Acoustic command link to retrieve submerged flight data

• US 8,005,584 B1
• Filed: 05/19/2010
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Owen E. Flynn
• Original Assignee: Owen E. Flynn
• Inventors: Flynn, Owen E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu; Yonel
• Application Number:
  US12/800,632
• Time in Patent Office: 461 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/9, 701/14, 340/945, 340/963, 340/971, 367/2
• US Class Current: 701/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/74 Systems using reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. IFF, i.e. identification of friend or foe
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/183 Emergency, distress or locator beacons
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

Presently the only way to obtain the flight data from an open ocean crash site is to physically retrieve the flight data recorder. Retrieving a flight data recorder from the sea floor is extremely complex and expensive, requiring remotely operated robotic devices to locate and then to physically bring a piece of wreckage to the surface. In some cases water depth may preclude any retrieval. In these cases the flight data recorder will not be recovered and the cause of the crash will never be known. What is needed, however, is not the flight data recorder but the flight data. The invention provides a safe, convenient and economical way to retrieve flight data from a submerged flight data recorder without having to physically retrieve the recorder hardware.

Claims

1. An acoustic command link to retrieve submerged flight data acoustically comprising:

a memory adapted to continuously receive and store flight related data and upon command to transmit the stored flight related data;

a location pinger adapted to send out an acoustic pinging signal alternating with a listening interval;

a system controller operatively coupled to the pinger and adapted to terminate functioning of the pinger in response to a known input, the system controller being in communication with the memory; and

a wideband transducer operatively coupled to the pinger and to the system controller, the transducer adapted to send acoustic information to and receive acoustic information from a surface ship, the sent information including the stored flight related data from the memory.

2. An acoustic command link to retrieve submerged flight data from a submerged flight data recorder comprising in combination:

a memory (14) adapted to receive and store flight data and upon command to transmit the stored flight data;

a location pinger (19) adapted to send out a location pinging signal, alternating with a listening interval, the location pinger is adapted to be water activated when submerged in water;

a command recognition unit (36) which receives signals during the listening intervals and compares these inputs with a known command signal that will be sent from the surface, once the command recognition unit recognizes the command signal, the command recognition unit sends a signal to a system controller;

a system controller (22), which is operatively coupled to the location pinger and is also in two-way communication with the memory, whereby when the command recognition unit signals that the command recognition unit has received the command signal, the system controller terminates the location pinger operation and commands the memory to begin sending the flight data to the surface;

an amplifier (40) which amplifies the signals to provide the necessary signal strength for the acoustic transmissions to be clearly received at the surface, the amplifier is adapted to receive the pinging signal from the location pinger and to receive the flight data transmissions from the memory, the amplifier is also adapted to preclude transmissions of flight related data until the termination of the pinging signal;

a transmit/receive control unit (32) adapted to provide transmit data to the transducer for transmission to the surface and to provide receive data from the transducer to the command recognition unit;

a wideband transducer (26) operatively coupled to the amplifier through the transmit/receive control unit when in the transmit mode, the wideband transducer operatively coupled to the command recognition unit when in receive mode, in the transmit mode, the wideband transducer converts the electrical signals into acoustic signals for transmission to the surface, in receive mode the wideband transducer converts acoustic signals from the surface into electrical signals for processing; and

an acoustic command signal (33) that is transmitted from a towed transducer from the surface ship, commanding that the flight data be sent to the surface acoustically.