Enhancement of airborne weather radar performance using external weather data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10175353-B2
Application number	US-201514863241-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Sep 23, 2015
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

A weather radar control system includes a processor configured to acquire first weather data for a first area extending from an aircraft from a weather radar system onboard the aircraft. The first weather data includes a first location of a weather event in the first area. The processor is further configured to receive second weather data for a second area with respect to the aircraft via the communication system from an external location where the second weather data includes a second location of a weather event in the second area, and correlate the first weather data and the second weather data. The processor is further configured to generate display data for display based on the correlated weather data where the display data is for a display area at least partially defined by the first and second areas, and provide the display data to a display system onboard the aircraft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A weather radar control system, comprising:
at least one processor coupled with a communication system and a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to:
acquire first weather data from a weather radar system onboard an aircraft, the first weather data including a first location of a first type of weather event in a first area extending from the aircraft and a second location of the first type of weather event in a second area, wherein the second area is within the weather radar system's detection range for detecting the first type of weather event;
receive second weather data for the second area with respect to the aircraft via the communication system from an external location, the second weather data including a location of a second type of weather event in the second area, wherein the second area is beyond the weather radar system's detection range for detecting the second type of weather event;
correlate the first weather data and the second weather data based on the first and second locations;
generate display data for display based on the correlated weather data, wherein the display data is for a display area at least partially defined by the first and second areas; and
provide the display data to a display system onboard the aircraft.

2. The weather radar control system of claim 1 , wherein the second area includes at least a portion of the first area.

3. The weather radar control system of claim 2 , wherein the second area includes the first area.

4. The weather radar control system of claim 1 , wherein the first area extends to a first distance from the aircraft, and wherein the second area extends to a second distance from the aircraft.

5. The weather radar control system of claim 1 , wherein the first area extends to a first distance from the aircraft, and wherein the second area begins at the first distance from the aircraft and extends to a second distance from the aircraft.

6. The weather radar control system of claim 5 , wherein the first distance defines a maximum detection distance of the weather radar system onboard the aircraft for at least one of a particular type of weather event or a particular type of non-weather event.

7. The weather radar control system of claim 6 , wherein the particular type of weather event includes at least one of convective activity, lightning, icing levels, wind shear, and turbulence, and wherein the particular type of non-weather event includes at least one of volcanic ash, birds, and an identified aircraft.

8. The weather radar control system of claim 1 , wherein the first area extends to a first distance from the aircraft and the second area begins at a distance intermediate to the aircraft and the first distance and extends to a second distance from the aircraft.

9. The weather radar control system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium further stores processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to transmit, via the communication system, route information of the aircraft to the external location, wherein at least one processor at the external location is configured to generate the second weather data based on the route information.

10. A weather radar control system, comprising:
a communication system including a transmitter-receiver configured to receive weather data from an external location; and
at least one processor coupled with the communication system and a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to:
acquire first weather data from a weather radar system onboard an aircraft, the first weather data including a first location of a first type of weather event in a first area extending from the aircraft and a second location of the first type of weather event in a second area, wherein the second area is within the weather radar system's detection range for detecting the first type of weather event;
receive second weather data for the second area with respect to the aircraft different from the first area from the external location based on a range of the first area extending from the aircraft, the second weather data including a location of a second type of weather event in the second area, wherein the second area is beyond the weather radar system's detection range for detecting the second type of weather event;
correlate the first weather data and the second weather data based on the first and second locations;
generate display data for display based on the correlated weather data, wherein the display data is for a display area at least partially defined by at least one of the first and second areas; and
provide the display data to a display system onboard the aircraft.

11. The weather radar control system of claim 10 , wherein the first area extends to a first distance from the aircraft and the second area begins at the first distance from the aircraft and extends to a second distance from the aircraft.

12. The weather radar control system of claim 11 , wherein the first distance defines a maximum detection distance of the weather radar system onboard the aircraft for a particular type of weather event.

13. The weather radar control system of claim 12 , wherein the particular type of weather event includes at least one of convective activity, lightning, icing levels, wind shear, and turbulence.

14. The weather radar control system of claim 10 , wherein the generated display data includes an identifier that identifies the source of at least one of the first weather data and the second weather data.

15. The weather radar control system of claim 14 , wherein the non-transitory processor-readable medium further stores processor-executable code for causing the at least one processor to selectively generate the display data using either the first weather data or the second weather data based on a user input.

16. A method of controlling a weather radar control system, comprising:
acquiring first weather data from a weather radar system onboard an aircraft, the first weather data including a first location of a first type of weather event in a first area extending from the aircraft and a second location of the first type of weather event in a second area, wherein the second area is within the weather radar system's detection range for detecting the first type of weather event;
receiving second weather data for the second area with respect to the aircraft via a communication system from an external location, the second weather data including a location of a second type of weather event in the second area, wherein the second area is beyond the weather radar system's detection range for detecting the second type of weather event;
correlating the first weather data and the second weather data based on the first and second locations;
generating display data for display based on the correlated weather data, wherein the display data is for a display area at least partially defined by the first and second areas; and
providing the display data to a display system onboard the aircraft.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first area extends to a first distance from the aircraft, and wherein the second area begins at the first distance from the aircraft and extends to a second distance from the aircraft.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first distance defines a maximum detection distance of the weather radar system onboard the aircraft for a particular type of weather event.

Assignees

• Kronfeld Kevin M
• Sishtla Venkata A
• Robertson Roy E
• Richard Robert J
• Rockwell Collins Inc

Inventors

• Kronfeld Kevin M
• Sishtla Venkata A
• Robertson Roy E
• Richard Robert J

Classifications

• G01S7/22

  Producing cursor lines and indicia by electronic means · CPC title

• G01S7/14

  Sector, off-centre, or expanded angle display · CPC title

• Y02A90/18

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G01S7/24

  the display being orientated or displaced in accordance with movement of object carrying the transmitting and receiving apparatus, e.g. true-motion radar · CPC title

• G01S7/003

  Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations · CPC title