Declutter of graphical TCAS targets to improve situational awareness
Traffic collision and avoidance systems and methods for a host aircraft. The system receives traffic information from one or more target aircraft, determines threat levels of target aircraft associated with the received traffic information, generates one or more objects based on the determined threat levels and a pre-defined threat level, and displays the generated one or more objects that are associated with threat levels within the pre-defined threat level. A first indicator that indicates lateral position relative to the host aircraft and a second indicator that indicates vertical direction of travel of the associated target aircraft are also displayed.
1. A traffic collision and avoidance method for a host aircraft, the method comprising:
receiving traffic collision and avoidance information from one or more targets;
filtering the one or more targets based on a threshold value; and
displaying one or more objects that are associated with one or more target aircraft that remain after filtering on a vertical situation display,
wherein displaying includes displaying the objects in one of two or more sizes based on threat level information included in the traffic collision and avoidance information and presenting in a vertical profile view; and
wherein the threshold value includes a position threshold value and a threat threshold value,
wherein displaying includes indicating lateral direction relative to the host aircraft using a graphical object having an equator line, the equator line includes two halves, when a first one of the two halves is displayed in a first manner, the associated target aircraft is laterally left of the host aircraft, when the second one of the two halves is displayed in the first manner, the associated target aircraft is laterally right of the host aircraft, when one of the halves is displayed in the first manner, the other halve is displayed in a different manner.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein filtering includes filtering based on a direction vector information included in the received traffic collision and avoidance information and a direction vector of the host aircraft.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying includes indicating vertical direction of travel of the associated target aircraft.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein indicating threat level includes displaying the object in one of two or more colors based on an identified threat level.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the colors include at least two of blue, amber, red or cyan.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying includes displaying the object in one of two or more transparency levels based on angular information included in the traffic collision and avoidance information.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying includes displaying the object in one of two or more color fade levels based on angular information included in the traffic collision and avoidance information.
8. A traffic collision and avoidance system for a host aircraft, the system comprising:
a receiver for receiving traffic information from one or more target aircraft;
a processor coupled to the receiver for determining threat levels of target aircraft associated with the received traffic information, filtering the one or more target aircraft based on a threshold value, and generating one or more objects based on the filtering; and
a vertical situation display coupled to the processor for displaying the generated one or more objects that are associated with threat levels within the pre-defined threat level,
wherein the displayed objects are displayed in one of two or more sizes based on threat level information and are presented in a vertical profile view; and
wherein the threshold value includes a position threshold value and a threat threshold value,
wherein each of the displayed objects includes a graphical object having an equator line, the equator line includes two halves, when a first one of the two halves is displayed in a first manner, the associated target aircraft is laterally left of the host aircraft, when the second one of the two halves is displayed in the first manner, the associated target aircraft is laterally right of the host aircraft, when one of the halves is displayed in the first manner, the other half is displayed in a different manner.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor filters based on a direction vector information included in the received traffic collision and avoidance information and a direction vector of the host aircraft.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the displayed objects include a second indicator for indicating vertical direction of travel of the associated target aircraft.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the displayed objects are displayed in one of two or more colors based on the threat level.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the colors include at least two of blue, amber, red, or cyan.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the displayed objects are displayed in one of two or more transparency levels based on angular information included in the traffic collision and avoidance information.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the displayed objects are displayed in one of two or more color fade levels based on angular information included in the traffic collision and avoidance information.