Systems and methods for aircraft on-ground determination

• US 9,420,620 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Howe-Ryberg, Sandra J., Gandhi, Darshan
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord, Marceau
• Application Number:
  US14/501,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20160095150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 455/431, 455/90.3, 455/411, 455/430, 455/11.1, 455/12.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Systems and methods for aircraft on-ground determination are provided. In one embodiment, an onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway comprises: a wireless radio chipset module; and a velocity interlock coupled to an aircraft motion sensor and the wireless radio chipset module. The wireless radio chipset module is configured to establish one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links with one or more onboard avionics system, and wherein the wireless radio chipset module is configure to establish one or more external radio communication links with at least one ground-based wireless communication system. The aircraft motion sensor is configured to output to the velocity interlock an aircraft motion signal indicative of a velocity of an aircraft in which the gateway is installed. The velocity interlock enables and disables the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links and the one or more external radio communication links based on the aircraft motion signal.

Claims

1. An onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway, the gateway comprising:

a wireless radio chipset module;

an aircraft motion sensor integral within the onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway; and

a velocity interlock coupled to the aircraft motion sensor and the wireless radio chipset module;

wherein the wireless radio chipset module is configured to establish one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links with one or more onboard avionics system, and wherein the wireless radio chipset module is configure to establish one or more external radio communication links with at least one ground-based wireless communication system;

wherein the aircraft motion sensor is configured to output to the velocity interlock an aircraft motion signal indicative of a velocity of an aircraft in which the gateway is installed; and

wherein the velocity interlock enables and disables the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links and the one or more external radio communication links based on the aircraft motion signal.

2. The gateway of claim 1, further comprising:

a routing function coupled to the wireless radio chipset module;

wherein the routing function directs data between source and destination devices coupled to each other by the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links and the one or more external radio communication links.

3. The gateway of claim 2, wherein the routing function operates as an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Level 2 or OSI Level 3 device to direct data packets transported between the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links and the one or more external radio communication links.

4. The gateway of claim 2, wherein the routing function establishes a secure communications routing for official aircraft data and systems via an avionics communication domain within the aircraft isolated from a passenger accessible communications domain.

5. The gateway of claim 1, wherein the one or more external radio communication links are configured based on one or more of a cellular communication standard or a broadband wireless communication standard.

6. The gateway of claim 1, wherein the aircraft motion sensor comprises either an inertial navigation sensor, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, or both.

7. The gateway of claim 1, wherein the velocity interlock compares a velocity determined from the aircraft motion signal against predetermined speed thresholds to determine when to enable and disable the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links.

8. The gateway of claim 7, further comprising a memory with a configuration file, wherein the predetermined speed thresholds are stored in the configuration file.

9. The gateway of claim 7, wherein when the velocity determined from the aircraft motion signal exceeds a takeoff threshold, the velocity interlock disables the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links.

10. The gateway of claim 7, wherein when the velocity determined from the aircraft motion signal is below an on-ground threshold, the velocity interlock enables the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links.

11. The gateway of claim 1, wherein the velocity interlock locks out power to the wireless radio chipset module to disables the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links.

12. The gateway of claim 1, wherein the aircraft motion sensor is integral to the gateway with the velocity interlock and the wireless radio chipset module.

13. A method for operating an onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway, method comprising:

measuring a velocity of an aircraft using an aircraft motion sensor integral within the onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway;

determining with the onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway whether the aircraft is on the ground based on the velocity; and

enabling communication via the on-board wireless avionics datalink gateway when the aircraft is determined to be on the ground;

when the aircraft velocity is determined to be less than an on-ground threshold, enabling a set of wireless communication links; and

when the aircraft velocity is determined to be greater than a takeoff threshold, disabling the set of wireless communication links.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the on-ground threshold and the takeoff threshold are determined based on data contained in a configuration file, where the configuration file is stored in a memory within the onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway comprises a wireless radio chipset module, wherein enabling the set of wireless communication links and disabling the set of wireless communication links comprise controlling power to the wireless radio chipset module.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the set of wireless communication links comprise one or both of cellular communication links or broadband wireless communication links.

17. The method of claim 13, when the set of wireless communication links is enabled, the method further comprising, via the on-board wireless avionics datalink gateway:

establishing one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links with one or more onboard avionics system;

establishing one or more external radio communication links with at least one ground-based wireless communication system; and

directing data between source and destination devices coupled to each other by the one or more intra-aircraft radio communication links and the one or more external radio communication links.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the aircraft motion sensor comprises either an inertial navigation sensor, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, or both.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the aircraft motion sensor is integral to the onboard motion controlled wireless avionics datalink gateway.