| CPC G08G 5/065 (2013.01) [B64D 47/08 (2013.01); G06V 20/20 (2022.01); G08G 5/0021 (2013.01)] | 11 Claims |
|
1. An airport ramp area ground movement system for electric taxi drive system-equipped aircraft that integrates a pilot wearable head-up display system with an external aircraft monitoring system to enable pilots of the equipped aircraft to remain head up while safely maneuvering the aircraft with the electric taxi drive systems within the airport ramp area, comprising:
a. a ramp area in an airside area of an airport structured to accommodate multiple arriving and departing aircraft, passenger loading bridges, ground service vehicles, and ground service personnel;
b. aircraft equipped for pilot-controlled ground travel with landing gear wheel-mounted electric taxi drive systems driven within the ramp area by pilots controlling the electric taxi drive systems;
c. one or more programmable pilot head-up display systems responsive to pilot head movements, each said pilot head-up display system comprising at least a wearable head-mounted element supporting a display element viewable by pilots wearing said head-up display systems located in cockpits of said equipped aircraft and responsive to changes in pilot head position and being programmable to receive identical or different displays of said actual real time three-dimensional panoramic images of said volume of ramp space directly from said integrated monitoring system and indirectly from said processing system;
d. an equipped aircraft external monitoring system integrated with said one or more pilot head-up display systems comprising single or multiple scanning monitoring devices positioned in exterior surface locations on said equipped aircraft and operable to produce and transmit actual real time three-dimensional panoramic images of at least a volume of ramp space adjacent to said equipped aircraft extending from said ramp ground surface to just above wings of said equipped aircraft not visible to said pilots in said cockpits directly or indirectly to said programmable pilot head-up display systems, further comprising the single or multiple scanning monitoring devices positioned in equipped aircraft exterior surface locations to provide a view from a nose to a tailskid of the aircraft; and
e. a processing system in communication with said one or more programmable pilot head-up display systems and with said integrated monitoring system to process and transmit said actual real time three-dimensional panoramic images of said volume of ramp space communicated to said processing system by said integrated monitoring system and then to transmit the processed actual real time three-dimensional panoramic images from the processing system to the pilot head-up display systems as the at least one pilot maintains the head-up position, views the processed real time three-dimensional panoramic images received from the processing system, and maneuvers the equipped aircraft through the ramp area in response to the viewed images to avoid collisions and adverse incidents, wherein said processing system comprises a processor located onboard said equipped aircraft in communication with said integrated monitoring system and with said one or more programmable pilot head-up display systems or a processor located offboard said equipped aircraft in communication with an onboard processor and with said one or more programmable pilot head-up display systems.
|