Control system for controlling vehicles

A system for coordinating and controlling a plurality of units comprising a group comprising:

• (a) means for providing chart information;
• (b) means for providing a main image display;
• (c) means for visually displaying chart information surrounding a unit on a main image display;
• (d) means for receiving from a second unit in the group information regarding (i) the position of the second unit, (ii) the orientation of a sensor carried by the second unit and (iii) data from the sensor of the second unit;
• (e) means for superimposing on the chart information displayed on the main image display (i) the position of the second unit, (ii) the orientation of the second unit sensor, and (iii) data from the second unit sensor;
• and
• (f) means for coordinating and controlling the group responsively to the main image display.

A system for coordinating and controlling a plurality of units comprising a group comprising the steps of:

• (a) means for providing chart information to a control unit;
• (b) means for providing a main image display carried by the control unit;
• (c) means for determining the position of the control unit;
• (d) means for visually displaying chart information surrounding the control unit on a main image display carried by the control unit;
• (e) means for providing a selectively orientated sensor carried by the control unit;
• (f) means for displaying on the main image display information regarding (i) the position of the control unit, (ii) the orientation of the control unit sensor and (iii) data from the sensor;
• and
• (g) means for coordinating and controlling the group responsively to the main image display.

A system for the interactive control of a plurality of vehicles fighting as a group, each of said vehicles comprising:

• a command computer including a processor, a main memory, and a storage means for geographical maps;
• a first sensor for producing an enlarged image section of the surroundings;
• a second sensor for producing a panoramic image of the surroundings;
• a wireless data connection for transmitting and receiving information;
• and
• an operating and display device having (i) a first means for selectively visually displaying geographical maps or the enlarged image sections, (ii) a second means for visually displaying the panoramic image, and (iii) at least one key field having keys the actuation of which overlays additional information onto the images visually displayed.

In a system for interactively controlling a vehicle formation in which each vehicle includes (i) a command computer including a processor and a main memory, (ii) a data storage means containing information from which geographical chart displays may be composed and/or by means of which positional displays related to a situation may be generated, (iii) first and second sensors for obtaining information from the surroundings of the vehicle, and (iv) radio data connection means for transmitting and receiving information, the improvement comprising a display apparatus which comprises:

• a first video screen for selectively displaying either geographical data from said data storage means or an enlarged image section of the surroundings of the vehicle as produced by said first sensor;
• a second video screen for displaying a panoramic image of the surroundings of the vehicle as produced by said second sensor;
• and
• at least one key field including fixed-allocation keys and variable-allocation keys in which the images of said first and second video screens may be selectively influenced by actuation of at least one key and/or by information received by said radio data connection.

A system for interactively controlling vehicles of a vehicle formation including means adapted to be carried by each vehicle in the formation, said means comprising:

• (a) means for receiving:
• (i) stored information, (ii) information obtained by a selectively oriented sensor from the surroundings, (iii) information received by radio data transmission, and (iv) information concerning the condition of components of the vehicles in the formation;
• (b) communication means for transmitting and receiving information to and from other vehicles in the vehicle formation;
• (c) means for initiating functions;
• (d) a digital command computer operatively connected to said receiving means, communication means and function initiating means, said computer having a processor and a main memory and a navigation system,
• said command computer further comprising (i) a graphics processor, (ii) video electronics, (iii) a bulk storage interface with a bulk storage, and (iv) at least one video screen through which all of the sensed, stored and received information in the form of electronic data relating to one or more of the vehicles in the formation may be selectively displayed;
• (e) a key field for status indications;
• and
• (f) a function key field,
• said key and function key fields being associated with said video screen whereby the video screen image may be influenced by the selective actuation of a key of said key fields to display on said video screen the position and the orientation of the sensor of at least one of the vehicles in the formation.

A method for coordinating and controlling a plurality of units comprising a group, each of the units having a selectively oriented sensor, by providing interactive visual information to personnel at each unit to enhance the speed and accuracy with which decisions may be made by such personnel, the method comprising for each unit the steps of:

• a) determining unit position, sensor orientation, and sensed information;
• b) transmitting unit position, sensor orientation and sensed information to other units;
• c) receiving information transmitted from the other units regarding the position thereof, the orientation of the sensor thereof and the information sensed;
• d) processing the received unit position information to determine the relative position of the other units;
• e) displaying visually the position of at least one of the plurality of units;
• and
• f) displaying the orientation of the sensor of the unit whose position is displayed and at least some of the sensed information.

A method for coordinating and controlling a plurality of units comprising a group comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing chart information to a control unit;
• (b) providing a main image display carried by the control unit;
• (c) determining the position of the control unit;
• (d) visually displaying chart information surrounding the control unit on a main image display carried by the control unit;
• (e) providing a selectively orientated sensor carried by the control unit;
• (f) displaying on the main image display information regarding (i) the position of the control unit, (ii) the orientation of the control unit sensor and (iii) data from the sensor;
• and
• (g) coordinating and controlling the group responsively to the main image display.