Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
  • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft
  • G08G5/50—Navigation or guidance aids
  • G08G5/54—Navigation or guidance aids for approach or landing
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
  • G08G5/00—Traffic control systems for aircraft
  • G08G5/50—Navigation or guidance aids
  • G08G5/58—Navigation or guidance aids for emergency situations, e.g. hijacking or bird strikes

Definitions

• a series of landing instructions are typically followed to implement the appropriate aircraft control functions to land the aircraft.
• Each landing instruction may include a sequence of landing instruction steps that involves one or more aircraft control mechanisms.
• aircraft control mechanisms include, but are not limited to, aircraft guidance panels, aircraft throttle controls, aircraft flap controls, aircraft gear controls, aircraft trim controls, and aircraft spoiler controls. It may be challenging for an individual with limited or no flying experience to identify the appropriate aircraft control mechanisms to engage to implement the landing instructions. In many cases, lack of feedback regarding whether the landing instructions were properly implemented may lead to an increased risk of an adverse aircraft incident.
• a method of providing interactive emergency landing assistance includes: receiving a pilot incapacitation indication at an interactive emergency landing assistance system; receiving aircraft state data from at least one avionics system of an aircraft at the interactive emergency landing assistance system; transmitting an emergency landing assistance request and the aircraft state data from the interactive emergency landing assistance system to a ground station; receiving a first landing instruction from the ground station at the interactive emergency landing assistance system, the first landing instruction being based on the aircraft state data; determining, by the interactive emergency landing assistance system, whether a first pre-defined period of time has elapsed following receipt of the first landing instruction without implementation of the first landing instruction; generating, by the interactive emergency landing assistance system, instruction details associated with the implementation of the first landing instruction; receiving updated aircraft state data from the at least one avionics system at the interactive emergency landing assistance system following the implementation of the first landing instruction; transmitting the updated aircraft state data from the interactive emergency landing assistance system to the ground station; and receiving a second landing instruction from the ground station at the interactive emergency landing assistance system, the second landing instruction being based on the
• the avionic display 32 generated and controlled by the system 10 can include graphical user interface (GUI) objects and alphanumerical input displays of the type commonly presented on the screens of multifunction control display units (MCDUs), as well as Control Display Units (CDUs) generally.
• GUI graphical user interface
• MCDUs multifunction control display units
• CDUs Control Display Units
• embodiments of the avionic displays 32 include one or more two-dimensional (2D) avionic displays, such as a horizontal (i.e., lateral) navigation display or vertical navigation display (i.e., vertical situation display VSD); and/or on one or more three dimensional (3D) avionic displays, such as a Primary Flight Display (PFD) or an exocentric 3D avionic display.
• 2D two-dimensional
• avionic displays such as a horizontal (i.e., lateral) navigation display or vertical navigation display (i.e., vertical situation display VSD)
• 3D three dimensional
• PFD Primary Flight Display
• a human-machine interface is implemented as an integration of a pilot input interface 18 and a display device 14.
• the display device 14 is a touch screen display.
• the human-machine interface also includes a separate pilot input interface 18 (such as a keyboard, cursor control device, voice input device, or the like), generally operationally coupled to the display device 14.
• the controller circuit 12 may command and control a touch screen display device 14 to generate a variety of graphical user interface (GUI) objects or elements described herein, including, for example, buttons, sliders, and the like, which are used to prompt a user to interact with the human-machine interface to provide user input; and for the controller circuit 12 to activate respective functions and provide user feedback, responsive to received user input at the GUI element.
• GUI graphical user interface
• the disclosed algorithm is embodied in a hardware program or software program (e.g. program 30 in controller circuit 12) and configured to operate when the aircraft is in any phase of flight.
• the provided controller circuit 12, and therefore its program 30 may incorporate the programming instructions for: receiving a pilot incapacitation indication at an interactive emergency landing assistance system; receiving aircraft state data from at least one avionics system of an aircraft at the interactive emergency landing assistance system; transmitting an emergency landing assistance request and the aircraft state data from the interactive emergency landing assistance system to a ground station; receiving a first landing instruction from the ground station at the interactive emergency landing assistance system, the first landing instruction being based on the aircraft state data; determining, by the interactive emergency landing assistance system, whether a first pre-defined period of time has elapsed following receipt of the first landing instruction without implementation of the first landing instruction; generating, by the interactive emergency landing assistance system, instruction details associated with the implementation of the first landing instruction; receiving updated aircraft state data from the at least one avionics system at the interactive emergency landing assistance system following the implementation of the first landing instruction; transmitting the updated aircraft state data from the interactive emergency landing assistance system to the ground station; and receiving a second landing instruction from the ground station at the interactive emergency landing assistance system, the second landing
• the aircraft 200 has a configuration similar to the mobile platform 5 in FIG. 1 .
• the aircraft 200 includes an open world computer (OWC) 204, avionics systems 206, and an aircraft communication system 208.
• OWC 204 is a portable computing device. Examples of OWC 204 include, but are not limited to, an electronic flight bag (EFB), a laptop, and a tablet computer.
• EFB electronic flight bag
• avionics systems 206 include, but are not limited to, flight control surfaces, flight management system, control panels, and geospatial sensors. Examples of flight control surfaces include, but are not limited to, flaps, spoilers, gears, and throttle. Examples of control panels include, but are not limited to, flight guidance panel, display controller, radio altimeter, and GPS.
• the aircraft communication system 208 is similar to the communications circuit 24 in FIG. 1 .
• FIG. 4 a flowchart representation of a method 400 of providing interactive emergency landing assistance in accordance with at least one embodiment is shown.
• the method 400 will be described with reference to an exemplary implementation of an interactive emergency landing assistance 202.
• the order of operation within the method 400 is not limited to the sequential execution as illustrated in FIG. 4 but may be performed in one or more varying orders as applicable and in accordance with the present disclosure.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines an aircraft status of the aircraft 200.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 identifies the nearest airport having a runway that is compatible with the aircraft status.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 generates radio tuning instructions to tune the aircraft radio to a ground station 210 of the identified nearest airport.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines the aircraft type and the aircraft status of the aircraft 200.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 identifies the nearest airport having a runway that is compatible with the aircraft type and the aircraft status.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 generates radio tuning instructions to tune the aircraft radio to a ground station 210 of the identified nearest airport.
• an emergency landing assistance request is transmitted to the ground station 210.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 transmits the emergency landing assistance request to the ground station 210.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 automatically transmits the emergency landing assistance request to the ground station 210 responsive to activation of the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202.
• Each landing instruction includes a sequence of landing instruction steps associated with implementation of an aircraft control function.
• each of the sequence of landing instruction steps includes a graphical representation of a current state of at least one of an aircraft guidance panel, an aircraft throttle control, an aircraft flap control, an aircraft gear control, an aircraft trim control, an aircraft air/fuel mixture control, and an aircraft spoiler control and a graphical representation of a desired state of the at least one of the aircraft guidance panel, the aircraft throttle control, the aircraft flap control, the aircraft gear control, the aircraft trim control, the aircraft air/fuel mixture control, and the aircraft spoiler control.
• Implementation of a landing instruction step results in placing the at least one of the aircraft guidance panel, the aircraft throttle control, the aircraft flap control, the aircraft gear control, the aircraft trim control, the aircraft air/fuel mixture control, and the aircraft spoiler control in the desired state.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines whether a pre-defined period of time has elapsed following receipt of the landing instruction without implementation of the landing instruction. If the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines that the pre-defined period of time has elapsed following receipt of the landing instruction without implementation of the landing instruction at 416, the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 generates instruction details associated with implementation of the landing instruction at 418.
• the instruction details include any additional information that enables the user to implement the landing instruction.
• the instruction details indicate the reason for implementing the landing instruction.
• the instruction detail may indicate that the implementation of the landing instruction adjusts a pitch of the aircraft 200.
• the instruction details provides a location of an aircraft control that needs to be changed.
• the instruction details detail how to adjust an aircraft control associated with implementation of a landing instruction.
• the method 400 proceeds to 420. If the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines that the landing instruction has been implemented within the pre-defined period of time, the method proceeds to 420.
• the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines whether a cursor or pointer has been moved by the user over the graphical landing instruction and has been hovering over the graphical landing instruction for a pre-defined period of time. If the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 determines that the cursor/pointer has been hovering over the landing instruction for a pre-defined period of time, the interactive emergency landing assistance system 202 generates the instruction details associated with the implementation of the graphical landing instruction for display on the display device based 308 of the OWC 204.
• the executables of an identified module need not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations that, when joined logically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module.
• a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices.
• operational data may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Traffic Control Systems (AREA)
• Alarm Systems (AREA)

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• 2025
  • 2025-01-06 EP EP25150336.3A patent/EP4589569A3/fr active Pending

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