Weather radar hazard detection system and method
AssigneeRockwell Collins, Inc.
InventorsSteve Paramore, Daniel L. Woodell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft weather radar system is disclosed. The system comprises a radar antenna, aircraft sensors, and a database. The system also comprises a processing device receiving information from the radar antenna and from the aircraft sensors and able to retrieve information from the database. Further, the system comprises a cockpit display coupled to the processing device. The processing device is programmed to determine storm system hazards and to display the storm system hazards on the display using an iconal representation or textual representation.
Claims19
An aircraft weather radar system, comprising:
- a radar antenna;
- optical aircraft sensors;
- a processing device receiving information from the radar antenna and from the aircraft sensors;
- and
- a cockpit display coupled to the processing device,
- wherein the processing device is programmed to determine storm system hazards and to display the storm system hazards on the display using an iconal representation or textual representation, wherein the storm system hazards are detected by using a cell height parameter for a cell, wherein the cell height parameter is determined by determining a direction to the cell using the optical aircraft sensor and a range to the cell using the information from the radar antenna.
An aircraft weather radar system, comprising:
- a radar means for providing radar returns;
- an aircraft sensor means for sensing environmental variables;
- a processing means for receiving information from the radar means and from the aircraft sensor means;
- and
- a cockpit display means coupled to the processing device for displaying information,
- wherein the processing means is programmed to determine storm system hazards and to display the storm system hazards on the display means using an iconal representation or textual representation, wherein the storm system hazards are detected by using a cell height for a cell, wherein the cell height is determined by determining a direction to the cell using the aircraft sensor means and a range to the cell using the information from the radar means.
A method of providing hazard information to a flight crew member, comprising:
- providing radar returns from a radar antenna circuit;
- sensing environmental variables using an optical aircraft sensor;
- processing received information from the radar antenna circuit and from the aircraft sensor to determine a direction to a cell using the environmental variables and a range to the cell using the radar returns;
- determining a cell height for the cell using the direction and the range;
- and
- displaying hazard information on a cockpit display,
- wherein the processing step determines storm system hazards using the cell height and causes display of the storm system hazards on the display.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.