Systems and methods for arbitrating sensor and actuator signals in a multi-channel control system

• US 8,948,960 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Griffith, Scot E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Keith, Jack W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chuong P
• Application Number:
  US11/948,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20090143924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,622 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/29, 701 33- 36, 701/29.1, 701/29.7, 701/30.3, 701/31.7, 700/2, 700/3, 700/19, 700/20, 700/247, 700/249, 244/75.1, 244/99.2, 244/99.4, 709/208, 714/11, 714/21, 714/43, 714/E11.007, 714/E11.016, 714/E11.054, 714/E11.055, 714/E11.072, 714E11079-E11081, 714/E11.091, 714/E11.092, 714 30- 31
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/22 Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1629 Error detection by comparing the output of redundant processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/18 using passive fault-masking of the redundant circuits error detection by comparing the output of redundant processing systems with continued operation after detection of the error G06F11/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/182 based on mutual exchange of the output between redundant processing components
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for arbitrating sensor and actuator signals in various devices. One system includes input/output (I/O) circuitry, redundant computation circuits coupled to the I/O circuitry, and an arbitration circuit coupled between the I/O circuitry and the redundant computation circuits. The I/O circuitry is configured to be coupled to multiple non-redundant systems, and the redundant computation circuits are configured to be coupled to one of multiple system buses. One such device is an aircraft including multiple non-redundant systems and a plurality of system buses that are configured to transmit redundant messages to the non-redundant systems. A method includes receiving notice that redundant control signals have been received by multiple computation circuits, determining the health of each computation circuit, selecting a computation circuit from which to receive a control signal based on its health level, and transmitting the control signal from the selected computation circuit to I/O circuitry.

Claims

1. A system for arbitrating sensor and actuator signals in devices including a plurality of non-redundant systems and a plurality of system buses, comprising:

input/output (I/O) circuitry configured to be coupled to each of the plurality of non-redundant systems;

a plurality of redundant computation circuits coupled between the I/O circuitry and one of the plurality of system buses; and

an arbitration circuit coupled between the I/O circuitry and the plurality of redundant computation circuits,

the arbitration circuit configured to select one of the redundant computation circuits for transmission of a control signal to only one of the plurality of non-redundant systems,

the arbitration circuit further configured to select one of the plurality of redundant computation circuits for receipt of the redundant message based on a reported health status of each redundant computation circuit, the reported health status of each redundant computation circuit based upon at least one of;

a detected fault in the redundant computation circuit or data congestion detected in the computations performed by the redundant computation circuit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of redundant computation circuits are configured to transmit a redundant message to the I/O circuitry via the arbitration circuit.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of redundant computation circuits comprises a health status circuit coupled to the I/O circuitry.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the arbitration circuit is configured to receive the health status of each redundant computation circuit from each respective health status circuit.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of redundant computation circuits further comprises a bridge coupled the processor and configured to be coupled to the one of the plurality of system buses.

6. An aircraft, comprising:

a plurality of non-redundant systems;

a plurality of system buses configured to transmit redundant messages to the plurality of non-redundant systems;

a plurality of computation circuits, each computation circuit coupled to one of the plurality of system buses; and

an arbitration apparatus coupled between the plurality of non-redundant systems and the plurality of system buses, the arbitration apparatus configured to select only one of the redundant messages for transmission to one of the plurality of non-redundant systems,

the arbitration apparatus further coupled to each of the plurality of computation circuits, each computation circuit coupled to one of the plurality of system buses, each computation circuit coupled to and in communication with the arbitration apparatus,

the arbitration apparatus configured to select one of the plurality of redundant computation circuits for receipt of the one of the redundant messages based on a reported health status of each redundant computation circuit, the reported health status of each redundant computation circuit based upon at least one of;

a detected fault in the redundant computation circuit or data congestion detected in the computations performed by the redundant computation circuit.

7. The aircraft of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of redundant computation circuits comprises a health status circuit coupled to the arbitration circuit.

8. The aircraft of claim 7, wherein the arbitration circuit is configured to receive the health status of each computation circuit from each respective health status circuit.

9. The aircraft of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of computation circuits comprises a processor coupled to the arbitration circuit and one of the plurality of system buses.

10. The aircraft of claim 9, wherein the arbitration apparatus further comprises input/output (I/O) circuitry coupled between the arbitration circuit and each of the plurality of non-redundant systems.

11. The aircraft of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of computation circuits comprises a bridge coupled between its processor and one of the plurality of system buses.