US Patent 11561327 Real-time lightning monitor for synthetic vision systems (SVS)

An aircraft-based synthetic vision system (SVS) is disclosed. In embodiments, the SVS includes avionics processors in communication with onboard lightning detection sensors, which provide the SVS with real-time lightning data (e.g., bearing to, and distance from, the aircraft) about proximate lightning strikes. Based on the real-time lightning data, the avionics processors generate flight deck effects (FDE) corresponding to identified areas of lightning activity (e.g., a sufficient quantity of strikes, exceeding a strike threshold, within a particular airspace during a time window), each FDE having a particular bearing to and distance from the aircraft. The FDE data is processed by a display system aboard the aircraft (e.g., a cockpit-based primary flight display (PFD) or head-worn/heads-up display (HWD/HUD)) which incorporates the generated FDEs into the SVS status display provided to the flight crew or pilot at the appropriate bearing and distance relative to the aircraft.