Control of diverse types of crew interface for flight control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11927460-B2
Application number	US-201816757603-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2018
Priority date	Oct 25, 2017
Publication date	Mar 12, 2024
Grant date	Mar 12, 2024

Abstract

Diverse types of crew interfaces (400, 430, 450) are provided for outputting visible, audio and tactile information to a pilot for flight control. A unified estimation of the current aircraft state and of a current phase of flight are made (110), based on flight status information. Respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations for the diverse types of crew interfaces are generated, (120) coordinated so that they provide mutually consistent indications of the unified estimation of the current aircraft state, according to the unified estimation of current flight phase. The respective coordinated presentations are output (130) by the diverse types of crew interfaces to the pilot. By coordinating crew interface outputs across sight, sound and touch senses, this can relieve the pilot of workload in interpreting unsynchronised or incoherent outputs from different types of interfaces.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of controlling respective outputs of diverse types of crew interfaces for outputting visible, audio and tactile information to a human pilot for flight control of an aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving flight status information from multiple different sensors;
determining a unified estimation of a current aircraft state and a unified estimation of a current phase of flight, based on at least the flight status information from the multiple different sensors;
generating respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations for the diverse types of crew interfaces, coordinated so that they provide mutually consistent indications of the unified estimation of the current aircraft state, according to the unified estimation of the current phase of flight, wherein generating the respective presentations comprises synchronizing changes in the mutually consistent indications of the unified estimation of the current aircraft state, in response to changes in the unified estimation of the current phase of flight, wherein synchronizing changes accounts for one or more inconsistencies between the multiple different sensors, and wherein the mutually consistent indications of the unified estimation of the current aircraft state comprises consistent indications of a proximity to a flight control parameter from the multiple different sensors; and
causing the respective coordinated presentations to be output by the diverse types of crew interfaces.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mutually consistent indications of the current aircraft state comprise mutually consistent indications of: proximity to a desired flight control parameter, proximity to an undesired flight control parameter, and/or flight control correction guidance.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the respective presentations to provide the mutually consistent indications of the state of the aircraft comprises synchronizing changes in the indications in response to changes in the unified estimation of the current state of the aircraft.

4. The method of claim 1 , the diverse types of crew interfaces comprising a visual type, an audio type and a tactile type, the visual type comprising a head down display, a head up display, and/or a head mounted display; the audio type comprising a headset and/or a cockpit loudspeaker; and the tactile type comprising a throttle tactile output, a rudder pedal tactile output, and/or a stick tactile output; wherein causing the respective coordinated presentations to be output comprises controlling these types of crew interface.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tactile type includes: at least one soft stop; a simulated rumble strip; and/or at least one nudge.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a stick is operable to control nosewheel steering and the tactile type comprises a stick tactile output comprising: at least one soft stop, a simulated rumble strip; and/or at least one nudge.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the unified estimations comprises determining the unified estimations based on flight status information comprising at least a flight plan, a current location, and aircraft status information.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the unified estimation of current phase of flight comprises determining the phase is one of: a take-off phase, a cruise phase, an approach phase, a touch down phase, a braking phase and a taxi phase.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
in response to the current phase being an approach phase of flight, determining aircraft state comprises determining a common glideslope state; and
in response to the unified estimation of current phase of flight being an approach phase, generating the respective presentations comprises generating glideslope guidance indications in each of the coordinated tactile, audio and visual presentations, to indicate the common glideslope state.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
in response to the current phase being a touchdown phase of flight, determining aircraft state comprises determining a common touchdown state; and
in response to the unified estimation of current phase being a touchdown phase, generating the respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations comprises generating touchdown warnings in each of the coordinated tactile, audio and visual presentations, to indicate the common touchdown state.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
in response to the current phase being a braking phase of flight, determining aircraft state comprises determining a common braking state; and
in response to the unified estimation of current phase of flight being a braking phase, generating the respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations comprises deriving braking warning outputs in each of the tactile, audio and visual presentations, to indicate the common braking state.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
in response to the current phase being a taxi phase of flight, determining aircraft state comprises determining a common taxi state; and
in response to the unified estimation of current phase of flight being a taxi phase, generating the respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations comprises deriving taxi guidance outputs for each of the tactile, audio and visual presentations, to indicate the common taxi state.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
in response to the current phase being a take off phase of flight, determining aircraft state comprises determining a common take off state; and
in response to the unified estimation of current phase of flight being a take off phase, generating the respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations comprises deriving take off warning outputs for each of the tactile, audio and visual presentations, to indicate the common take off state.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
in response to the current phase being a cruise phase of flight, determining aircraft state comprises determining a common cruise state; and
in response to the unified estimation of current phase of flight being a cruise phase, generating the respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations comprises deriving cruise warning outputs for each of the tactile, audio and visual presentations, to indicate the common cruise state.

15. A controller for controlling respective outputs of diverse types of crew interfaces for outputting visible, audio and tactile information to a human pilot for flight control, the controller having a processing circuit and a memory circuit, the memory circuit having instructions executable by the processing circuit, wherein said processing circuit when executing the instructions is configured to:
receive flight status information from multiple different sensors;
determine a unified estimation of current aircraft state, based on at least the flight status information from the multiple different sensors;
determine a unified estimation of a current phase of flight, based on at least the flight status information from the multiple different sensors;
generate respective coordinated visible, audio and tactile presentations for the diverse types of crew interfaces, coordinated so that they provide mutually consistent indications of the unified estimation of the current aircraft state, according to the unified estimation of the flight phase, wherein generating the respective presentations comprises synchronizing changes in the mutually consistent indications of the unified estimation of the current aircraft state, in response to changes in the unified estimation of t

Assignees

• Bae Systems Plc

Inventors

• Hewitt Charlie
• Lamb Philip
• Harrison James Austen
• Kershaw Antony

Classifications

• G01C23/005 Primary

  Flight directors (indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32) · CPC title

• B64D45/00 Primary

  Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for · CPC title