COMMUNICATION OF AVIONIC DATA

• US 20120015606A1
• Filed: 07/13/2010
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rtx Corporation
• Original Assignee: United Technologies Corporation (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Beacham, William H., Scheid, Paul Raymond
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

An example avionic data communication method includes establishing a plurality of available channels using a channel controller. The channel controller also establishes a quality of service for each of the plurality of available channels. The channel controller then selects one of the available channels. The quality of service of the selected channel is not less than the quality of service of another channel within the plurality of available channels. The method then communicates a type of data using the selected channel.

Claims

1. An avionic data communication method comprising:

establishing a plurality of available channels using a channel controller;

establishing a quality of service for each of the plurality of available channels using the channel controller;

selecting one of the plurality of available channels using the channel controller, the quality of service of the selected channel not less than the quality of service of another channel within the plurality of available channels; and

communicating a type of data using the selected channel.

2. The avionic data communication method of claim 1, wherein the communicating comprises communicating the type of data between an aircraft and a ground-based system.

3. The avionic data communication method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of available channels includes a channel selected from a group that comprises a cellular channel, an Ethernet channel, a WiFi channel, and a WiMax or LTE channel.

4. The avionic data communication method of claim 1, wherein the channel controller is located within an aircraft.

5. The avionic data communication method of claim 1, wherein the type of data is selected from a group comprising a less critical data type and a more critical data type.

6. The avionic data communication method of claim 1, wherein the type of data has an associated cost-of-transmission that does not exceed a cost-of-transmission threshold for the selected channel.

7. An avionic data communication method comprising:

determining one or more available communication channels within a plurality of communication channel types;

selecting one of the plurality of available communication channels using a channel controller, the channel controller configured to determine the quality of service of the available communication channels and to select one of the plurality of available communication channels having a cost threshold value that is not less than the cost threshold value of another channel type within the plurality of available channel types;

communicating data between an aircraft and a ground-based system using the selected one of the plurality of available channel types.

8. The avionic data communication method of claim 7, wherein the costs associated with communicating using each of the plurality of available channel types are stored in a database that is accessed by a controller when initiating communication of the selected data.

9. The avionic data communication method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of available channels includes a channel selected from a group that comprises a cellular channel, an Ethernet channel, a WiFi channel, and a WiMax or LTE channel.

10. The avionic data communication method of claim 7, wherein the selected channel has a lower quality of service than another of the plurality of available communication channels.

11. An avionic data communication arrangement, comprising:

a channel controller configured to select a communication channel from a plurality of available communication channels, the selected communication channel having a quality of service that is not less than the quality of service of another communication channel within the plurality of available channels; and

a data controller module configured to select data for transmission that has an associated cost-of-transmission that does not exceed a cost-of-transmission threshold for the established channel; and

a transmitter configured to communicate the selected data using the selected communication channel.

12. The avionic data communication arrangement of claim 11, wherein the transmitter is configured to communicate the selected data between an aircraft and a ground-based system.

13. The avionic data communication arrangement of claim 11, wherein the established communication channel is selected from a group comprising that comprises a cellular channel, an Ethernet channel, a WiFi channel, and a WiMax or LTE channel.

14. The avionic data communication arrangement of claim 11, wherein the switcher module is configured to determine the plurality of available communication channels.

15. The avionic data communication arrangement of claim 11, wherein the channel controller is a separate controller from the data controller.

16. The avionic data communication arrangement of claim 11, further comprising a data controller module configured to select data for transmission that has an associated cost-of-transmission that does not exceed a cost-of-transmission threshold for the established channel.