Wireless, frequency-agile spread spectrum ground link-based aircraft data communication system
First Claim
1. A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising:
- a first data store which is coupled to a digital flight data acquisition unit of said aircraft and is operative to store aircraft flight data information supplied thereby; and
a first transceiver, coupled to said first data store, and being operative to download said aircraft flight data via a first, radio frequency (RF) communication link to a second transceiver at an airfield.
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Abstract
A flight information communication system has a plurality of RF direct sequence spread spectrum ground data links that link respective aircraft-resident subsystems, in each of which a copy of its flight performance data is stored, with airport-located subsystems. The airport-located subsystems are coupled by way communication paths, such as land line telephone links, to a remote flight operations control center. At the flightoperations control center, flight performance data downlinked from plural aircraft parked at different airports is analyzed. In addition, the flight control center may be employed to direct the uploading of in-flight data files, such as audio, video and navigation files from the airport-located subsystems to the aircraft.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising:
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a first data store which is coupled to a digital flight data acquisition unit of said aircraft and is operative to store aircraft flight data information supplied thereby; and
a first transceiver, coupled to said first data store, and being operative to download said aircraft flight data via a first, radio frequency (RF) communication link to a second transceiver at an airfield. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft, said flight performance data being supplied by a digital flight data acquisition unit to a flight data recorder on board said aircraft, comprising:
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an auxiliary data store which is coupled to a digital flight data acquisition unit of said aircraft exclusive of said flight data recorder and is operative to store said aircraft flight data information supplied thereby; and
a first transceiver, coupled to said first data store, and being operative to download said aircraft flight data via a first, RF communication link to a second transceiver at an airfield-based subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing on board said aircraft flight performance data supplied by way of a flight data acquisition unit to which sensors that monitor flight parameters of said aircraft are coupled; and
(b) at the completion of a flight of said aircraft, transmitting signals representative of the flight performance data stored in step (a), via an RF communication link from said aircraft to an airfield-based subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A method of communicating between a first site and a plurality of second sites comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a plurality of wireless bidirectional communication links between said first site and said plurality of second sites;
(b) at said first site, broadcasting a first spread spectrum signal within an unlicensed frequency band;
(c) at a respective second site monitoring said spread spectrum signal broadcast in step (b) and transmitting a second spread spectrum signal to said second site, said second spread spectrum signal having its power level adjusted in accordance with information contained within said first spread spectrum signal. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification