System and method for communication between airborne and ground-based entities

• US 6,760,778 B1
• Filed: 05/14/1999
• Issued: 07/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Wireless Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nelson, Eric A., OʼMeara, Michael B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason D.
• Application Number:
  US09/312,011
• Time in Patent Office: 1,880 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230, 709/246, 370/310.1, 370/310.2, 370/331, 370/332, 370/316, 455/431, 455/436, 455/437, 701/3, 701/14, 725/76, 342/36
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/25 of the same type
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/02 Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enhancing the current data communication capabilities of the North American Terrestrial System (NATS) Network is presented. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an airborne data server (ADS) is added to the airborne architecture of the current NATS Network and a ground data gateway (GDG) is added to the ground-based architecture of the current NATS Network. The ADS functions as a router/gateway connected to many local area networks (LANs) aboard the aircraft. The ADS provides for the automation of data services such as scheduling, routing and translation. The GDG is the central hub for the network and dispatcher of data to customer premises or to the aircraft.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data from a first device to a second device utilizing a network comprising a first server adapted to be connected to a North American Terrestrial System (NATS) radio set and a second server adapted to be connected to a plurality of ground stations, wherein data packets are exchanged between an application program running on the first server and an application program running on the second server via a wireless connection between the NATS radio set and at least one of the plurality of ground stations, and wherein both the first server and the second server are adapted to transmit data to and receive data from devices outside the network, the method comprising the steps of:

sending the data from the first device to the first server;

encapsulating the data into packets in accordance with a first protocol using the first server;

sending said data packets from the first server to a North American Terrestrial System (NATS) radio set;

transmitting said data packets through a propagation medium to a ground station using said NATS radio set;

sending said data packets from said ground station to a second server;

removing the data from said data packets, if necessary, using said second server;

encapsulating the data in accordance with a second protocol, if necessary, using said second server; and

routing one of said data packets, the data, and the data encapsulated in accordance with said second protocol from said second server to the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server is an airborne data server (ADS), said first protocol is transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), and said second server is a ground data gateway (GDG).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of sending the data from the first device to the first server is preceded by the steps of:

associating the data with a first device Internet protocol (IP) number and a first device port number using said first device; and

associating the data with a second device address.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said step of encapsulating the data into packets further includes the step of:

associating the data with at least one of an airline identifier and an aircraft identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said step of encapsulating the data into packets further includes at least one of the steps of:

encrypting said data packets; and

compressing said data packets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said routing step is preceded by at least one of the following steps using said GDG:

receiving firewall instructions regarding to which of the devices outside the network to connect;

validating at least one of said associated airline identifier and said associated aircraft identifier for each of said received data packets;

enabling particular data services using a result of said validating step;

disabling particular data services using said result of said validating step;

generating billing information using said result of said validating step;

filtering said received data packets based upon address information within said received data packets using the previously received firewall instructions;

decrypting said data packets;

decompressing said data packets; and

translating each associated first device Internet protocol (IP) number and each associated first device port number to a corresponding GDG IP number and a corresponding GDG port number.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device is a laptop computer and wherein the second device is a general purpose computer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said general purpose computer is a server adapted to be connected to a network;

wherein said GDG is adapted to be connected to said network; and

wherein said data packets are sent from said GDG to said server via said network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said network is an Internet.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device is a telephone handset;

wherein the data is analog voice information;

wherein said GDG is adapted to be connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN); and

wherein the second device is a telephone adapted to be connected to said PSTN.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said analog voice information is routed from said GDG to said telephone via said PSTN.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said analog voice information is removed from TCP/IP encapsulation;

wherein said second protocol is X.25; and

wherein said analog voice information encapsulated in accordance with X.25 is sent from said GDG to said telephone via said PSTN.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device is a telephone handset;

wherein the data is analog voice information;

wherein said GDG is adapted to be connected to an Internet protocol (IP) network; and

wherein the second device is a device adapted to receive data packets including voice information via said IP network and send said included voice information to a speaker associated with the second device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second device is one of a telephone, a wireless telephone, and a general purpose computer.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device is an Aircraft Condition Monitoring System (ACMS) unit;

wherein the data is ACMS aircraft condition data;

further including the following steps prior to said encapsulating step;

comparing said ACMS aircraft condition data to predetermined values; and

generating a report highlighting ACMS aircraft condition data which does not conform to said predetermined values; and

wherein said encapsulating step entails encapsulating data corresponding to said generated report.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein the data is Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System Management Unit (ACARS MU) data;

and

wherein the first device is one of an aircraft relay having ACARS data, an aircraft switch having ACARS data, and an aircraft bus having ACARS data.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the first device is one of an aircraft avionics system and an aircraft discrete;

and

wherein the data is aircraft condition/performance data.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein said routing step is preceded by at least one of the following steps using said GDG:

receiving a request for data services;

validating the request;

enabling at least one of the data services using a result of the validating step; and

disabling at least one of the data services using the result of the validating step.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein said routing step is preceded by at least one of the following steps using said GDG:

maintaining an accounting of the data as the data passes through the GDG;

notifying the GDG when a portion of the data is lost; and

adjusting the accounting according to the portion.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting said data packets further includes the steps of:

determining which one of the plurality of ground stations is currently providing a strongest signal to the NATS radio set;

transmitting said data packets to said determined ground station;

comparing a signal received from said determined ground station to a signal received from each of the plurality of ground stations;

switching from transmitting said data packets to said determined ground station to transmitting said data packets to a ground station providing a stronger signal than said determined ground station, as necessary, using a result of said comparing step;

repeating, continuously, said comparing step and said switching step;

queuing one of all of said data packets and a portion of said data packets, if necessary, while completing said switching step; and

transmitting said queued data packets to said ground station providing a stronger signal upon completing said switching step.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sending the data from the first device to the first server further includes the step of:

using an asymmetric data transfer technique.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a first channel provides low bandwidth for sending the data and a second channel provides high bandwidth for sending the data.

23. A method for transmitting data from a first device to a second device utilizing a network comprising a first server adapted to be connected to a North American Terrestrial System (NATS) radio set and a second server adapted to be connected to a plurality of ground stations, wherein data packets are exchanged between an application program running on the first server and an application program running on the second server via a wireless connection between the NATS radio set and at least one of the plurality of ground stations, and wherein both the first server and the second server are adapted to transmit data to and receive data from devices outside the network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at the second server, the data from the first device;

encapsulating the data into packets in accordance with a first protocol using the second server;

determining which one of a plurality of ground stations is currently serving the North American Terrestrial System (NATS) radio set associated with the second device;

sending said data packets to said determined ground station;

transmitting said data packets from said determined ground station to the determined NATS radio set;

sending said data packets from the NATS radio set to the first server;

removing the data from said first protocol encapsulated packets using the first server, if necessary;

encapsulating the data in accordance with a second protocol, using said first server, if necessary; and

sending one of said data packets, the data, and said data encapsulated in accordance with said second protocol from the first server to the second device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the second server is a ground data gateway (GDG), wherein the first server is an airborne data server (ADS), and wherein said first protocol is transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first device is a general purpose computer and wherein the second device is a laptop computer.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said general purpose computer is a third server adapted to be connected to a network;

wherein said GDG is adapted to be connected to said network; and

wherein said data packets are sent from said third server to said GDG via said network.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said network is an Internet.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the second device is a telephone handset;

wherein said GDG is adapted to be connected to an Internet protocol (IP) network; and

wherein said first device is a device adapted to send voice information encapsulated within data packets to said GDG via said IP network.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein said first device is one of a telephone, a wireless telephone and a general purpose computer.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein said transmitting step is preceded by the step of:

translating each GDG Internet protocol (IP) number and each GDG port number associated with the received data to a corresponding second device IP number and a corresponding second device port number.

31. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of:

formatting the received data for legacy systems using said GDG.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the second device is a telephone handset;

wherein the data is analog voice information;

wherein said GDG is adapted to be connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN);

wherein the first device is a telephone adapted to be connected to said PSTN; and

wherein said analog voice information is sent from the first device to said GDG via said PSTN.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein the data is at least one of a data update and a software update;

wherein the second device is avionics equipment; and

wherein said second protocol is ARINC 615.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein said ground data gateway supports at least one of the protocols from the group of:

POP3, SMTP and IMAP.

35. The method of claim 24, wherein said ground data gateway is a data warehouse server.

36. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of transmitting said data packets further comprises the steps of:

transmitting a page message to said determined NATS radio set using both said determined ground station and a predetermined channel, said page message indicating to said determined NATS radio set that said ground station intends to transmit data packets to said determined NATS radio set;

seizing a system channel using said NATS radio set in response to said page message; and

establishing a radio link for transmitting data between said NATS radio set and said determined ground station using said seized system channel.

37. The method of claim 23, wherein said transmitting step is preceded by the step of:

storing the received data within a storage medium adapted to be connected to the second server.

38. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of encapsulating the data into packets further includes the step of:

encrypting said data packets; and

compressing said data packets.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

decrypting said data packets using the first server; and

decompressing said data packets using the first server.

40. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

receiving firewall instructions regarding to which of the devices outside the network to connect;

filtering the received data using the previously received firewall instructions based upon address information within said received data.

41. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer system to transmit data from a first device to a second device utilizing a network comprising a first server adapted to be connected to a North American Terrestrial System (NATS) radio set and a second server adapted to be connected to a plurality of ground stations, wherein data packets are exchanged between an application program running on the first server and an application program running on the second server via a wireless connection between the NATS radio set and at least one of the plurality of ground stations, and wherein both the first server and the second server are adapted to transmit data to and receive data from devices outside the network, by performing the steps of:

sending the data from the first device to the first server;

encapsulating the data into packets in accordance with a first protocol using the first server;

sending said data packets from the first server to a North American Terrestrial System (NATS) radio set;

transmitting said data packets through a propagation medium to a ground station using said NATS radio set;

sending said data packets from said ground station to a second server;

removing the data from said data packets, if necessary, using said second server;

encapsulating the data in accordance with a second protocol, if necessary, using said second server; and

routing one of said data packets, the data, and the data encapsulated in accordance with said second protocol from said second server to the second device.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the first server is an airborne data server (ADS), said first protocol is transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), and said second server is a ground data gateway (GDG).