Automated avionics testing

• US 10,270,482 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2016
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Dishon, John, Edmison, Joshua N., Mergen, John-Francis, Leuschner, Zachary, Wood, Kerry, Waisel, Laurie, Shake, Tyler
• Primary Examiner(s): Garcia, Carlos
• Application Number:
  US15/375,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20170288789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 862 Days
• Field of Search: 340 101
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/04 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits

Abstract

An SDR system and method that intentionally illuminates aircraft systems with RF energy having specific characteristics (e.g., frequency, power, waveform, directionality, duration, etc.) are provided. The aircraft systems act as non-linear mixers and emit non-linear RF energy. A receiver receives the RF energy response and generates an RF energy representation that is correlated to a database of baseline responses. A correlation response between the received RF energy representation and any one of the baseline responses from the database provides an indication of the aircraft system status.

Claims

1. A software defined radio (SDR) system to remotely analyze avionics, the system comprising:

transmitter circuitry configured to illuminate the avionics with intentional radio frequency (RF) energy to produce forced non-linear emissions that radiate from the avionics as an RF energy response;

receiver circuitry configured to receive the RF energy response and generate a received RF energy representation;

correlation and analysis circuitry to correlate the received RF energy representation with a baseline response representative of known good avionics and output an avionics status; and

a baseline database coupled to the correlation and analysis circuitry, the baseline database comprising (a) a plurality of cockpit profiles and their respective, associated known good RF energy representations, (b) an avionics powered on or powered off state indication and a software version indication of avionics software stored with each associated known good RF energy representation, and (c) the baseline response.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the correlation and analysis circuitry is further configured to compare the received RF energy representation to the plurality of baseline responses stored in the database in response to the received cockpit profile.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a controller configured to control the transmitter circuitry to transmit the intentional RF energy at a frequency, a range of frequencies, or a multi-tone emission in response to the received cockpit profile.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the avionics are in a powered on state such that the intentional RF energy mixes with operational electromagnetic signals in the aircraft systems.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a controller coupled to the transmitter circuitry, the receiver circuitry and the correlation and analysis circuitry, the controller configured to receive a cockpit profile from an input device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the input device is a keypad, keyboard, or touchscreen display.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising output circuitry coupled to the correlation and analysis circuitry to output the avionics status, the output circuitry comprising at least one of a display, a printer, or a voice response system.

8. A method for remotely determining avionics status, the method comprising:

illuminating the avionics with intentional radio frequency (RF) energy from transmitter circuitry that outputs configured electromagnetic energy to produce forced non-linear emissions that radiate from the target device as an RF energy response;

receiving the RF energy response using receiver circuitry;

converting the RF energy response to a received RF energy representation;

accessing a database storing (a) a plurality of baseline responses, (b) a plurality of cockpit profiles and their respective, associated known good RF energy representations, (c) an avionics powered on or powered off state indication and (d) a software version indication of avionics software stored with each associated known good RF energy representation;

correlating the received RF energy representation with the plurality of baseline responses; and

outputting the avionics status in response to the correlation of the received RF energy representation with the plurality of baseline responses.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining a status of the software version of at least one of the aircraft systems.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating a cockpit profile of the plurality of cockpit profiles of the aircraft systems in response to user inputs of aircraft avionics installed in the aircraft.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating the plurality of cockpit profiles, each with an associated RF energy representation; and

storing the plurality of cockpit profiles and their respective, associated RF energy representations in the database.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by control circuitry of a software defined radio (SDR), the instructions cause the control circuitry to:

illuminate avionics using transmitter circuitry that outputs intentional radio frequency (RF) energy to produce forced non-linear emissions that radiate from the avionics as an RF energy response;

receive the RF energy response using receiver circuitry;

convert the RF energy response to a received RF energy representation;

access a database of baseline responses to correlate the received RF energy representation with the database of baseline responses, the database further includes (a) a plurality of cockpit profiles and their respective, associated known good RF energy representations, (b) an avionics powered on or powered off state indication and (c) a software version indication of avionics software stored with each associated known good RF energy representation; and

determine a status of the avionics based on the correlation of the received RF energy representation and the database of baseline responses.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the control circuitry to cause correlation and analysis circuitry to access the database over a wireless channel.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the control circuitry to cause the correlation and analysis circuitry to output a status of the avionics over a wireless channel.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the control circuitry to generate the database of baseline responses wherein each baseline response is associated with a different cockpit profile.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the control circuitry to receive a cockpit profile representing the avionics.