Single fault impervious integrated control and monitoring system

• US 6,604,030 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2000
• Issued: 08/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NBP IP, LLC
• Original Assignee: Ozuna Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Davis, Larry, Munson, Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ramesh
• Application Number:
  US09/589,040
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• Field of Search: 714/1, 714/4, 709/201, 709/217, 709/224, 709/249, 709/237-239, 711/114, 379/2, 370/228, 244/3.15, 244/182, 244/159-160, 244/163, 244/35-39, 244/75.R, 244/76.R, 244/194-195, 701/123, 701/121, 701/204-207, 701/122, 701/224, 701/225, 701/9-14, 340/945
• US Class Current: 701/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2007 using redundant communication media
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/00 Traffic control systems for aircraft , e.g. air-traffic control [ATC]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground

Abstract

An integrated control and monitoring system for airport avionics is made single-point-of-failure impervious by continuously operating pairs of parallel-connected concentrators, Remote Master Workstations and Remote Slave Workstations, and a pair of independent LANs each connecting one of the concentrators of a pair to the Remote Workstations. Each concentrator of a concentrator pair, while in secondary status, monitors the operation of the concentrator in primary status, and whenever it observes a failure of communication will assume primary status and continue to allow ICMS to function in a normal manner. Likewise, another Remote Master Workstation automatically assumes Remote Master Workstation status if it fails to see an operational active master station on the network.

Claims

1. A single-fault-impervious integrated control and monitoring avionic system, comprising:

a. a pair of concentrators interchangeably capable of assuming primary and secondary status, respectively;

b. a plurality of workstations, one of said workstations being a Remote Master Workstation; and

c. a pair of independent communication paths each interconnecting one of said pair of concentrators with said workstations;

d. each of said pair of concentrators being connected in parallel to a plurality of avionic equipment interfaces arranged to convey avionic equipment data to said concentrators and to convey operational commands from said concentrator to said avionic equipment;

e. said pair of concentrators being so interconnected with each other that whenever one of them is in primary status, the outputs of the other are blocked but its inputs continue to function, each of said concentrators providing a status signal that is transmitted directly between said concentrators.

2. The system of claim 1, in which said primary concentrator, upon becoming unable to communicate with said Remote Master Workstation, causes said secondary concentrator to assume primary status if, and only if, said secondary concentrator is both operational and in communication with said Remote Master Workstation.

3. The system of claim 2, in which said primary and secondary concentrators are connected to each other by three bidirectionally assertable lines, the first of which is asserted by said primary concentrator when it is operating in primary mode, the second is asserted by said secondary concentrator when it is operating in secondary mode, and the third is asserted by said secondary concentrator when it is in communication with said Remote Master Workstation.

4. The system of claim 3, in which said primary concentrator, upon becoming unable to communicate with said Remote Master Workstation, while said second and third lines are asserted, releases said first line;

said secondary concentrator releases said second and third lines in response thereto, and asserts said first line by assuming primary status; and

said primary concentrator then asserts said second line by assuming secondary status.

5. The system of claim 4, in which said primary concentrator, upon becoming unable to communicate with said Remote Master Workstation while said second and/or third line is released, remains in primary status and searches for a Remote Master Workstation until communication with that Remote Master Workstation is restored.

6. The system of claim 1, in which a selected plurality of said workstations are Remote Master Workstations, and in which only one of said Remote Master Workstations at any given time has active Remote Master status, active status being automatically assumed by another one of said Remote Master Workstations if communication with the currently active Remote Master Workstation is interrupted.

7. The system of claim 1, in which said concentrators store in digital form for transmission to said workstations equipment data conveyed to them in digital format, frequency shift key format, serial data format or static composite tone format.

8. The system of claim 7, in which static composite tone formatted equipment data is conveyed in parallel to said pair of concentrators through a hybrid transformer.

9. A method of controlling and monitoring airport avionics systems, comprising:

a) providing a primary concentrator assuming a primary status, and a secondary concentrator assuming a secondary status, each concentrator connected to each other, and connected in parallel to a first remote master workstation that controls and monitors aircraft guidance equipment and airport safety equipment so that only one of the concentrators assumes primary status at a given point in time;

b) monitoring aircraft guidance equipment and airport safety equipment with the primary and secondary concentrators; and

c) controlling the aircraft guidance equipment and airport safety equipment without interruption by causing the secondary concentrator to assume primary status when the primary concentrator experiences a failure.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the monitoring step comprises monitoring the status of the primary concentrator with the secondary concentrator.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising

d) generating a status signal from the primary concentrator; and

e) transmitting the status signal to the secondary concentrator.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmitting step comprises transmitting the status signal from the primary concentrator directly to the secondary concentrator.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising

d) causing the primary concentrator to assume secondary status after the secondary concentrator assumes primary status.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising

d) archiving data regarding status changes received from the airport guidance equipment and airport safety equipment, and controls sent to the airport guidance equipment and airport safety equipment.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising

d) providing at least one additional computer workstation in communication with each of the concentrators, the at least one additional computer workstation assuming an active status and becoming a second remote master workstation if the first remote master workstation experiences a failure.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the primary and secondary concentrators are connected to each other by three status lines, a first status line connecting the primary and secondary concentrators to transmit information to determine which concentrator has assumed primary status, a second status line connecting the primary and secondary concentrators to transmit information to determine which concentrator has assumed secondary status, and a third status line to transmit information to the primary concentrator to determine if the secondary concentrator is in communication with the remote master workstation.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the secondary concentrator assumes primary status when the primary concentrator experiences a communication failure with the secondary concentrator or with the first remote master workstation.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the concentrators and the first remote master workstation are provided in locations spaced apart from each other.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the concentrators is configured to provide output signals to the aircraft guidance equipment and airport safety equipment, but only the concentrator that has assumed primary status transmits those output signals to the aircraft guidance equipment and airport safety equipment.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the concentrators provides a signal to the first remote master workstation to monitor the availability of the first remote master workstation.