Patent ID: 7698058

Claim:
A terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) for an aircraft, the TAWS comprising: a terrain information database configured to store a plurality of data cells corresponding to elevation information for a terrain region; a terrain buffer configured to receive and store data cells corresponding to a portion of the terrain region; a look-ahead warning generator configured to receive indications of terrain clearance alerts and communicate the indications by at least one of a visual display and an aural warning; and a processor coupled to each of the terrain information database, the terrain buffer, and the look-ahead warning generator, the processor configured to— identify a search vector based at least upon a position of the aircraft and a velocity of the aircraft, search the data cells stored within the terrain buffer in a predetermined prioritized order to compare a projected altitude of the aircraft with the elevation information associated with the searched cells, and based on the comparison, provide an indication of a terrain clearance alert to the look-ahead warning generator, wherein the predetermined prioritized order includes searching at least a first cell on the search vector, then searching at least a second cell adjacent the search vector, and then searching at least a third cell on the search vector ahead of the first cell.