Distress beacon system for an aircraft or another vehicle

• US 9,540,112 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2013
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elta Co.
• Original Assignee: Elta Co.
• Inventors: Cavan, Alain, Portes, Thierry, Cresp, Claude, Floquet-Picard, Carole
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Hongmin
• Application Number:
  US14/432,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20150298813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0065 Black boxes, devices automatically broadcasting distress signals
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 25/00 Emergency apparatus or devices, not otherwise provided for parachutes B64D17/00, B64D19/00; jettisoning of fuel tanks or fuel per se B64D37/00; specially adapted for protection against criminal attack, e.g. anti-hijacking systems B64D45/0015 ; safety belts or body harnesses in general A62B35/00; safety belts or body harnesses for land vehicles B60R22/00; jettisonable parts of fuselage facilitating emergency escape B64C
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0231 Emergency, distress or locator beacons

Abstract

A versatile distress beacon system for an aircraft, a ship or other vehicles, including a beacon and a mounting to provide the function of an automatic beacon or a survival beacon. The automatic distress beacon system includes a mounting rigidly attached to the structure of the aircraft and a beacon removably mounted on the mounting. The mounting includes an electronic management unit having a first connector to connect to the data bus and to control the aircraft to receive data from the data bus and orders to activate the beacon, and a second connector to connect to the beacon to transmit data and activation orders to same. The beacon having a memory module to store the transmitted data and a radio transmission module connected to a transmission antenna. The mounting has a detector to detect abnormal events connected to the electronic management unit, with a view to activating the beacon.

Claims

1. An automatic distress beacon system configured to equip a vehicle, comprising:

a fixed base unit configured to be rigidly fixed to a structure of the vehicle, and comprising an electronic management unit; and

a removable beacon configured to be releasably mounted on the base unit to transform from a survival beacon to the automatic distress beacon and configured to be removed from the base unit to transform the automatic distress beacon to the survival beacon,

the electronic management unit comprises a first connector to connect to a data and control bus of the vehicle to receive data from the data and control bus and commands to activate the beacon; and

a second connector to connect to the beacon to transmit data and activation commands to the beacon,

the beacon comprises at least one memory module to store the transmitted data and a radio transmission module connected via the base unit to an external transmission antenna of the vehicle.

2. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an aircraft or a ship.

3. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein that the base unit comprises at least one detector to detect abnormal events connected to the electronic management unit and activate the beacon in response to detecting an abnormal event.

4. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic management unit further comprises an activation module of the beacon;

a data communications module providing an interface with the data and control bus; and

an electrical power supply module.

5. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said at least one detector the comprises an impact detector connected to an activation module of the beacon.

6. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the impact detector is an orientable accelero-contact sensor.

7. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base unit comprises an electro-acoustic transducer connected to an activation module of the beacon.

8. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a power source of the vehicle supplies an electrical power to the base unit.

9. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base unit further comprises an electrical power source.

10. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the beacon further comprises a trigger to manually trigger a distress signal.

11. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the beacon further comprises a control and processing unit electrically connected to said at least one memory module.

12. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the beacon further comprises a unique beacon identifier;

and wherein the base unit further comprises a unique base identifier.

13. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the beacon further comprises a control and processing unit electrically connected to said at least one memory module;

wherein the beacon further comprises an identification module configured to read the unique beacon identifier, and configured to read the unique base identifier of the base unit to which the beacon is installed; and

wherein the identification module is electrically connected to the control and processing unit.

14. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the beacon further comprises a control and processing unit electrically connected to said at least one memory module and a global positioning module, connected to the control and processing unit, configured to provide geographical coordinates of the vehicle or the beacon.

15. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the beacon further comprises a control and processing unit electrically connected to said at least one memory module, and a man-machine interface, connected to the control and processing unit, comprising a display screen and a keyboard.

16. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the beacon further comprises an unique beacon identifier, an identification module configured to read the unique beacon identifier, and a global positioning module, connected to the control and processing unit, configured to provide geographical coordinates of the vehicle or the beacon;

wherein the trigger is formed by a dedicated key on the keyboard of the man-machine interface;

wherein, in response to detecting the dedicated key being pressed, the control and processing unit activates the radio transmission module to transmit the distress signal, reads data relating to the geographical coordinates of the beacon in said at least one memory module, and reads the unique beacon identifier of the beacon utilizing the identification module so that the transmitted distress signal contains the geographical coordinates of the beacon and the unique beacon identifier of the beacon.

17. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the beacon further comprises a water detector electrically connected to the control and processing unit.

18. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the beacon further comprises a power block comprising one or more electrical batteries and an electronic unit to cumulate energy consumed.

19. The automatic distress beacon system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the base unit further comprises a pressure detector electrically connected to the electronic management unit and an electro-acoustic transducer activated by the electronic management unit in response to detecting an abnormal pressure.