Onboard equipment for aircraft and the like
First Claim
1. A system for a vehicle, comprising a plurality of networked communication devices arranged to communicate with a master controller wherein each device is arranged to cycle between an operable (awake) condition and an inoperable (sleep) condition in which the wake-up time is approximately 1 millisecond or less, and wherein one or more of said devices is provided with a light source employing LEDs and is operable to provide a light source check using a sub millisecond pulse, to measure the total current of the LEDs, and comparing this total current with a current for a permitted minimum number of operational LEDs to determine the number of LEDs that are operational, and provide a signal to the master controller to indicate if the light source is operational.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An emergency lighting system for an aircraft comprises networked light units that communicate wirelessly with a master controller to switch the light units on in an emergency. Each unit has its own battery power source and is arranged conserve power consumption by cycling between an operable (awake) condition in which it can communicate with the master controller and an inoperable (sleep) condition wherein the wake-up time is approximately 1 millisecond or less. Power consumption is also reduced by employing LEDs as the light source and pulsing the LEDs with a variable load factor to adjust the illumination level.
30 Citations
10 Claims
- 1. A system for a vehicle, comprising a plurality of networked communication devices arranged to communicate with a master controller wherein each device is arranged to cycle between an operable (awake) condition and an inoperable (sleep) condition in which the wake-up time is approximately 1 millisecond or less, and wherein one or more of said devices is provided with a light source employing LEDs and is operable to provide a light source check using a sub millisecond pulse, to measure the total current of the LEDs, and comparing this total current with a current for a permitted minimum number of operational LEDs to determine the number of LEDs that are operational, and provide a signal to the master controller to indicate if the light source is operational.
Specification