Methods and systems for highlighting ground traffic on cockpit displays

The aircraft display system of claim 5, wherein the program instructions are configured to:

• receive the ground traffic data including position, bearing and heading data for ground traffic;
• scale and rotate the aircraft template, the scaling being based on a distance and relative bearing angle between ownship aircraft and the ground traffic using the position data and bearing data for ground traffic and ownship position and heading data and the rotating being based on heading data for ground traffic and ownship attitude data including heading, pitch and roll data;
• and
• generate the display to be displayed on the display device based on the EVS imaging data including highlighting ground traffic outline in the target area based on the scaled and rotated aircraft template.

A method of operating an aircraft display system, the method comprising:

• receiving, via at least one processor, ground traffic data from a traffic computer, the ground traffic data including position data for ground traffic;
• receiving, via the at least one processor, enhanced vision system, EVS, imaging data from at least one EVS camera;
• determining, via the at least one processor, a target area in the EVS imaging data based on the position data of the ground traffic data;
• performing, via the at least one processor, graphics processing that is confined to the target area to enhance visibility of ground traffic in the EVS imaging data in the target area, thereby generating enhanced EVS imaging data, wherein the graphics processing is selected from at least one of contrast enhancement, edge detection and template matching and highlighting of an outline of the ground traffic;
• and
• generating, via the at least one processor, a display to be displayed on a display device of the aircraft display system, the display based on the enhanced EVS imaging data and the EVS imaging data.

Non-transitory computer readable media encoded with programming instructions configurable to cause a processor to perform the steps of:

• receiving ground traffic data from a traffic computer, the ground traffic data including position data for ground traffic;
• receiving enhanced vision system, EVS, imaging data from at least one EVS camera;
• determining a target area in the EVS imaging data based on the position data of the ground traffic data;
• performing graphics processing that is confined to the target area to enhance visibility of ground traffic in the EVS imaging data in the target area, thereby generating enhanced EVS imaging data, wherein the graphics processing is selected from at least one of contrast enhancement, edge detection and template matching and highlighting of an outline of the ground traffic;
• and
• generating a display to be displayed on a display device of the cockpit display system, the display is based on the enhanced EVS imaging data and the EVS imaging data such that the target area, which is based on the enhanced EVS imaging data, is differentiated from the display surrounding the target area, which is based on the EVS imaging data.