Aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system and use thereof

• US 10,075,228 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2013
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Latitude Technologies Corporation
• Original Assignee: Latitude Technologies Corporation
• Inventors: Klippert, Chad, Curtis, Timothy, Insley, Mark, Head, Bradley, Martin, David, Haustein, Gerry, Nugent, Andrew, Zarikoff, Brad
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Tan H
• Application Number:
  US14/761,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20160036513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,968 Days
• Field of Search: 455431, 455422, 455456, 455427, 455430, 455 9, 455297, 455 66, 455 412, 455 411, 701 14, 701 35, 701 3, 701 24, 70117016, 701 70, 701120, 701 9, 701 33, 701 29, 342 30, 342385, 370315, 370310, 370328, 370945, 370395, 709206, 709224, 709219, 709231, 295921, 29594, 340945, 340461, 340452, 340961, 340978, 3404255, 340 583, 340 58, 340974, 340971, 73 2901, 713156, 345619, 244190, 244189
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/42 for mass transport vehicles, e.g. buses, trains or aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

An aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system is provided. The system comprises: an onboard flight data recording and reporting unit; a zero-configuration service discoverer; a remote base station; a remote flight data monitoring storage and analysis unit; a wireless communication link; and a network, the wireless communication link and network for communications between the aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system and each of the base station and the flight data monitoring storage and analysis unit, wherein the zero-configuration service discoverer facilitates auto-discovering between the flight data recording and reporting unit and the base station.

Claims

1. An aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system, the system comprising:

an onboard flight data recording and reporting unit;

a remote flight data monitoring storage and analysis unit;

a base station, which is a software application, the software application configured to copy and cache data from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and relay the cached data to the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit;

a handheld device, the handheld device including the software application;

a Satcom (satellite communication) link for transfer of data from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit; and

Wi-Fi, a network and an internet network, wherein the Wi-Fi and the network are for transfer of data to and from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the base station; and

the internet network is for transfer of data to and from the base station and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the base station is configured to upload new configurations to the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and perform inertial measurement unit calibrations.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the base station is configured to retrieve “

last line read”

(ROSE functionality) from other systems that the flight data recording and reporting unit is recording.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the base station is an onboard base station.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the base station is a temporary base station.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the temporary base station is configured to autonomously detect, connect with and transfer data to and from the flight data recording and reporting unit.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the temporary base station is configured to autonomously instruct the flight data recording and reporting unit to delete data transferred to the remote flight data monitoring storage and analysis unit.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a Flight Management System Computer (FMSC), an input device connected to the FMSC, and a display device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit is configured to provide Flight Data Monitoring (FDM), including Air Data and Attitude Heading and Reference Systems (ADHRS), Quick Access Recorder (QAR), Wireless Data Link (WDL), Read Out Subscriber Equipment (ROSE), Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and engine data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit further comprises Finite State Machine heuristics monitoring and a real-time reporting system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the system is configured to provide post mission flight visualization.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a zero-configuration service discoverer, wherein the zero-configuration service discoverer is for auto-discovering and subsequent automated bidirectional communications between the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the temporary base station.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the temporary base station is configured to copy and cache Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) data, including Air Data and Attitude Heading and Reference Systems (ADHRS), Quick Access Recorder (QAR), Wireless Data Link (WDL), Read Out Subscriber Equipment (ROSE), Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data and engine data from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and relay the cached data to the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit.

14. An aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system, the system comprising:

an onboard flight data recording and reporting unit;

a remote flight data monitoring storage and analysis unit;

a base station, which is a software application, the software application configured for conducting service routines on the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit, for copying and caching data from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and for relaying data between the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit;

a mobile device, the mobile device selected from the group consisting of a cellular phone and a tablet, the mobile device including the software application;

a Satcom (satellite communication) link for transfer of data from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit; and

Wi-Fi, a network and an internet network, wherein the Wi-Fi and the network are for transfer of data to and from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the base station; and

the Internet network is for transfer of data to and from the base station and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the cellular phone and the tablet are an Android®

or an Apple®

.

16. An aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system, the system comprising:

an onboard flight data recording and reporting unit;

a remote flight data monitoring storage and analysis unit;

a base station, which is a software application, the software application configured to upload new configurations to the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit, perform inertial measurement unit calibrations, and relay data between the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit;

a handheld device, the handheld device including the software application;

a Satcom (satellite communication) link for transfer of data from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit; and

Wi-Fi, a network and an Internet network, wherein the Wi-Fi and the network are for transfer of data to and from the onboard flight data recording and reporting unit and the base station; and

the Internet network is for transfer of data to and from the base station and the remote flight data monitoring, storage and analysis unit.

17. The aircraft flight data monitoring and reporting system of claim 16, wherein the base station is configured to retrieve “

last line read”

(ROSE functionality) from other systems that the flight data recording and reporting unit is recording.