ACARS MESSAGES OVER IRIDIUM

• US 20070243867A1
• Filed: 06/22/2007
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARINC Incorporated (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: ARINC Incorporated (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: STEFANI, Rolf, GRAVES, Debra, PEMBERTON, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/431
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/0053 using visual equipment, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/0059 by communicating emergency situations to ground control or between crew members
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1965 the vehicle being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1966 Wireless systems, other than telephone systems, used to communicate with a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19684 Portable terminal, e.g. mobile phone, used for viewing video remotely
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/007 Details of data content structure of message packets; data protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A system in a method are provided for sending and receiving messages between a point located on the ground and a point located on an aircraft via an Iridium Short Burst Data Service. The messages may conform to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee (AEEC) Specification 618. The messages may be ground-to-air messages or air-to-ground messages. The messages may be ACARS messages and at least some of the messages may have a length exceeding a maximum payload of the Iridium Short Burst Data Service. ACARS messages, which exceed the maximum payload of the Iridium Short Burst Data Service may be segmented and each of the segments may be sent in respective Iridium Short Burst Data messages via the Iridium Short Burst Data Service. When the separate Iridium Short Burst Data messages are received, the segments may be combined to reconstruct the ACARS message for delivery to an intended destination.

Claims

1. A method for receiving messages, conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, from a ground-based data provider, the method comprising:

receiving, at a communication device aboard an aircraft, an Iridium Short Burst Data message sent via an Iridium Short Burst Data Service, the Iridium Short Burst Data message including at least a portion of a message conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 and an added header including an application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of applications to which the at least a portion of the message pertains; and

delivering the at least a portion of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, without the added header, to avionics equipment aboard the aircraft.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering the at least a portion of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, without the added header, to the avionics equipment aboard the aircraft, further comprises:

delivering the at least a portion of the message to the avionics equipment aboard the aircraft via an ARINC 429 communication bus connecting the communication device aboard the aircraft with the avionics equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the communication device aboard the aircraft, a second message from the avionics equipment, the second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618;

placing at least a portion of the second message with a second added header into a second Iridium Short Burst Data message, the second added header including a second application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of applications to which the at least a portion of the second message pertains; and

sending the Iridium Short Burst Data message via the Iridium Short Burst Data Service to a ground-based communication device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining whether a size of the second message exceeds a maximum payload size for the Iridium Short Burst Data Service;

segmenting the second message into a plurality of message segments when the size of the second message is determined to exceed the maximum payload size for the Iridium Short Burst Data Service;

adding respective second headers to each of the plurality of message segments; and

sending, to the ground-based communication device, each of the plurality of message segments, including the added respective second header, as respective Iridium Short Burst Data messages via the Iridium Short Burst Data Service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the respective second headers includes a message identifier associating each of the plurality of message segments with a particular message, and a respective segment offset indicating a placement of each of the plurality of message segments with respect to the second message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the communication device aboard the aircraft, a plurality of Iridium Short Burst Data messages, each of the plurality of Iridium Short Burst Data messages including a respective portion of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 and a respective added header, each of the respective added headers including an application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of applications to which the respective portion of the message pertains and a respective segment offset indicating a placement of the respective portion of the message with respect to the message conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618;

combining the respective portions of the message to form the message conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618; and

delivering, to the avionics equipment aboard the aircraft, the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the added header includes a message segment total indicating a number of portions of the message, each of the portions to be received in separate Iridium Short Burst Data messages.

8. A communication device for use aboard an aircraft, the communication device comprising:

at least one L-band transceiver to receive and send Iridium Short Burst Data messages from and to a ground-based communication device;

a header stripper to discard a header from a received Iridium Short Burst Data message including at least a portion of a message conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, the header including an application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of applications to which the at least a portion of the message pertains, a message identifier for associating a plurality of message portions of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 with a particular message, and a segment offset indicating a placement of each of the plurality of message portions with respect to the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618; and

a communication interface to send the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 to avionics equipment aboard the aircraft.

9. The communication device of claim 8, wherein:

the communication interface being further for receiving, from the avionics equipment, a second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618; and

the communication device further comprises;

a header adder to add a second header to at least a portion of the second message, the second header including a second application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of second applications to which the at least a portion of the second message pertains, a second message identifier for associating a plurality of message portions of the second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 with a particular second message, and a second segment offset indicating a placement of each of the plurality of second message portions with respect to the second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618.

10. The communication device of claim 9, further comprising:

a message segmenter to segment the second message into a plurality of portions when a size of the second message exceeds a maximum payload size of an Iridium Short Burst Data message.

11. The communication device of claim 8, further comprising:

a message combiner to combine a plurality of message portions of a received message, conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, to form the received message, the plurality of message portions being included in received Short Burst Data messages, each of the plurality of message portions including a respective one of the header, each of the plurality of message portions of the received message having a same message identifier.

12. A ground-based communication device for communicating with an aircraft-based communication device via an Iridium Short Burst Data Service, the ground-based communication device comprising:

a communication interface, for receiving from and sending to a ground-based processing device, messages conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618;

a header adder to add a header to at least a portion of a message, received from the ground-based processing device, the message conforming to Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, the header including an application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of applications to which the at least a portion of the message pertains, a message identifier for associating a plurality of message portions of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, and a segment offset indicating a placement of each of the plurality of message portions with respect to the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618; and

an L-band transceiver to send an Iridium Short Burst Data message to an aircraft-based communication device, the Iridium Short Burst Data message including the at least a portion of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 and the added header.

13. The ground-based communication device of claim 12, wherein:

the L-band transceiver is further for receiving a second Iridium Short Burst Data message from the aircraft-based communication device, the second Iridium Short Burst Data message including at least a portion of a second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 and an added second header, the added second header including a second application indicator for indicating one of a plurality of second applications to which the at least a portion of the second message pertains, a second message identifier for associating a plurality of message portions of the second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, and a second segment offset indicating a placement of each of the plurality of message portions of the second message with respect to the second message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618,

the ground-based communication device further comprises a header stripper to discard the second header from the received second Iridium Short Burst Data message, and

the communication interface is further for sending the second message, conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, without the second header, to the ground-based processing device.

14. The ground-based communication device of claim 13, further comprising:

a message combiner to combine a plurality of message portions of the received second message, conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618, to form the received second message, the plurality of message portions of the received second message being included in received second Iridium Short Burst Data messages, each of the received plurality of message portions including a respective one of the second headers having a same second message identifier.

15. The ground-based communication device of claim 12, further comprising:

a segmenter to determine whether a size of the message conforming to the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Specification 618 exceeds a maximum payload size for an Iridium Short Burst Data Service and to segment the message into a plurality of message portions when the size of the message is determined to exceed the maximum payload size for the Iridium Short Burst Data Service, each of the plurality of message portions to be placed in respective payloads of Iridium Short Burst Data messages to be transmitted to the aircraft-based communication device.