a large amount of information, much of which is relevant only to certain stages of the flight. As the pilot workload increases during an instrument approach or departure the ability of the pilot to extract the required information is diminished, thereby impeding their ability to acquire and/or maintain the level of situational awareness required to avoid CFIT incidents/accidents.

It is an object of the invention to go at least some way toward overcoming or at least ameliorating the one or more of the above mentioned problems or disadvantages, or which at least provides the public with a useful choice.

In this specification, where reference has been made to external sources of information, including patent specifications and other documents, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the present invention. Unless stated otherwise, reference to such sources of information is not to be construed, in any jurisdiction, as an admission that such sources of information are prior art or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one broad aspect the invention consists in a display system for use on the flight deck of an aircraft comprising: a display operable for graphical display of data, and a processor operatively coupled to the display and configured to receive: terrain data from at least a terrain data base, flight plan data from a source of navigational data, and aircraft position data from one or more aircraft sensors, wherein the processor is configured to operate the display to: display a representation of the flight plan on the display screen, display a representation of the terrain proximate the flight plan representation, and display a representation of the aircraft relative to the flight plan and the terrain.

In another broad aspect the invention consists in a method of generating a visual display for use on a display on flight deck of an aircraft, the method comprising: receiving terrain data from a terrain data base, receiving flight plan data from a source of navigational data, and receiving aircraft position data from one or more aircraft sensors, then, on the display: displaying a representation of the flight plan on the display screen, displaying a representation of the terrain proximate the flight plan representation, and displaying a representation of the aircraft relative to the flight plan and the terrain.

In another broad aspect the invention consists in a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a visual display generating process, the process comprising: receiving terrain data from a terrain data base, receiving flight plan data from a source of navigational data, and receiving aircraft position data from one or more aircraft sensors, then, on the display: displaying a representation of the flight plan on the display screen, displaying a representation of the terrain proximate the flight plan representation, and displaying a representation of the aircraft relative to the flight plan and the terrain.

In some embodiments, the terrain data comprises altitude data and location data representative of geographical terrain features, and the processor is further configured to generate the representation of the terrain by providing a sphere by representing earth and populating the sphere with the terrain data.

In some embodiments, the flight plan comprises at least two waypoints, the waypoints having location and altitude data, and the processor is configured to generate the representation of the flight plan by rendering a line spanning between the at least two waypoints.

In some embodiments, the position data comprises heading, track, pitch and roll data and the processor is configured to display a representation of the aircraft that is pitching or rolling according to the pitch and roll sensors, and pointed in the direction provided by the heading sensor.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to operate the display to show a graphical indication of the altitude difference between the aircraft and the desired flight path.

In some embodiments, the processor is configured to, during an airport approach flight phase, determine the aircraft is above or below the desired flight path and determine a desired rate of descent of the aircraft that will intercept the desired flight path at or before the runway, and the processor is further configured to operate the display to show a representation of the desired rate of descent of the aircraft.

In some embodiments, the displayed rate of descent is graphically represented as a glide slope.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to generate a warning when the aircraft is outside one or more of a horizontal displacement from the desired flight path and/or a vertical displacement from the flight path.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to generate a warning when the aircraft is outside one or more of a horizontal angular displacement and/or a vertical angular displacement thresholds from the flight path.

In some embodiments, the angular vertical displacement from the flight path is determined by the vertical angular difference between: a vector from a touchdown location to the aircraft and a vector horizontal to the altitude of the touchdown location, and a vector from the touchdown location to the desired aircraft position and a vector horizontal to the altitude of the touchdown location.

In some embodiments, the horizontal angular displacement from the flight path is determined by the horizontal angular difference between: a vector from a touchdown location to the aircraft and a vector horizontal to the altitude of the touchdown location, and a vector from the touchdown location to the desired aircraft position and a vector horizontal to the altitude of the touchdown location.

In some embodiments, the warning comprises at least one of a graphical warning provided to the display and/or generating an output operable to generate an audible alert.

In some embodiments, the displacement thresholds comprise two or more warning thresholds, the processor is configured to implement a new and/or intensified alert at each threshold.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to: determine the aircraft is above the desired flight path, determine a touchdown location and altitude, determine the glide slope for the aircraft to meet the touchdown point, and output a warning if the determined glide slope is above a predetermined safe limit.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to allocate a surface area grid to terrain located below the aircraft, receive data relating to the peak altitude of terrain and a terrain risk parameter located in each segment of the grid from the terrain database, and display a representation of a floor at an altitude above the peak in each grid segment according to the risk parameter of the terrain in that segment.

In some embodiments, the risk parameter is deemed high for mountainous terrain located in a grid segment, and the representation of the floor is displayed at a higher altitude for grid segments with a high risk parameter.

In some embodiments, the representation of the floor is displayed at 2000 ft for grid segments with a high risk parameter.

In some embodiments, the representation of the floor is displayed at 1000 ft for grid segments that do not have a high risk parameter.

In some embodiments, the representation of the floor is a translucent region that overlays the terrain in each grid segment.

In some embodiments, the representation of a floor is displayed at a first colour when the aircraft is located above, and another colour when the aircraft is below.

In some embodiments, the processor is configured to generate at least one of an audible or visual warning when the aircraft is located below the floor.

The following embodiments may relate to any of the above aspects. Other aspects of the invention may become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As used in this specification, the term “and/or” means “and” or “or”, or both.

As used herein, “computer-readable medium” excludes any transitory signals but includes any non-transitory data storage circuitry, e.g., buffers, cache, and queues, within transceivers of transitory signals.

In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.

Moreover, in interpreting the disclosure, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced.

This invention may also be said broadly to consist in the parts, elements and features referred to or indicated in the specification of the application, individually or collectively, and any or all combinations of any two or more of said parts, elements or features, and where specific integers are mentioned herein which have known equivalents in the art to which this invention relates, such known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth.

