System and method of transmitting data from an aircraft
First Claim
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1. An aircraft communications apparatus, comprising:
- a central processing unit (CPU) providing processing power and wireless transmission functionality and an interface circuit that is capable of interfacing with an aircraft Data Acquisition Unit;
a wireless transceiver controlled by the CPU, the wireless transceiver connecting the CPU to a wireless network;
a memory coupled to the CPU through a communication bus, the memory storing flight performance data, wherein the wireless transceiver wirelessly transmits the flight performance data stored in the memory to a ground station through the wireless network; and
a logic circuit connected to the CPU and memory and connected to the Data Acquisition Unit and configured to allow the Data Acquisition Unit to control data extraction from the Data Acquisition Unit into the memory and allow the CPU to forward data from the memory into the transceiver for transmission through the wireless network.
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Abstract
A system and method of transmitting data from an aircraft includes a PC card that acquires aircraft data and transmits the aircraft data over a radio frequency communications signal into the skin of the aircraft, which radiates the radio frequency communications signal to a location remote from the aircraft.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. An aircraft communications apparatus, comprising:
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a central processing unit (CPU) providing processing power and wireless transmission functionality and an interface circuit that is capable of interfacing with an aircraft Data Acquisition Unit; a wireless transceiver controlled by the CPU, the wireless transceiver connecting the CPU to a wireless network; a memory coupled to the CPU through a communication bus, the memory storing flight performance data, wherein the wireless transceiver wirelessly transmits the flight performance data stored in the memory to a ground station through the wireless network; and a logic circuit connected to the CPU and memory and connected to the Data Acquisition Unit and configured to allow the Data Acquisition Unit to control data extraction from the Data Acquisition Unit into the memory and allow the CPU to forward data from the memory into the transceiver for transmission through the wireless network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An aircraft communications apparatus that interfaces with a Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) in an aircraft for transmitting aircraft data received from the DAU, comprising:
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a memory for storing aircraft data received from the DAU; a radio transmitter for receiving aircraft data from the memory and transmitting the aircraft data over a radio frequency signal and passively coupling the RF energy into the skin of the aircraft, which is operative as a passive radiator to re-radiate the radio frequency communications signal to a location remote from the aircraft such that the RF communications signal is transmitted without use of a separate antenna mounted on the aircraft; a processor operatively connected to the memory and radio transmitter for reading and forwarding data from memory to the radio transmitter; and a logic circuit operative with the memory, processor and DAU for controlling the downloading of data from the DAU to the memory and the reading and forwarding of data from the memory to the radio transmitter without conflict between the processor and DAU. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of transmitting aircraft data comprising:
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collecting aircraft data within a memory of an aircraft communications circuit that is interfaced with a Digital Acquisition Unit (DAU) contained on an aircraft; retrieving the aircraft data from the memory based on commands received from a processor contained within the aircraft communications circuit; and transmitting the retrieved aircraft data from a transmitter contained within the aircraft communications circuit along a radio frequency signal and passively coupling the RF energy into the skin of the aircraft, which is operative as a passive radiator to re-radiate the radio frequency communications signal to a location remote from the aircraft such that the RF communications signal is transmitted without use of a separate antenna mounted on the aircraft. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification