Rockwell Collins, Inc.

Christopher L George

Timothy J Wittkop

Peggy Wu

Michael P Matessa

Wade T Johnson

Arjun Harsha Rao

Geoffrey A Shapiro

Steven E Koenck

Sarah Barber

Felix B Turcios

Bobby D Foote

Bryan C Schultz

William T Kirchner

Ramachandra J Sattigeri

Emily M Flaherty-Woods

An operator safety system (OSS) monitors the physiological well-being of an aircraft pilot or vehicle operator, and has engaged and disengaged operational states (the engaged state associated with active monitoring). The OSS includes a smart engage/disengage system incorporating presence sensors (e.g., visual, seat-based) installed in the cockpit or control area of the vehicle. When the presence sensors determine that the pilot/operator is no longer present in their seat but the OSS is still engaged, the OSS prompts the operator to disengage the OSS (e.g., via single-touch display interface or remotely to a mobile device). When the presence sensors determine that the operator is present or seated, but the OSS is disengaged, the OSS prompts the operator to re-engage the OSS.

Vehicle operator monitoring system with smart active engagement and disengagement

A system is described. The system may detect whether a user within a flight deck is authorized to control the aircraft. The user may receive differing levels of authority to control the aircraft depending on whether the user is authorized or unauthorized. The system may also control the aircraft depending on the various phases of the aircraft, including in flight and on the ground. The system may also be used to unlock the controls for the aircraft. The system may unlock the control using biometric information or nonbiometric information. The system may include a camera which is added to a flight deck. The camera may capture images of users within the flight deck. Faces within the images may be detected and compared against authorized users for locking or unlocking the aircraft controls.

System and method to detect authorized user

An aircraft-based pilot safety system (PSS) includes cameras or other gaze sensors fixed at an aircraft pilot and configured to capture an image stream focused on the pilot's eyes. The gaze sensors continually assess the gaze direction of the pilot (e.g., toward a display, instrument panel, and/or indicator within the cockpit that the pilot is currently looking at or focusing on) and thereby can establish when the pilot is executing a scan pattern and if that scan pattern is nominal for the current flight context by comparing the scan pattern to context-specific reference scan patterns. If, for example, the pilot's gaze deviates from where it should be (e.g., as determined by the current flight segment) or the current scan pattern is interrupted, the system may prompt the pilot to redirect their gaze or resume the scan pattern.

Pilot safety system with context-sensitive scan pattern monitoring and alerting

A computerized system for recognizing the need for cognitive tests due to a physiological event and administering such tests includes a plurality of biometric monitoring devices and a pilot input device. When a physiological event is identified, the system selects an appropriate battery of tests and automatically administers those tests. The system offers the opportunity to automate pilot evaluation for single pilot operations, and to reduce the burden on a co-pilot. The cognitive tests may be specific to the physiological event, and may be compared to a pilot-specific profile when evaluating the results.

Cognitive battery for return to service

A system may include a vehicle. The vehicle may include an array of haptic devices. The system may further include at least one processor configured to: determine a location of an object or occurrence relative to the user; based at least on the location of the object or occurrence relative to the user, select at least one haptic device of the array of haptic devices to be driven and function as a directional haptic alert to the user, wherein the directional haptic alert is indicative of a direction from the user toward the object or occurrence; and output at least one command to cause a driving of the selected at least one haptic device, wherein the driving of the selected at least one haptic device is perceivable by the user as the directional haptic alert.

Vehicular directional alerting system and method using haptic alerts and optional multi-modal alerts

A context driven alerting system and method is described in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The alerting system and method may consider a pilot's physiological, psychological, and behavioral state during a given mission context. The system may include biometric information which is fused with a context of the flight. The context may be based on one or more of a mission profile data or an aircraft state data. The fused data may be time synchronized and provided to an alerting algorithm. The alerting algorithm may then provide an alert to the pilot which includes a priority, intensity, frequency, or modality determined based on the fused information.

Context driven alerting

A pilot may be more stressed during take-off or landing, which is not abnormal. Physiological data of the pilot may be received. Placing the physiological data in context of the current situation may be advantageous in detecting anomalous behaviors of the pilot. A system and method are described. The system and method receive a stream of images from a camera and detect whether the pilot is exhibiting anomalous behavior. The anomalous behavior is further put into context based on the flight state and various avionics information.

Detecting anomalous behaviors within aircraft context

A head wearable device, a method, and a system. The head wearable device may include a transparent display and a non-transparent display. The transparent display may be implemented in or on the head wearable device. The transparent display may be configured to present first content to a user of the head wearable device. The non-transparent display may be implemented in or on the head wearable device. The non-transparent display may be configured to present second content to the user of the head wearable device. The non-transparent display may be viewable at least in part through the transparent display.

Head wearable device, system, and method

Head-worn displays are disclosed. A head-worn display may include at least one processor configured to determine a location of the head-worn display with respect to a real-world environment and to generate a conformal indicator conforming to an element in the real-world environment. The at least one processor may also be configured to generate a non-conformal indicator unconstrained by elements in the real-world environment. The head-worn display may include at least one display in communication with the at least one processor. The at least one display may be configured to display the conformal indicator and/or the non-conformal indicator generated by the at least one processor to a user.

Stereoscopic augmented reality head-worn display with indicator conforming to a real-world object

A system and related method for hybrid headtracking receives head-referenced pose data from a head-mounted IMU and platform-referenced or georeferenced position and orientation (pose) data from a platform-mounted IMU, determines error models corresponding to uncertainties associated with both IMUs, and performs an initial estimate of head pose relative to the platform reference frame based on the head-referenced and platform-referenced pose data. A numerically stable UD factorization of the Kalman filter propagates the estimated head pose data forward in time and corrects the initial head pose estimate (and may correct the error models associated with the head-mounted and platform-mounted IMUs) based on secondary head pose estimates, and corresponding error models, received from an optical or magnetic aiding device. The corrected head pose data is forward to a head-worn display to ensure high accuracy of displayed imagery and symbology.

Growing community of inventors

Winchester, VA, United States of America

Christopher L George