Systems and methods for aircraft adaptive ground safety lighting using edge nodes

A method for adaptive ground safety lighting for an aircraft, comprising:

• at a controller comprising a processor programmed with a lighting program, performing the operations of:
• receiving cockpit data providing a weight on wheels (WOW) indicator, an off-runway indicator, an engine off indicator, and an engine temperature;
• receiving, from a connected-light assembly comprising a plurality of connected lighting edge nodes on an external surface of the aircraft, respective sensed data comprising a temperature measurement and a wind measurement;
• determining that there is a concurrent occurrence of (a) WOW indicator asserted, (b) off-runway indicator asserted, and (c) engine off indicator asserted;
• and
• responsive to the concurrent occurrence of (a), (b), and (c):
• constructing an environmental map around the aircraft by associating received sensed data with a location on the external surface of the aircraft, for each of the plurality of connected lighting edge nodes;
• referencing historical data;
• beginning a dissipation timer;
• (i) performing a calculation using the engine temperature, the environmental map, and the historical data, to generate a caution volume surrounding the engine, and to assign a color to the caution volume;
• (ii) commanding the plurality of lighting edge nodes to illuminate in accordance with the caution volume and color;
• (iii) updating the environmental map based on received sensed data from each of the plurality of lighting edge nodes;
• repeating (i)-(iii) when the engine temperature is not less than a first temperature threshold;
• and
• stopping the dissipation timer and storing its value when the engine temperature is less than the first temperature threshold;
• and
• updating the historical data based on the dissipation timer value responsive to stopping the dissipation timer.

An adaptive ground safety lighting system for an aircraft, comprising:

• a connected-light assembly comprising a plurality of connected lighting edge nodes distributed around an external surface of the aircraft, each connected lighting edge node of the plurality of connected lighting edge nodes comprising a light head, a transceiver, a temperature sensor, and a wind sensor;
• a source of cockpit data providing a weight on wheels (WOW) indicator, an off-runway indicator, an engine off indicator, and an engine temperature;
• a source of an air traffic control (ATC) clearance command;
• and
• a controller with a processor programmed to:
• reference historical data;
• receive the cockpit data;
• receive an ATC clearance command;
• receive, from each connected lighting edge node in the connected-light assembly, a unique location on the external surface of the aircraft and respective sensed data comprising a temperature measurement and wind measurement;
• and
• upon a concurrent occurrence of (a) WOW indicator asserted, (b) off-runway indicator asserted, and (c) engine off indicator asserted,
• construct an environmental map around the aircraft by associating the received sensed data with the unique locations on the surface of the aircraft, for each of the plurality of lighting edge nodes;
• begin a dissipation timer;
• (i) perform a calculation using the engine temperature, the environmental map, the ATC clearance command, and a heat dissipation factor, to generate a caution volume surrounding the engine, and to assign a color to the caution volume;
• (ii) command the plurality of lighting edge nodes to illuminate in accordance with the caution volume and color;
• (iii) update the environmental map based on received sensed data from each of the plurality of lighting edge nodes;
• (iv) compare the engine temperature to a first temperature threshold;
• and
• repeat (i)-(iv) when the engine temperature is not less than a first temperature threshold;
• stop the dissipation timer and store its value when the engine temperature is less than the first temperature threshold;
• command each of the plurality of lighting edge nodes to assume a standby orientation and illumination color when the engine temperature is less than the first temperature threshold;
• and
• update the historical data based on the dissipation timer value when the engine temperature is less than the first temperature threshold.