INTELLIGENT CREW ALERTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AIRCRAFT AND OTHER VEHICLE APPLICATIONS

• US 20110115649A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Smith, Brian James, Durham, Billy, Vanderzweep, Jeff
• Granted Patent: US 8,378,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/963
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0739 in a data processing system embedded in automotive or aircraft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities

Abstract

A method of managing alerts associated with the operation of an aircraft is provided. The method maintains an alert model database that correlates root causes to alerts associated with onboard aircraft subsystems. During operation of the aircraft, the method receives first alert data indicative of at least one alert of a first onboard aircraft subsystem, and traverses the alert model database to determine a root cause of the first alert data. The root cause (or some indicia thereof) can then be displayed on a display element.

Claims

1. A method of managing alerts associated with the operation of an aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving alert data indicative of alerts for at least one onboard aircraft subsystem;

processing the received alert data;

determining an originating cause of the alerts in response to the processing; and

presenting indicia of the originating cause in a human-understandable format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving alert data comprises receiving alert messages that convey contextual information related to the alerts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the originating cause comprises:

accessing an alert model database that indicates cascading relationships between alerts;

identifying, from the received alert data, a cascaded alert; and

traversing the alert model database to find a parent alert from which the cascaded alert originated, wherein the originating cause is related to the parent alert.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the originating cause comprises:

accessing an alert model database that indicates relationships between originating causes and patterns of alerts that originate from a plurality of different onboard aircraft subsystems;

identifying, from the received alert data, a pattern of alerts; and

traversing the alert model database to find a relationship between the pattern of alerts and the originating cause.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the received alert data includes time stamp information for the alerts; and

determining the originating cause is influenced at least in part by the time stamp information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a recommended response to the originating cause; and

presenting indicia of the recommended response in a human-understandable format.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein presenting indicia of the recommended response comprises displaying indicia of the recommended response on a flight deck display element.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein obtaining the recommended response comprises:

accessing a response database that correlates originating causes to recommended responses; and

retrieving, from the response database, the recommended response based upon the originating cause.

9. A method of managing alerts associated with the operation of a vehicle, the method comprising:

maintaining an alert model database that correlates root causes to alerts associated with subsystems onboard the vehicle;

receiving first alert data indicative of at least one alert of a first subsystem onboard the vehicle;

traversing the alert model database to determine a root cause of the first alert data; and

displaying indicia of the root cause on a display element.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving second alert data indicative of at least one alert of a second subsystem onboard the vehicle;

traversing the alert model database to determine a root cause of the second alert data; and

displaying indicia of the root cause of the second alert data on the display element.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the alert model database includes an alert cascade dataset that indicates cascading relationships between alerts of the first subsystem onboard the vehicle;

the traversing step traverses the alert cascade dataset to find a parent alert from which the at least one alert originated; and

the root cause is related to the parent alert.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving second alert data indicative of at least one alert of a second subsystem onboard the vehicle, wherein the traversing step traverses the alert model database to determine a common root cause of both the first alert data and the second alert data, and wherein the displaying step displays indicia of the common root cause.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a recommended response to the root cause; and

displaying indicia of the recommended response on the display element.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the recommended response comprises:

traversing a response database that correlates root causes to recommended responses; and

retrieving, from the response database, the recommended response based upon the root cause.

15. A system for managing alerts associated with the operation of an aircraft, the system comprising:

a processing architecture configured to carry out processor-executable instructions;

a processor-readable medium accessible by the processing architecture; and

processor-executable instructions stored on the processor-readable medium, wherein, when executed by the processor architecture, the processor-executable instructions cause the processor architecture to carry out a method comprising;

receiving first alert data indicative of at least one alert of a first onboard aircraft subsystem, and second alert data indicative of at least one alert of a second onboard aircraft subsystem;

analyzing the received first alert data and the received second alert data to determine a common cause of the at least one alert of the first onboard aircraft subsystem and of the at least one alert of the second onboard aircraft subsystem; and

obtaining a recommended response to the common cause.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising an alert model database accessible by the processing architecture, wherein the alert model database correlates root causes to alerts associated with onboard aircraft subsystems, and wherein analyzing the received first alert data and the received second alert data comprises accessing the alert model database to identify the common cause based upon the received first alert data and the received second alert data.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the alert model database includes an alert cascade dataset that indicates cascading relationships between alerts of the first onboard aircraft subsystem and the second onboard aircraft subsystem; and

the common cause corresponds to a parent alert from which the at least one alert of the first onboard aircraft system originated and/or from which the at least one alert of the second onboard aircraft system originated.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the alert model database is an airframe-specific loadable database.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising a response database accessible by the processing architecture, wherein the response database correlates root causes to recommended responses, and wherein obtaining the recommended response comprises accessing the response database to identify the recommended response based upon the common cause.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the response database is an airframe-specific loadable database.