Methods and systems for detecting forward obstacles

摘要

Methods and apparatus for detecting obstacles in the flight path of an air vehicle are described. The air vehicle utilizes a radar altimeter incorporating a forward looking antenna and an electronic digital elevation map to provide precision terrain aided navigation. The method comprises determining a position of the air vehicle on the digital elevation map, selecting an area of the digital elevation map in the flight path of the air vehicle, based at least in part on the determined air vehicle position, and scanning the terrain representing the selected map area with the forward looking antenna. The method also comprises combining the digital elevation map data for the selected map area with radar return data for the scanned, selected area and displaying the combined data to provide a representation of the terrain and obstacles in the forward flight path of the air vehicle.