Weather radar system and method with fusion of multiple weather information sources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9535158-B1
Application number	US-201414465753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 21, 2014
Priority date	Nov 21, 2013
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A method of displaying an image representative of a weather condition near an aircraft includes receiving weather data representative of the weather condition from a plurality of weather data sources. The weather data includes location data for the weather condition. The method also includes mapping the weather data received from each source to a common locational reference frame based on the location data, adjusting the weather data received from each source to a common hazard scale, determining a hazard level associated with the weather condition for a reference point in the reference frame based on the adjusted weather data for each source, and displaying the image representative of the weather condition near the aircraft based on the hazard level for the reference point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of displaying an image representative of a weather condition near an aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving weather data representative of the weather condition from a plurality of weather data sources, the weather data including location data for the weather condition;
mapping the weather data received from each source to a common locational reference frame based on the location data;
adjusting the weather data received from each source to a common hazard scale;
determining a hazard level associated with the weather condition for a reference point in the reference frame based on the adjusted weather data for each source; and
displaying the image representative of the weather condition near the aircraft based on the hazard level for the reference point;
wherein adjusting the weather data comprises adjusting a portion of the weather data received from a first source of the plurality of weather data sources based on a characteristic of the weather condition indicated by the weather data received from a second source of the plurality of weather data sources, and adjusting the weather data by retaining the shape of a curve defined by the portion of the weather data received from the first source.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the weather data from one of the weather data sources to update a location of the weather condition within the reference frame.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the weather data from the one of the sources includes a motion vector, the method further comprising adjusting the weather data to update the location based on the motion vector.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising evaluating a confidence level for the hazard level at the reference point.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the confidence level is based on weather data within a region of interest surrounding the reference point.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering the weather data received from each weather data source.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the weather data received from each weather data source is filtered based on one of a time of sensing, a range of the weather condition from the weather data source from which the respective weather data is received, and a defined spatial coverage area for at least one of the weather data sources.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the common locational reference frame is a gridded reference frame including a plurality of grid points.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein weather data received in a non-gridded format is linked to the gridded reference frame using a gridded weather data structure.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the non-gridded weather data includes one of weather cell tracking data and lightning flash data.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the weather data received from each source to a common hazard scale includes adjusting one of rainfall rate data, reflectivity data, and vertically integrated liquid.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hazard level is determined based on one of turbulence data, reflectivity data, vertically integrated liquid data and lighting data.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the hazard level associated with the weather condition for the reference point in the reference frame includes at least one of determining a maximum hazard value available for the reference point from each weather data source, selecting one of the weather data sources based on a confidence level for each weather data source, and selecting one of the weather data sources based in part on one or more applicable guidelines.

14. An aircraft weather radar system, comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory memory coupled to the processor and containing program instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to
receive weather data representative of a weather condition from a plurality of weather data sources, the weather data including location data for the weather condition;
map the weather data received from each source to a common locational reference frame based on the location data;
determine a hazard level associated with the weather condition for a reference point in the reference frame based on the adjusted weather data for each source;
evaluate a confidence level for the hazard level at the reference point; and
display an image representative of the weather condition near the aircraft based on the confidence level for the hazard level at the reference point;
wherein the program instructions are configured to cause the processor to adjust the weather data by retaining a shape of the weather condition defined by a portion of the weather data received from a first source of the plurality of weather data sources based on a characteristic indicated by the weather data received from a second source of the plurality of weather data sources.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to adjust the weather data received from each source to a common hazard scale.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to evaluate the confidence level based on weather data within a region of interest surrounding the reference point.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the processor to evaluate the confidence level using an exponential function.

18. A weather radar system, comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory memory coupled to the processor and containing program instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to
receive echo top data for a weather condition from first and second weather data sources;
map the echo top data to a common reference frame;
adjust the echo top data received from the first source based on the echo top data received from the second source; and
generate an image representative of the weather condition based on the adjusted echo top data;
wherein the program instructions are configured to cause the processor to adjust the echo top data by increasing values of a portion of the echo top data received from the first source based on a height of the weather condition indicated by the echo top data received from the second source;
wherein the program instructions are configured to cause the processor to adjust the echo top data by retaining the shape of a curve defined by the portion of the echo top data received from the first source in the adjusted data.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the received echo top data is received in a non-gridded format, and wherein the common reference frame has a common gridded format.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the common gridded format comprises a plurality of grid points, each grid point corresponding to a latitude and longitude identifier, and wherein a surface observation is mapped to each grid point.

Assignees

• Breiholz Arlen E
• Kronfeld Kevin M
• Walling Karen L
• Mccabe Robert J
• Rockwell Collins Inc

Inventors

• Breiholz Arlen E
• Kronfeld Kevin M
• Walling Karen L
• Mccabe Robert J

Classifications

• G01S13/953 Primary

  mounted on aircraft · CPC title

• G01S13/86

  Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder · CPC title

• G01S7/04

  Display arrangements · CPC title

• Y02A90/10

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

• G01S13/87

  Combinations of radar systems, e.g. primary radar and secondary radar · CPC title