Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Aeronautical vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-28
2001-09-04
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Aeronautical vehicle
C701S015000, C701S016000, C244S075100, C340S973000, C340S979000, C073S17800T
Reexamination Certificate
active
06285926
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to aircraft control systems and, more particularly, to a display indicating the relation between the current altitude of the aircraft and a selected hover altitude of the aircraft.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Military and civilian vertical take off aircraft, such as helicopters and jump jets, spend a part of flight time in a hover condition. In some cases, the aircraft is hovering over unprepared surfaces with few references to maintain a desired altitude. Providing altitude references or cues to the pilot of the aircraft, historically, has been limited to analog dials on board the aircraft with varying scales and resolution. Some graphical displays have been developed, yet these fail to provide the resolution in altitude to be of practical use.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a display that indicates a selected hover altitude and the difference between the current altitude of the aircraft, and the selected hover altitude. There is also a need to provide a display that graphically illustrates the current position of the aircraft with respect to a selected hover altitude. The hover altitude deviation display should be able to display the selected hover altitude and the difference between the selected hover altitude and the actual altitude of the aircraft as well as display graphically the position of the aircraft, above or below, the selected hover altitude within limits selected by the pilot or designed in the display system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a selected hover altitude deviation display and method for displaying the difference between the current altitude of an aircraft and a selected hover altitude on a multi-functional display unit that includes a compass rose and an aircraft symbol. An altitude sensor generates current altitude data, which is transmitted to a computer processing unit together with a selected hover altitude. The selected hover altitude is determined by the pilot of the aircraft. The selected hover altitude is displayed as a static, analog symbolic representation on the multi-functional display unit. The hover altitude deviation is displayed as a dynamic, analog symbolic representation of the difference between the current altitude of the aircraft and the selected hover altitude. With the selected hover altitude deviation display of the present invention, the pilot can readily see if his aircraft is above or below a selected hover altitude without relying on external visual reference cues.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description, appended drawings and accompanying claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4645141 (1987-02-01), McElreath
patent: 5150117 (1992-09-01), Hamilton et al.
patent: 5296854 (1994-03-01), Hamilton et al.
patent: 5978715 (1999-11-01), Briffe et al.
Marks Michael J.
Weiler David J.
Beaulieu Yonel
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Eppele Kyle
Jensen Nathan O.
Rockwell Collins
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