Display system of an aircraft, able to display a horizon line able to be deformed and related method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9725188-B2
Application number	US-201615189923-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2016
Priority date	Jun 24, 2015
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A display system of an aircraft, able to display a horizon line able to be deformed and related method are provided. The display system includes a display unit; and an assembly for generating a display on the display unit, able to dynamically display, on the display unit, at least one horizon line and a slope scale relative to the horizon line. Upon approaching a landing strip, the display generator is able to create, on the horizon line, a region that is deformed as a function of the topographical slope of the landing strip approached by the aircraft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A display system of an aircraft, comprising:
a display unit; and
a display generator for generating a display on the display unit, configured to dynamically display, on the display unit, at least one horizon line and a slope scale of a slope relative to the horizon line, upon approaching a landing strip the display generator being configured to create, on the horizon line, a region that is deformed as a function of a topographical slope of the landing strip approached by the aircraft.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the display generator includes a calculator for calculating a local deformation of the horizon line in the deformed region, as a function of a topographical slope determined from at least one piece of topographical information characteristic of the landing strip, the topographical information coming from a database or being measured.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein, in a first movement phase of the aircraft at a distance from the landing strip, the display generator is configured to calculate the local deformation of the horizon line in the deformed region as a function of a topographical slope determined from at least one piece of topographical information from a database, and wherein, in a second movement phase of the aircraft above the landing strip, the display generator is configured to calculate the local deformation of the horizon line in the deformed region as a function of a topographical slope determined from a measured piece of topographical information.

4. The system according to claim 2 wherein the calculator is configured to query a database of landing strips, the database comprising at least one piece of topographical information corresponding to each landing strip.

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein the database includes, for each landing strip, a first piece of topographical information for a runway threshold altitude, a second piece of topographical information for an end-of-runway altitude, and a third piece of topographical information for a runway length, the topographical slope being calculated as a function of the first piece of topographical information, the second piece of topographical information and the third piece of topographical information, or wherein the database includes a topographical slope profile along the landing strip, the topographical slope being determined along the landing strip from the topographical slope profile.

6. The system according to claim 2 wherein the calculator is configured to recover data from a sensor measuring the slope of the airplane and a sensor measuring a height of the aircraft relative to the ground, and to calculate the topographical slope, based on data received from the sensor measuring the airplane slope and the sensor measuring the height of the aircraft relative to the ground.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein the display generator is configured to display, on the display unit, a speed vector symbol, indicating the slope of the aircraft on the slope scale, a width of the deformed region on the horizon line configured to be displayed by the display generator being greater than the width of the speed vector symbol.

8. The system according to claim 7 wherein the deformed region on the horizon line, configured to be displayed by the display generator, is horizontally centered on the speed vector symbol.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the deformed region on the horizon line configured to be displayed by the display generator is in the form of an indentation, having a height, considered relative to the horizon line, depending on the topographical slope of the landing strip.

10. The system according to claim 1 wherein the deformed region on the horizon line configured to be displayed by the display generator has a curved shape, the curved shape having an apex at a height, considered relative to the horizon line, depending on the topographical slope of the landing strip.

11. The system according to claim 10 wherein the curved shape is a bump shape.

12. The system according to claim 1 wherein the display generator is configured to display a flare guidance symbol horizontally across from the deformed region.

13. The system according to claim 1 wherein, when the topographical slope of the landing strip is non-null and positive, the deformed region of the horizon line created by the display generator extends upward, and wherein when the topographical slope of the landing strip is non-null and negative, the deformed region of the horizon line created by the display generator extends downward.

14. The system according to claim 1 wherein the display unit is an at least partially transparent display unit, such as a semitransparent screen placed in front of a windshield of the cockpit, a projector for projecting images on the windshield of the cockpit, a semitransparent sunshade, a helmet visor or a semitransparent glass close to the eye.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the at least partially transparent display unit is a semitransparent screen placed in front of a windshield of the cockpit.

16. A display method in an aircraft comprising:
providing the system according to claim 1 ; and
upon approaching the landing strip, generating and displaying, on the display unit via the display generator, the deformed region of the horizon line as a function of the topographical slope of the approached landing strip.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein the generating and displaying of the deformed region comprises calculating a local deformation of the horizon line in the deformed region, as a function of at least one piece of topographical information characteristic of the landing strip from a database or that is measured.

Assignees

• Dassault Aviat

Inventors

• Lepage Sébastien
• Baudson Olivier
• Turpin Arnaud

Classifications

• G09G2380/12

  Avionics applications · CPC title

• B64C33/02

  Wings; Actuating mechanisms therefor · CPC title

• G02B27/0101

  characterised by optical features (G02B27/0172 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09G3/002

  to project the image of a two-dimensional display, such as an array of light emitting or modulating elements or a CRT · CPC title

• G01C23/005 Primary

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