Method and apparatus for remote initiation of ARINC 615 downloads

• US 7,970,410 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2006
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Brinkley, Roger R., Price, Jerry L., Lee, David R., Mitchell, Timothy M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson; Matthew D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Aminzay; Shaima Q
• Application Number:
  US11/520,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20090077265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 455/431, 455/66.1, 455/67.13, 455/73, 455/98, 455/412.1, 455/414.1, 455/419, 455/899, 701/2, 701/3, 701/14, 701/120, 342/29, 342/33, 342/36
• US Class Current: 455/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/4028 the transportation system being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

A method and apparatus for remotely downloading data from a selected one of a plurality of avionics line replaceable units (LRUs) on an aircraft. In one configuration, a method includes transmitting a message wirelessly to a receiver on the aircraft identifying an LRU having data to be downloaded; selectively switching a communication path from the identified LRU to an aircraft data services link (ADSL) dependent upon the identified LRU; and wirelessly downloading data from the identified LRU utilizing the selectively switched communication path.

Claims

1. A data transfer system for an aircraft, said system comprising:

a plurality of line replaceable units (LRUs) onboard the aircraft;

a communications management unit onboard the aircraft;

a plurality of wireless transceivers in communication with the communications management unit, each one of the wireless transceivers being operable to receive a signal containing LRU identification information from a remote signal source, and to transmit a message containing the LRU identification information to the communications management unit to identify one or more specific ones of the LRUs with which a respective one of said wireless transceivers is to communicate;

an electronic switch in communication with the communications management unit and with each of the LRUs, the electronic switch responsive to the LRU identification information from the communications management unit indicating the specific one or more LRUs with which each said wireless transceiver is to communicate, and further operable to configure one or more communication paths in response to the LRU identification information from the communications management unit, through the communications management unit, between the transceivers and the one or more LRUs with which each respective said wireless transceiver is to communicate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the LRUs comprise at least one of an aircraft condition monitoring system, a digital flight data acquisition unit, a flight maintenance computer, and an aircraft communications and reporting system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceivers comprise at least one of a spread spectrum transceiver, a satellite communication transceiver, a VHF radio transceiver and a HF radio transceiver.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication paths are ARINC 429 communication paths.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications management unit comprises an operational program configuration (OPC) file that contains criteria for automatically transmitting the signals to the electronic switch indicating the selected communications paths to configure.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the OPC is initiated upon the occurrence of a triggering condition.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the triggering condition comprises setting a parking brake of the aircraft.

8. A method for remotely establishing a communications path between one or more of a plurality of line replaceable units (LRUs) and a transceiver onboard an aircraft, said method comprising:

transmitting an LRU identification signal to the transceiver identifying which one of the LRUs the transceiver is to communicate with;

communicating the LRU identification signal from the transceiver to a communications management unit onboard the aircraft;

generating a path command signal at the communications management unit based on the LRU identification signal;

communicating the path command signal to an electronic switch communicatively connected to each of the LRUs;

configuring one or more communication paths, through the communications management unit, between the transceiver and the one or more LRUs with which the transceiver is to communicate, the path configured via the electronic switch in response to the path command signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein configuring the one or more communication paths comprises configuring one or more ARINC 429 communication paths.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically transmitting the path command signal to the electronic switch upon execution of an operational program configuration (OPC) file stored in the communications management unit.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the OPC file is executed upon the occurrence of a triggering condition.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the triggering condition comprises setting a parking brake of the aircraft.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the LRUs comprise at least one of an aircraft condition monitoring system, a digital flight data acquisition unit, a flight maintenance computer, and an aircraft communications and reporting system.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless transceivers comprise at least one of a spread spectrum transceiver, a satellite communication transceiver, a VHF radio transceiver and a HF radio transceiver.

15. A data transfer system for an aircraft, said system comprising:

a plurality of line replaceable units (LRUs) onboard the aircraft;

a communications management unit onboard the aircraft, the communications management unit including an operational program configuration (OPC) file;

a plurality of wireless transceivers in wireless communication with the communications management unit, each said wireless transceiver adapted to transmit a LRU identification message to the communications management unit identifying one or more of the LRUs with which the respective wireless transceiver is to communicate;

an electronic switch communicatively connected to the communications management unit and each of the LRUs, the electronic switch responsive to path command signals, which are automatically transmitted from the communications management unit upon execution of the OPC file and in response to receiving the LRU identification message, to configure one or more ARINC 429 communication paths through the communications management unit and between the transceivers and the one or more LRUs with which each respective said wireless transceiver is to communicate, the path command signals indicating the one or more LRUs with which each respective said wireless transceiver is to communicate.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the LRUs comprise at least one of an aircraft condition monitoring system, a digital flight data acquisition unit, a flight maintenance computer, and an aircraft communications and reporting system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the wireless transceivers comprise at least one of a spread spectrum transceiver, a satellite communication transceiver, a VHF radio transceiver and a HF radio transceiver.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the OPC is initiated upon the occurrence of a triggering condition.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the triggering condition comprises setting a parking brake of the aircraft.