Cost reduction system and method for flight data recording

• US 20060069477A1
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teledyne Controls, LLC (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Teledyne Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Nahapetian, Armen
• Granted Patent: US 7,774,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• 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 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A method and system for acquiring aircraft parameters that includes sampling an aircraft parameter during a first sampling period, recording the full value of the aircraft parameter sampled during the first sampling period, then sampling the aircraft parameter during a fixed number of subsequent consecutive sampling periods, and recording the change between the value of the aircraft parameter sampled in the subsequent sampling periods and the value of the aircraft parameter sampled in the prior sampling period. A method and system for constructing a data stream that includes merging a voluntary data stream and the mandatory parameters and storing the merged data stream in a flight data recorder while maintaining the certification of the flight data recorder.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring aircraft parameters, the method comprising:

sampling an aircraft parameter during a first sampling period;

recording the full value of the aircraft parameter sampled during the first sampling period;

sampling the aircraft parameter during a limited and fixed number of subsequent sampling periods, wherein the subsequent sampling periods consecutively follow the first sampling period; and

recording the change between the value of the aircraft parameter sampled in the subsequent sampling periods and the value of the aircraft parameter sampled in the prior sampling period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the change comprises recording the difference between a value of the aircraft parameter sampled in a current sampling period and a value of the aircraft parameter sampled in a previous sampling period.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining aircraft parameters to be sampled.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a sampling period.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a sampling frame, wherein the sampling frame comprises at least one sampling period.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a number of bits to allocate for recording the aircraft parameter during the first sampling period.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a maximum change that the aircraft parameter may undergo between two sampling periods.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising allocating a volume of storage for recording the aircraft parameter'"'"'s full value during the first sampling period and the recording the maximum change of the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value between two sampling periods.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising allocating a volume of storage for recording the aircraft parameter over a sampling frame, wherein the sampling frame comprises at least one sampling period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the volume of storage per frame for the aircraft parameter is allocated according to:

B+b(S−

1)

wherein “

S”

is a predetermined number of samples over the sampling frame, “

B”

is a predetermined number of bits for recording the full actual value of the aircraft parameter, and “

b”

is the number of bits required to record the difference between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value in a current sampling period and its value in a previous sampling period, and wherein “

b<

B”

.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the change between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in a sampling period and the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in the prior sampling period further comprises recording a percentage change in the aircraft parameter between consecutive sampling periods.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the change between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in a sampling period and the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in the prior sampling period further comprises recording a logarithmic representation of the change in the aircraft parameter between consecutive sampling periods.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the change between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in a sampling period and the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in the prior sampling period further comprises recording a known function of the change in the aircraft parameter between consecutive sampling periods.

14. A system for acquiring aircraft parameters data, the system comprising:

a data acquisition unit; and

a flight data recorder in communication therewith;

wherein a sampling function of the data acquisition unit is disassociated from a data recording function of the flight data recorder.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data acquisition unit samples an aircraft parameter during a first sampling period and the flight data recorder records the aircraft parameter'"'"'s full value sampled during the first sampling period;

and

wherein the data acquisition unit samples the aircraft parameter during limited and fixed number of subsequent sampling periods, wherein the subsequent sampling periods consecutively follows the first sampling period, and

the flight data recorder records the change between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in the subsequent sampling period and the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value sampled in the previous sampling period.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the flight data recorder records the difference between a value of the aircraft parameter sampled in a current sampling period and a value of the aircraft parameter sampled in a previous sampling period.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the flight data recorder allocates a volume of storage for recording the aircraft parameter'"'"'s full value during the first sampling period and the difference between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value in the first and subsequent sampling periods.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the flight data recorder allocates a volume of storage for recording the aircraft parameter over a sampling frame, wherein the sampling frame comprises at least one sampling period.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the flight data recorder allocates the volume of storage per frame for the aircraft parameter according to:

B+b(S−

1)

wherein “

S”

is a predetermined number of samples over the sampling frame, “

B”

is a predetermined number of bits for recording the full actual value of the aircraft parameter, and “

b”

is the number of bits required to record the change between the aircraft parameter'"'"'s value in a current sampling period and its value in a previous sampling period, and wherein “

b<

B”

.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the flight data recorder records a percentage change in the aircraft parameter between consecutive sampling periods.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the flight data recorder records a logarithmic representation of the difference in the aircraft parameter between consecutive sampling periods.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the flight data recorder records a known function representing the change in the aircraft parameter between consecutive sampling periods

23. A system for recording aircraft parameter data, the system comprising:

a voluntary data acquisition function;

a mandatory data acquisition unit in communication therewith for receiving a voluntary data stream and combining the stream with the mandatory parameters into a single merged data stream; and

a flight data recorder in communication with the mandatory acquisition unit, wherein the flight data recorder is for storing the merged data stream;

wherein merging the voluntary data stream with the mandatory data does not adversely affect the recording of the mandatory data and does not require the re-certification of the flight data recorder.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a voluntary data recorder in communication with the mandatory acquisition unit.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the merged data stream is recorded in the voluntary data recorder.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the mandatory data acquisition unit further comprises input ports for receiving the voluntary and mandatory data streams.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the input ports are any one of a DIT429 and ARINC717 data port.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the voluntary data acquisition unit is an ACMS/FOQA data acquisition unit.

29. A method for constructing a data stream, comprising:

merging a voluntary data stream and a mandatory data;

storing the merged data stream in a flight data recorder;

wherein the merged data stream maintains the certification of the flight data recorder.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

capturing the voluntary data stream with a voluntary acquisition unit; and

capturing the mandatory data stream with a mandatory acquisition unit.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein merging the voluntary data stream and the mandatory data stream comprises merging the two data streams in the mandatory data acquisition unit.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising storing the merged data stream in a voluntary data recorder.