Automated flight operations system

• US 10,049,508 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2016
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Satcom Direct, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Satcom Direct, Inc.
• Inventors: Jensen, James, Natwick, Jason, Romano, Greg, Rudloff, Brian, Greenhill, David, Donahue, Derek, Moore, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Hilgendorf, Dale W
• Application Number:
  US15/373,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20170124780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 613 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/40 Maintaining or repairing aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station

Abstract

Systems and methods for integrating data related to aircraft operations such as data from flight logs, flight tracker, maintenance, connectivity, router into modules, for a specific aircraft that can be communicated to and displayed on a single device display in real-time. Systems and methods for integrating data related to aircraft operations into modules, that is both aircraft-specific (engine data, take-off and landing times) and personnel specific (i.e. crew scheduling, passenger manifestos), that includes a web-based interface which incorporates multiple data fields, and can display and communicate on devices, including but not limited to desktop computers, portable devices, such as smart phones, tablets and laptops.

Claims

1. A system for integrating data related to aircraft operations solely from a single aircraft on a single ground display, comprising:

a flight log module for recording flight log data of the single aircraft;

a flight scheduling module for viewing and establishing a flight schedule of the single aircraft;

a flight tracker module for recording flight tracker data of the single aircraft;

a maintenance module for recording maintenance data of the single aircraft;

a connectivity module for recording connectivity data and usage data of devices solely on the single aircraft in real time, the connectivity module displays which devices are connected along with connectivity status in real time; and

a router module solely for recording data from different systems between the devices and an onboard router in the single aircraft and the ground, wherein all data from the flight log module, the flight tracker module, the maintenance module, the connectivity module and the router module solely related to the single aircraft are all displayed on the single ground display in real-time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the flight log data includes take off and landing time data of the single aircraft.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the flight tracker data includes location data of the single aircraft in real time.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the maintenance data includes maintenance records of the single aircraft.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the connectivity status includes real time connectivity status of datalink, internet, router, and voice links.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the connectivity module further provides alerts of connectivity outages, and tracks voice and data usage from the single aircraft by at least one of month, flight and duration.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a web service for connecting data to the modules.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the single ground display is selected from one of at least a desktop computer, a smart phone, and a portable computer.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the router module includes communication between the onboard router of the single aircraft with the single ground display, wherein the router module is monitoring all the connected devices on the single aircraft, and provides for shutting down selected devices on the specific aircraft to free up bandwidth for at least one of higher priority devices and higher priority users, all from the ground.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the single aircraft is a single corporate aircraft.

11. A method for integrating data related to aircraft operations solely from a single aircraft on a single ground display, comprising the steps of:

providing a flight log module for recording the flight log data of the single aircraft;

a flight scheduling module for viewing and establishing a flight schedule of the single aircraft;

providing a flight tracker module for recording flight tracker data of the single aircraft;

providing a maintenance module for recording maintenance data of the single aircraft;

providing a connectivity module for recording connectivity data and usage data of devices solely on the single aircraft in real time, the connectivity module displays which devices are connected along with connectivity status in real time;

providing a router module for recording data from different systems between the devices and an onboard router solely onboard the single aircraft and the ground; and

displaying all data from the flight log module, the flight tracker module, the maintenance module, the connectivity module, and the router module on said single ground display in real-time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the flight log data includes take off and landing time data of the single aircraft.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the flight tracker data includes location data of the single aircraft in real time.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the maintenance data includes maintenance records of the single aircraft.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the connectivity data includes usage data of devices on the single aircraft in real time.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

providing a web service for connecting data to the modules.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the displaying step includes the step of:

displaying data from the modules on the single ground display selected from one of at least a smart phone, a tablet and a laptop computer.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing the connectivity module includes the steps of:

providing real time connectivity status of datalink, internet, router, and voice links.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of providing the connectivity module further includes the steps of:

providing alerts of connectivity outages; and

tracking voice and data usage from the single aircraft by at least one of month, flight and duration.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing the router module includes the steps of:

communicating between the onboard router of the single aircraft and the ground; and

monitoring all the devices connected on the single aircraft to allow any selected devices on the single aircraft to be shut down to free up bandwidth for at least one of higher priority devices and higher priority users, all from the ground.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the single aircraft is a single corporate aircraft.