Wireless ground link-based aircraft data communication system with roaming feature
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising:
- a ground data link unit that obtains flight performance data representative of aircraft flight performance during flight of the aircraft, said ground data link unit comprising;
a) an archival data store operative to accumulate and store flight performance data during flight of the aircraft, andb) a spread spectrum transceiver coupled to said archival data store, and comprising a transmitter that is operative after the aircraft completes its flight and lands at an airport to download said flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored by said archival data store during flight over one of a plurality of sub-band frequency channels of a spread spectrum communication signal;
an airport based spread spectrum transceiver comprising a receiver that receives the spread spectrum communication signal from the aircraft and demodulates the signal to obtain the flight performance data, said airport based spread spectrum transceiver further comprising a probe transmission circuit that transmits a probe beacon on each sub-band frequency channel to said spread spectrum transceiver of said ground data link to determine which sub-band frequency channel is preferred.
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Abstract
A flight information communication system has a plurality of RF direct sequence spread spectrum ground data links that link respective aircraft-resident subsystems, in each of which a copy of its flight performance data is stored, with airport-located subsystems. The airport-located subsystems are coupled by way communication paths, such as land line telephone links, to a remote flight operations control center. At the flight operations control center, flight performance data downlinked from plural aircraft parked at different airports is analyzed. In addition, the flight control center may be employed to direct the uploading of in-flight data files, such as audio, video and navigation files from the airport-located subsystems to the aircraft.
219 Citations
55 Claims
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1. A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising:
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a ground data link unit that obtains flight performance data representative of aircraft flight performance during flight of the aircraft, said ground data link unit comprising; a) an archival data store operative to accumulate and store flight performance data during flight of the aircraft, and b) a spread spectrum transceiver coupled to said archival data store, and comprising a transmitter that is operative after the aircraft completes its flight and lands at an airport to download said flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored by said archival data store during flight over one of a plurality of sub-band frequency channels of a spread spectrum communication signal; an airport based spread spectrum transceiver comprising a receiver that receives the spread spectrum communication signal from the aircraft and demodulates the signal to obtain the flight performance data, said airport based spread spectrum transceiver further comprising a probe transmission circuit that transmits a probe beacon on each sub-band frequency channel to said spread spectrum transceiver of said ground data link to determine which sub-band frequency channel is preferred. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for exchanging information to and from an aircraft comprising:
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a ground data link unit that obtains flight performance data representative of aircraft flight performance during flight of the aircraft, said ground data link unit comprising; a) an archival data store operative to accumulate and store flight performance data during flight of the aircraft, and b) a spread spectrum transceiver coupled to said archival data store, and comprising a transmitter that is operative after the aircraft completes its flight and lands at an airport to download the flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored by said archival data store during the flight over one of a plurality of sub-band frequency channels of a first spread spectrum communication signal, and a receiver for receiving uploaded data over a second spread spectrum communication signal; and an airport based spread spectrum transceiver comprising a receiver that receives the spread spectrum signal from the aircraft and demodulates the signal to obtain the flight performance data, and a transmitter that transmits data for uploading to the aircraft over a second spread spectrum communication signal;
said airport based spread spectrum transceiver further comprising a probe transmission circuit that transmits a probe beacon on each sub-band frequency channel to said spread spectrum transceiver of said ground data link to determine which sub-band frequency channel is preferred. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising the steps of:
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collecting data within a ground data link unit on the flight performance of the aircraft during flight of the aircraft; accumulating and storing within an archival memory of the ground data link unit the flight performance data during flight of the aircraft; after the aircraft lands at an airport at completion of the flight, downloading the flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored during the flight over one of a plurality of sub-band frequency channels of a spread spectrum communication signal to an airport based spread spectrum transceiver; demodulating within the transceiver the received spread spectrum signal to obtain the flight performance data; and transmitting a probe beacon to the spread spectrum trasnceiver of the ground data link unit and selecting a sub-band frequency channel based on receipt of the probe beacon. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method of exchanging data to and from an aircraft comprising the steps of:
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collecting data within a ground data link unit on the flight performance of the aircraft during flight of the aircraft; accumulating and storing within an archival memory of the ground data link unit the flight performance data during flight of the aircraft; after the aircraft lands at an airport at completion of the flight, downloading the flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored during the flight over one of a plurality of sub-band frequency channels of a first spread spectrum communication signal to an airport based spread spectrum transceiver; demodulating the received spread spectrum signal to obtain the flight performance data; storing the demodulated flight performance data within an airport based archival data store; storing data to be uploaded to the aircraft within an airport based archival data store; retrieving the data to be uploaded; transmitting the data from an airport based spread spectrum transceiver to the aircraft along a second spread spectrum communication signal to the spread spectrum transceiver of the ground data link unit located within the aircraft, and while also transmitting a probe beacon to the spread spectrum transceiver of the ground data link unit and selecting a sub-band frequency channel based on the probe beacon. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification