Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Aeronautical vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-13
2003-03-25
Arthur, Gertrude (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Aeronautical vehicle
C701S007000, C701S013000, C340S438000, C244S158700, C244S164000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06539291
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention pertains to an aircraft-mounted air turbulence warning system in which a measuring device mounted on the aircraft is used to collect air turbulence data, and also random atmosphere simulation is used to supplement the amount of data, thereby predicting air turbulence and emitting a warning based on the collected data.
BACKGROUND ART
The following applications have already been submitted in relation to an aircraft-mounted air turbulence warning system.
JP-A-5-508930 discloses a radar device in which a determination as to whether to perform a warning or not is made based on whether or not a wind shear velocity detected by radar is within a specified range.
Further, JP-A-6-500860 discloses a radar system in which air turbulence is determined to exist in the case when deviations in wind velocity detected by aircraft-mounted radar are greater than those in a case of non-turbulence or minor air turbulence with no danger.
Additionally, JP-A-6-500861 discloses a radar system in which a microburst is determined based on a wind velocity measured by an upper radar mounted on the aircraft and a wind shear is determined based on a wind velocity measured by a lower radar, in a case where the velocity exceeds a threshold.
FIG. 10
depicts a conventional aircraft-mounted air turbulence warning system. In
FIG. 10
, radar is used by the measuring unit
201
to measure airflow around the aircraft. The radar obtains a relative measurement value of the airflow in relation to the aircraft. For example, with reference to
FIG. 3
, a difference is obtained between an aircraft velocity vector
501
and an aircraft forward directional component
503
of an airflow velocity vector
502
. This differential is referred to hereinafter as a measured airflow velocity. Measurement of the measured airflow velocity is made at a plurality of points, and the velocity of the airflow toward each of the points is calculated from the aircraft velocity vector and the measured airflow velocity, so that, assuming that the wind velocity and wind direction are consistent across the various points, the airflow velocity vector can be calculated.
At a determination unit
203
a determination is made as to whether the aircraft is approaching dangerous air turbulence for which a warning should be made. In JP-A-5-508930 this determination is made, for example, based on shear wind velocity, and in JP-A-6-500860 the determination is made on wind velocity deviations, and in JP-A-6-500861 it is made on the wind velocity of the microburst core measured by the upper radar, and the wind velocity of the wind shear measured by the lower radar. The airflow velocity vector is derived from the measured airflow velocity and the aircraft velocity vector, and then reference is made to threshold information
202
to determine whether or not the aircraft is approaching dangerous air turbulence.
Threshold information
202
accumulates a range of values pertinent to the criteria used by the determination unit
203
. When the determination unit
203
has determined that the aircraft is approaching a turbulent airflow, a display unit
204
informs the user of that fact.
In an aircraft-mounted air turbulence warning system which uses a format mentioned above as the above prior art, an airflow model is prepared in advance, and the results obtained from measuring the surround airflow are then fitted into the model so that the determination as to whether the aircraft is approaching turbulent flow or not can be performed. For example, in Japanese Patent Translation Publication No. Hei 6-500861 mentioned above, using a model of a whirl and based on an assumption that the aircraft is in flight near a ground surface, which is to say a premise that the aircraft it is passing below a whirl created by airflow, and that a microburst core exists above it and a shear exists below, the measurement results are fitted into these, and when this fits a judgment is determined that the aircraft is approaching a turbulent flow.
Accordingly, in the case when the airflow model is not a precise model, for example, it is not known in advance in the case where the aircraft is flying at high altitudes, which part of the whirl of the air flow the aircraft will encounter, there was a problem that it was impossible to issue the warning.
The present invention was devised in order to solve such a problem; therefore, an object thereof is to obtain an aircraft-mounted air turbulence warning system in which an accumulation of actual data is used as a basis for performing in parallel fashion the building of models by classifying data, the selecting of a model by determining a class to which data belongs and the predicting of air turbulence, producing the result that it is possible to predict the turbulent flow even in the case when the airflow model is not clearly specified in advance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In an aircraft-mounted air turbulence warning system according to the present invention, there is provided a system in which a measuring device mounted on an aircraft is used to collect air current data for predicting air turbulence and issuing a warning based on this data, the system being provided with:
a parent unit having:
a precedent base for accumulating data notified from a plurality of child units;
an element data determination unit for processing the data in the precedent base, turning it into element data based on a predetermined designation of a range that is subject to this processing, and storing the element data is a classification precedent base;
an element data classification unit for creating an aggregation of element data based on results, which are written in the element data in the classification precedent base, of a determination as to whether the aircraft is to encounter air turbulence, classifying each element data aggregation to create a classification chart and recording this in the classification precedent base;
an element data change classification unit for determining which classification the element data in the classification precedent base belongs to and describing this as a change chart in the classification precedent base, and based on this change chart, summing changes of a classification identifier of each aircraft classification identifier, and calculating transition probabilities among the classifications and describing these as a status transition chart in the classification precedent base;
a classification precedent base for storing the element data, the classification chart, the change chart and the status transition chart; and
a display unit for displaying the change chart and the status transition chart;
and a child unit having:
a measurement unit for collecting the air current data and notifying the data to the precedent base;
a child unit element data determination unit for processing data collected by the measurement unit based on the subject range that was designated as being the subject of the processing and turning it into the element data, and outputting this to a child unit element data class determination unit;
the child unit element data classification determination unit for referencing a mixture distribution chart in the child unit classification precedent base, determining which element distribution in the mixture distribution chart each of the element data processed by the child unit element data determination unit should belong to and informing a child unit display unit of an element distribution identifier which it has determined; and also, referencing the status transition chart, obtaining transition probabilities from the element distribution to all of the element distributions, informing the child unit display unit of these transition probabilities, calculating a probability of encountering air turbulence based on the transition probabilities and whether or not the mixture distribution chart indicates an air turbulence encounter and informing this probability of encountering air turbulence to the child unit display unit;
the child unit classification precedent base for making a req
Kameyama Shunpei
Kise Wakasa
Tanaka Hidetoshi
Arthur Gertrude
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
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