Systems and methods for presenting environment information on a mission timeline

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022017232-A1
Application number	US-202017002904-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 26, 2020
Priority date	Jul 14, 2020
Publication date	Jan 20, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and systems for automating processes of receiving, prioritizing, and grouping weather data into a weather event, extent of weather event, and an associated duration for presentation on a displayed mission timeline in an aircraft having a flight plan (FP). The method includes: receiving, by a controller circuit, weather data, aircraft state data, and aircraft system status data; identifying a weather phenomenon that impacts the FP and creating an information structure for the weather phenomenon, the information structure including at least a type, a subtype, a severity, a start of impact and an end of impact. The method also includes presenting a weather event indicator overlaid on the mission timeline to indicate the weather phenomenon. The rendering of the weather event indicator on the mission timeline additionally depicts on the mission timeline: a start, an end, and duration of the weather event.

First claim

1 . A flight plan (FP) display system on an aircraft for automating processes of receiving, prioritizing, and grouping weather data into a weather event with an associated extent for presentation on a displayed mission timeline, the system comprising a controller circuit with a processor configured by programming instructions on non-transient computer readable media, the controller circuit configured to:
receive weather data from at least one weather source; reference aircraft state data and aircraft system status data; and identify a weather phenomenon that impacts the FP by processing the weather data with the aircraft state data, aircraft system status data, and the FP; create an information structure for the weather phenomenon, the information structure including a type, a subtype, a severity, a start of impact and an end of impact; present a weather event indicator overlaid on the mission timeline to depict the weather phenomenon; present an alphanumeric notice of the weather event next to the weather event indicator; and depict an extent of the weather event with a beginning of the weather event indicator and an end of the weather event indicator; wherein: the beginning of the weather event indicator is aligned with a beginning of a flight segment when the start of impact occurs at or within a first prescribed snap-to start percent of the flight segment; the beginning of the weather event indicator is placed after the beginning of the flight segment when (i) the start of impact occurs after the first prescribed snap-to start percent of the flight segment (ii) the end of the weather event indicator occurs prior to a last prescribed snap-to end percent of the flight segment; the beginning of the weather event indicator is placed at a center of the flight segment when the start of impact occurs after the prescribed snap-to start percent of the flight segment; the end of the weather event indicator is aligned with an ending of the flight segment when the end of impact occurs at or within a final prescribed snap-to end percent of the flight segment; and the end of the weather event indicator is placed at the center of the weather event indicator or before the ending of the flight segment when the end of impact occurs prior to the last prescribed snap-to end percent of the flight segment.

2 . The FP display system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one weather source includes an external weather system and an on-board weather radar system.

3 . The FP display system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: regenerate the information structure responsive to a change in weather data from the at least one weather source.

4 . The FP display system of claim 3 , wherein the weather phenomenon is one of a plurality of weather phenomena and the controller is further configured to:
identify the plurality of weather phenomena; for each of the plurality of weather phenomena, create a respective information structure, and identify a respective weather interval extending from the start of impact to the end of impact; apply a prioritization scheme to weather phenomena with weather intervals that overlap in the flight segment; and wherein the weather event indicator overlaid on the mission timeline depicts a weather phenomenon with a highest priority in the prioritization scheme.

5 . The FP display system of claim 4 , wherein the prioritization scheme is a function of an aircraft system status provided by on-board sensors.

6 . The FP display system of claim 3 , wherein the weather phenomenon is one of a plurality of weather phenomena and the controller is further configured to:
identify the plurality of weather phenomena; for each of the plurality of weather phenomena, create a respective information structure, and identify a weather interval extending from the start of impact to the end of impact; apply a fusion scheme to fuse incidents of a same type weather phenomena having weather intervals that overlap in the flight segment; and wherein the weather event indicator overlaid on the mission timeline depicts the type of weather phenomenon.

7 . The FP display system of claim 3 , wherein the weather phenomenon is one of a plurality of weather phenomena and the controller is further configured to:
identify the plurality of weather phenomena; for each of the plurality of weather phenomena, create a respective information structure, and identify a weather interval extending from the start of impact to the end of impact; apply a fusion scheme to fuse incidents of a same subtype weather phenomena having weather intervals that overlap in the flight segment; and wherein the weather event indicator overlaid on the mission timeline depicts the subtype of weather phenomenon.

8 . The FP display system of claim 1 , wherein the flight segment is one of two or more flight segments displayed on the mission timeline, and the controller is further configured to:
identify a start flight segment corresponding to the beginning of the weather event; identify a stop flight segment corresponding to the end of the weather event;
and wherein:
the beginning of the weather event indicator is aligned with a beginning of the start flight segment when the start of impact is less than or equal to a prescribed snap-to start percent of the beginning of the start flight segment;
the beginning of the weather event indicator is placed after the beginning of the start flight segment when the start of impact is greater than the prescribed snap-to start percent of the beginning of the start flight segment;
the end of the weather event indicator is aligned with an ending of the stop flight segment when the end of impact is greater than or equal to a prescribed snap-to end percent of the ending of the stop flight segment; and
the end of the weather event indicator is placed after the beginning of the weather event indicator and before the ending of the stop flight segment when the end of impact is less than the prescribed snap-to end percent of the ending of the stop flight segment.

9 . A method for automating processes of receiving, prioritizing, and grouping weather data into a weather event with an associated extent for presentation on a displayed mission timeline in an aircraft having a flight plan (FP), the method comprising:
receiving, by a controller circuit with a processor configured by programming instructions, weather data from at least one weather source; referencing, by the controller circuit, aircraft state data and aircraft system status data; and identifying, by the controller circuit, a weather phenomenon that impacts the FP by processing the weather data with the aircraft state data, the aircraft system status data, and the FP; creating an information structure for the weather phenomenon, the information structure including a type, a subtype, a severity, a start of impact and an end of impact; presenting a weather event indicator overlaid on the mission timeline to depict the weather phenomenon; presenting an alphanumeric notice of the weather event next to the weather event indicator; and depicting an extent of the weather event with a beginning of the weather event indicator and an end of the weather event indicator; wherein: the beginning of the weather event indicator is aligned with a beginning of a flight segment when the start of impact occurs at or within a first prescribed snap-to start percent of the flight segment; the beginning of the weather event indicator is placed after the beginning of the flight segment when (i) the start of impact occurs after the first prescribed snap-to start percent of the flight segment (ii) the end of the weather event indicator occurs prior to a last prescribe

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Bilek Jan
• Talla Petr
• Holder Barbara
• Benakatti Girish
• Tucková Martina

Classifications

• Y02A90/10

  Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation · CPC title

• B64D43/00 Primary

  Arrangements or adaptations of instruments · CPC title

• G01S7/04

  Display arrangements · CPC title

• G01S13/953

  mounted on aircraft · CPC title

• G01W1/10

  Devices for predicting weather conditions (computers per se G06; display devices G09) · CPC title