Patent attributes
Aircraft system and method detecting and present information relating to adverse airborne phenomena along an aircraft flight route. An imaging unit that includes an IR detector and a tunable spectral filter acquires IR images of the external environment, by acquiring wideband IR images when operating in a first mode and narrowband IR images respective of difference IR spectral bands when operating in a second mode. A data analysis unit detects and determines characteristics of adverse airborne phenomena in the environment based on at least the spectral signatures of environmental features in the acquired narrowband IR images. A display unit dynamically displays a visual representation of the detected adverse airborne phenomenon and its determined characteristics, overlaid onto a view of the external environment displayed to an operator of the aircraft. The visual representation may include variable visual attributes representing respective categories of characteristics of the detected adverse airborne phenomenon.