Systems and methods for dynamic aircraft maintenance scheduling

• US 8,452,475 B1
• Filed: 10/02/2009
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Johnson, Mark W., West, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US12/587,235
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/14, 701/29.3, 701/29.4, 701/29.1, 701/31.6, 340/945, 340963-965, 340/971
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A system for scheduling aircraft maintenance includes communications electronics configured to receive data from systems onboard one or more aircraft while the aircraft are in flight. The system further includes computing electronics configured to receive the data from the communications electronics and to update a maintenance schedule for the one or more aircraft based on the received data.

Claims

1. A system for scheduling aircraft maintenance, comprising:

communications electronics configured to receive first data generated by a plurality of equipment onboard an aircraft, to receive second data generated by the plurality of equipment onboard the aircraft in response to a query, the communications electronics configured to receive the data while the aircraft is in flight; and

computing electronics configured to receive the first data from the communications electronics, to generate the query based on the received first data, to receive the second data from the communications electronics, and to update a maintenance schedule based on the received first data and second data, the maintenance schedule comprising a scheduled maintenance appointment for each of the plurality of equipment for the aircraft, wherein the computing electronics comprise an expert system configured to predict a need for maintenance of the aircraft based on the received first data and second data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing electronics are configured to update the maintenance schedule by adjusting a scheduled maintenance appointment for at least one of the plurality of equipment onboard the aircraft.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing electronics are configured to update the maintenance schedule by adding a maintenance task to a to-do list for the next scheduled maintenance appointment based on the received data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first data and the second data comprises usage information for the plurality of equipment.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of equipment relates to a plurality of aircraft subsystems.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications electronics and the computing electronics are configured to coordinate maintenance schedules for a plurality of aircraft.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein coordinating maintenance schedules for a plurality of aircraft comprises resolving conflicts between schedules for the plurality of aircraft based on the data received from aircraft while in flight.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing electronics are further configured to predict the lifespan of the equipment by applying the received data to statistical models.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing electronics are configured to update predictions using new data received from the aircraft and by applying the statistical models.

10. A system for scheduling aircraft maintenance, comprising:

communications electronics configured to receive first data from systems onboard a plurality of aircraft while the aircraft are in flight, to transmit a query for second data to the systems onboard the plurality of aircraft, and to receive second data from the systems onboard the plurality of aircraft while the aircraft are in flight; and

computing electronics configured to receive the first data from the communications electronics, to generate the query based on the received first data and to transmit the query to the communications electronics, to receive the second data from the communications electronics, and to update a maintenance schedule for the plurality of aircraft based on the received first data and second data, wherein the computing electronics comprise an expert system configured to predict a need for maintenance of the aircraft based on the received first data and second data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing electronics are further configured to receive maintenance resource availability information and to update the maintenance schedule for the plurality of aircraft based on the maintenance resource availability information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the maintenance resource availability information comprises information regarding the location of human resources and repair parts needed for the aircraft.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing electronics are further configured to predict the lifespan of aircraft systems and components based on statistical models.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computing electronics are configured to update predictions using the data received from the aircraft and by applying the statistical models.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the computing electronics are further configured to update the statistical models based on the data received from a plurality of systems onboard the in-flight aircraft.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing electronics are further configured to determine the severity of a fault on the aircraft based on the received data.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing electronics are further configured to determine a plan for providing the maintenance according to the updated maintenance schedule and wherein the plan comprises an update to an airline flight schedule.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing electronics are configured to update the maintenance schedule prior to the aircraft landing and wherein the computing electronics are configured to provide information about how the maintenance schedule has been updated for the aircraft to the communications electronics for transmission to the aircraft.

19. A method for scheduling aircraft maintenance, comprising:

using communications electronics to receive data from systems onboard a plurality of aircraft while the aircraft are in flight;

providing the received data to computing electronics;

generating a query for additional data from systems onboard the plurality of aircraft, based on the received data;

using an expert system configured to predict a need for maintenance of the aircraft based on the received data and additional data; and

using the computing electronics to update a maintenance schedule for the plurality of aircraft based on the received data and additional data.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

at the computing electronics, receiving maintenance resource availability information; and

updating the maintenance schedule for the plurality of aircraft based on the maintenance resource availability information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the maintenance resource availability information comprises information regarding the location of human resources and repair parts needed for the aircraft.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

predicting the lifespan of aircraft systems and components based on statistical models.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

processing the data received from the plurality of the aircraft to assign an urgency parameter to at least one maintenance activity for each of the plurality of aircraft; and

wherein updating the maintenance schedule for the plurality of aircraft is based at least partially on a ranking of the aircraft by urgency parameter.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining the severity of a fault on the aircraft based on the received data.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining a plan for providing the maintenance according to the updated maintenance schedule and wherein the plan comprises providing an update to an airline flight schedule.

26. A device for mounting in an aircraft, the device comprising:

a first interface to avionics systems;

a second interface to an onboard maintenance system;

a third interface to wireless data communications electronics; and

a processing circuit configured to log data available at the first and second interfaces, to cause the wireless data communications electronics to wirelessly transmit the logged data to a ground-based aircraft maintenance system during flight, to cause the wireless data communications electronics to wirelessly transmit queried data in response to a query received from the ground-based aircraft maintenance system and based on the logged data, to generate additional information for aircraft equipment based on the logged data and the queried data, and at least one of a diagnostics calculation, a usage calculation, a statistical model, a fault detection routine, and a thresholding analysis, and to predict a maintenance need for aircraft equipment based on the calculated additional information.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to cause at least one of the prediction and the calculated additional information to be wirelessly transmitted to the ground-based aircraft maintenance system.