Pictorial Display in Aircraft Navigation and Landing

The 15-year general plan formulated by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics for developing and installing a comprehensive air-navigation system in the United States requires, among other things, ground and airborne "pictorial situation display." This display is to appear on the ground and in aircraft cockpits, and is to be used in the traffic-control zone, during landing, and to control taxiing on the surface of the airport. Displays for traffic control and instrument landing are illustrated. It is shown that, in traffic control, the picture can be used merely as a means of monitoring some other method of control and of enabling the pilot to avoid collisions with other aircraft; or the picture can constitute the primary method of presenting traffic-control instructions to the pilot. Moving-block and fixed-block traffic-control patterns were flown by many pilots in a teleran Link trainer with favorable results. Teleran is discussed to indicate the nature and solution of some problems typical of pictorial display in aviation. Developments are described pertaining to self-identification in the picture, use of graphechon storage tubes, altitude coding, and picture brightness. After additional and varied developments, requiring several years for completion, it should be possible to select optimum methods for providing pictorial display.