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US 6,311,108 B1Granted
Autonomous landing guidance system
OwnerDanny F. Ammar, Randall C. Spires +1inventors
InventorsDanny F. Ammar, Randall C. Spires, Steven R. Sweet
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft guidance system uses radar imaging to verify airport and runway location and provide navigation updates. The system is applicable to flight operations in low visibility conditions.
Claims17
A landing guidance device for aircraft comprising:
- a first input for receiving aircraft position data;
- a second input for receiving radar image data including image data from a radar sum channel, a radar delta channel and a radar delta_d channel;
- a feature map of a landing area;
- means, coupled to said first input and to said feature map for generating a reference image from said feature map based upon said aircraft position data;
- and
- means, coupled to said means for generating a reference image and to said second input, for comparing said reference image to said radar image data and outputting a guidance command.
3 more elements
A landing guidance device for aircraft comprising:
- an input coupled to receive radar data including image data from a radar sum channel, a radar delta channel and a radar delta_d channel;
- an airport image data base;
- means, coupled to said input and to said airport image data base, for using said radar data to identify a given landing area image stored within said airport image data base;
- and
- a display for displaying a combination of given portions of said given landing area image and said radar data.
2 more elements
A guidance device for aircraft comprising:
- a first input coupled to receive aircraft position data;
- a second input coupled to receive radar image data;
- an airport features data base;
- means, coupled to said first input, to said second input and to said airport features data base, for identifying a given airport and for comparing said radar image to image data for said given airport to output guidance information;
- an obstacle detection means, coupled to said second input for detecting a collision hazard to the aircraft;
- a ground proximity warning means, coupled to said first input and to said second input for providing a ground proximity warning, and;
- wherein said radar image data comprises data from a sum squared channel, a delta squared channel and a delta_d channel.
4 more elements
A method for aircraft navigation comprising the steps of:
- receiving an X band radar image data including image data from a radar sum channel, a radar delta channel and a radar delta_d channel;
- comparing said X band radar image data to a stored image data for a given airport;
- and
- using said step of comparing to output a navigation command.
1 more element
A method for aircraft navigation comprising the steps of:
- receiving an X band radar image data including image data from a radar sum channel, a radar delta channel and a radar delta_d channel;
- comparing said X band radar image data to a stored image data base to identify stored image data for a given airport;
- and
- using said X band radar image data, and said stored image data for said given airport to display a synthesized runway image.
1 more element
A method for aircraft navigation comprising the steps of:
- receiving an aircraft position information;
- receiving a radar image data;
- comparing said radar image data to image data from a stored image data base;
- providing navigation information based on said step of comparing;
- processing said radar image data to detect a collision hazard to the aircraft;
- and wherein said step of receiving radar image data comprises the steps of receiving a delta squared channel, a sum squared channel and a delta_d channel.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.