Patent ID: 8120548

Claim:
A system for illuminating a target on an aircraft windshield corresponding to a three-dimensional location outside of an aircraft, such system comprising: a source of navigation data; a source of three-dimensional location data; a control processor configured to receive navigation data representative of at least aircraft position and heading, receive three-dimensional location data of at least one exterior target, determine an angle to each exterior target, determine a track angle if not included in the navigation data, generate control data as a function of a plurality of cockpit references, the angle to each exterior target, and the track angle, wherein the control data comprises data representative of a lateral target measurement for laterally positioning a beam on an aircraft windshield target for each exterior target, and provide the control data to an illumination source; and the illumination source configured to receive the control data, and position each beam on the aircraft windshield target in response to the control data, whereby the aircraft windshield target corresponds to the position through which a pilot can observe a visual object corresponding to each exterior target.