Method and system for exposing and recording embedded avionics data

• US 8,335,609 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2010
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rtx Corporation
• Original Assignee: United Technologies Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Beacham, William H., Posniak, Jason E., Baker, James E., Scheid, Paul Raymond
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): LANG, MICHAEL DEAN
• Application Number:
  US12/692,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20110184607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,058 Days
• Field of Search: 701/33.4
• US Class Current: 701/33.4
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

A method of exposing and recording embedded avionics data using dynamically assigned labels assigns a first plurality of data labels to aircraft controller parameters designated for at least one aircraft sub-controller. A second plurality of data labels are dynamically assigned to desired embedded parameters of an aircraft main controller. At least one data word storing one of the desired embedded parameters is created. The at least one data word has one of the second plurality of data labels. The at least one data word is exposed by transmitting the at least one data word to a selective recording device. The selective recording device records the at least one data word.

Claims

1. A method of exposing and recording embedded avionics data using dynamically assigned labels, comprising:

assigning a first plurality of data labels to aircraft controller parameters designated for at least one aircraft sub-controller;

dynamically assigning a second plurality of data labels to desired embedded parameters of an aircraft main controller;

creating at least one data word storing one of the desired embedded parameters, the data word having one of the second plurality of data labels, wherein the desired embedded parameters are only accessible from the aircraft main controller with the at least one data word storing the desired embedded parameters and having one of the second plurality of labels;

exposing the at least one data word via transmission to a selective recording device;

recording the at least one data word using the selective recording device.

2. The method of claim 1, including:

configuring the at least one aircraft sub-controller to ignore the data words having one of the second plurality of data labels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the aircraft main controller is an electronic engine control, wherein the at least one data word is an ARINC 429 data word, and wherein said transmitting the at least one data word occurs over an ARINC 429 data bus.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the second plurality of data labels are ARINC 429 data labels, and wherein the at least one data word is a 32-bit data word, a portion of which includes one of the ARINC 429 data labels.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the desired embedded parameter corresponds to a value equal to or calculated in response to a value from a sensor in communication with the electronic engine control, and wherein the sensor is one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, an oil sensor, an engine speed sensor or a feedback sensor.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the desired parameter corresponds to the contents of any memory location or input/output register contained in the desired aircraft main controller.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the ARINC 429 data word identifies a source of data in the data word using a 2-bit source device identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said dynamically assigning a second plurality of data labels to desired embedded parameters of an aircraft main controller is performed during or prior to a flight, and wherein said recording the at least one data word at a selective recording device is performed prior to the flight, during the flight, or both.

9. The method of claim 1, including:

transmitting the recorded at least one data word from the selective recording device to a ground computer via a wired connection, a wireless connection, or a data storage unit in communication with the selective recording device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the aircraft sub-controller includes at least one of a crash recorder computer, an environmental control computer, a flight computer, a navigation computer, a flight deck computer or a Flight-data Acquisition, Storage and Transmission computer.

11. The method of claim 1, including

receiving a list including a plurality of desired embedded parameters and an assignment designating one of the second plurality of data labels to each of the plurality of desired embedded parameters;

and

performing a mathematical calculation on the list to ensure the accuracy of the list.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the list and the assignment is performed by the aircraft main controller.

13. The method of claim 1, including:

transmitting the dynamically assigned second plurality of data labels to a plurality of aircraft main controllers, wherein the plurality of aircraft main controllers perform said creating at least one data word storing one of the desired embedded parameters and said transmitting the at least one data word.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the selective recording device records only the at least one data words having one of the second plurality of data labels.

15. The method of claim 1, including providing a list including a plurality of desired embedded parameters and an assignment designating one of the second plurality of data labels to each of the plurality of desired embedded parameters via the selective recording device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the aircraft main controller is in communication with the at least one aircraft sub-controller.

17. A system for exposing and recording embedded avionics data using dynamically assigned labels, comprising:

at least one aircraft sub-controller;

an aircraft main controller having a predefined first plurality of data labels assigned to aircraft sub-controller data, and having a second plurality of data labels dynamically assigned to desired embedded parameters, wherein the desired embedded parameters are only accessible from the aircraft main controller with the at least one data word storing the desired embedded parameters and having one of the second plurality of labels; and

a selective recording device operable to expose the desired embedded parameters by selectively recording data words that include one of the second plurality of data labels, the data words being received over a data bus.

18. The system of claim 17, including:

a ground computer operable to generate an assignment designating one of the second plurality of data labels to each of the desired embedded parameters, and operable to transmit the assignment and a list of the desired embedded parameters to the aircraft main controller.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the aircraft main controller is operable to perform a mathematical calculation on the label assignment and the embedded parameter list to ensure accuracy of the label assignment and the parameter list.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the ground computer is operable to generate and transmit during flight.

21. The system of claim 17, the at least one aircraft sub-controller being configured to ignore data words including one of the second plurality of data labels.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the second plurality of data labels are ARINC 429 data labels, wherein the selectively recorded data words are 32-bit ARINC 429 data words, a portion of which includes one of the ARINC 429 data labels, and wherein the aircraft main controller executes DO178B Level A software.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the aircraft communication system includes a plurality of aircraft main controllers, each of the aircraft main controllers being operable to transmit data words identified by one of the second plurality of data labels and containing the desired embedded parameters.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the desired embedded parameter corresponds to a value equal to or calculated in response to a value from a sensor in communication with the aircraft main controller, and wherein the sensor is one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, an oil sensor, an engine speed sensor or a feedback sensor.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the desired parameter corresponds to the contents of any memory location or input/output register contained in the desired aircraft main controller.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the aircraft main controller is in communication with the at least one aircraft sub-controller.

27. A method of exposing and recording embedded avionics data using dynamically assigned labels, comprising:

dynamically assigning one of a plurality of reserved ARINC 429 data labels to a desired embedded parameter of an aircraft main controller;

transmitting the label to embedded parameter assignment to the aircraft controller; and

receiving the desired embedded parameter over an ARINC 429 data bus as a portion of an ARINC 429 data word, the ARINC 429 data word being identified by the assigned label, wherein the desired embedded parameter is only accessible from the aircraft main controller with the ARINC 429 data word being identified by the assigned label.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the ARINC 429 data word identifies a source of data in the data word using a 2-bit source device identifier.