SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF PROVIDING A DATA UPDATE TO AN AIRCRAFT

• US 20160328978A1
• Filed: 04/30/2015
• Published: 11/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Inventors: Ramaker, Russell Allen, Hochwarth, Joachim Karl Ulf
• Granted Patent: US 10,068,488 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan

Abstract

Systems and methods of providing a data update to an aircraft including requesting a data update related to a route to be flown by the aircraft, receiving flight procedure data in a data update into a component of the aircraft from a ground station in response to the request and updating the route to be flown utilizing the flight procedure data in the data update.

Claims

1. A method of providing a data update to an aircraft, the method comprising:

requesting, by an update module of the aircraft, a data update for a route to be flown by the aircraft;

receiving by a component of the aircraft, via a communication link, the data update, including flight procedure data, from a ground station in response to the request; and

updating the route to be flown based at least in part on the flight procedure data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the component is a flight management system of the aircraft.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing an alert within the aircraft when an update is available to a flight procedure that is maintained on the flight management system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the route includes a route defined during flight of the aircraft, and the request is made in response to the route being defined.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the requesting comprises requesting a subscription to a procedure such that updates to the procedure are sent automatically.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the route is a predefined route that is set before flight of the aircraft.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the flight procedure data comprises inserting the flight procedure data into a flight plan of the aircraft.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the requesting occurs automatically during pre-departure or during flight.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the received flight procedure data is synched directly into a database.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the requesting the data update occurs automatically after a triggering event.

11. A method of providing a data update to an aircraft having a predetermined route to be flown, the method comprising:

receiving, by a flight management system of the aircraft, an updated route different from the predetermined route to be flown;

requesting, by an update module of the aircraft, a data update related to the updated route;

in response to the request, receiving by the flight management system, via a communication link, the data update, including flight procedure data, from a ground station; and

generating a route to be flown along the updated route based at least in part on the flight procedure data.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the flight procedure data has a predefined update cycle and the receiving is independent of the predefined update cycle.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining if the updated route contains flight procedures missing from flight procedure data on the aircraft.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing an alert within the aircraft that the updated route contains missing flight procedures.

15. An updating system for an aircraft, comprising:

a communication link; and

a flight management system that is communicably coupled to the communication link, and includes an update module configured to request, from a remote server via the communication link, a data update related to a route to be flown by the aircraft, and maintain flight procedure data included in the data update in at least one of a navigational database component, or loaded into a flight plan of the flight management system.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the flight procedure data includes airport navigational data related to at least one of a terminal area, navigational aid shutdowns, runway closures, special activity spaces, or weather data.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising an electronic flight bag and wherein the flight procedure data in the data update is further loaded to the electronic flight bag.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the flight management system further includes an integrity module configured to check integrity of the flight procedure data in the data update.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the flight management system further includes a security module configured to check authenticity of the flight procedure data in the data update.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the communication link is a wireless communication link.