Automated transmission of aircraft anomalous incident data via preferred transmission modes

• US 9,607,447 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2015
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Gremmert, Scott R., Wilmot, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Sample, Jonathan L
• Application Number:
  US14/675,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20160292932A1
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/933 of aircraft or spacecraft
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to techniques for automated transmission of surveillance incident data or other anomalous incident data from an aircraft via a preferred transmission mode. An example method includes detecting, by a processing device onboard an aircraft, an anomalous incident involving the aircraft that qualities for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria. The method further includes identifying, by the processing device, data onboard the aircraft relevant to the anomalous incident. The method further includes detecting that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident. The method further includes communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a processing device onboard an aircraft, an anomalous incident involving the aircraft that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;

identifying, by the processing device, data onboard the aircraft relevant to the anomalous incident;

determining, by the processing device, a priority level of the anomalous incident;

detecting, by the processing device, that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident; and

communicating, by the processing device, the data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode;

wherein if the priority level is low, detecting that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode network comprises detecting that the aircraft is at or proximate to an airport gate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the data relevant to the anomalous incident stored on the aircraft system of the aircraft comprises identifying data relevant to a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Resolution Advisory (RA), another type of surveillance alert, a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) alert, a weather system alert, a flight dynamics alert, a cabin pressure alert, a pilot condition alert, an internal status alert, or another type of trigger from an anomaly alerting system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the anomalous incident involving the aircraft; and

storing the data relevant to the anomalous incident, prior to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting the anomalous incident comprises detecting via at least one of a TCAS system, a ground proximity warning system (GPWS), a weather radar system, a flight dynamics alert system, a cabin pressure alert system, a pilot condition alert system, an internal status alert system, another type of cooperative surveillance system, another type of radar system, a lidar system, an ultrasound sensor system, an infrared sensor system, an optical image recognition system, or another type of sensor system.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the set of anomalous incident reporting criteria comprise criteria based on at least one of:

a time to intercept between the aircraft and an external hazard, a distance between the aircraft and the external hazard, a velocity change needed for the aircraft to avoid the external hazard, and a trigger from an anomaly alerting system, and

wherein determining whether the anomalous incident qualifies for reporting relative to the set of anomalous incident reporting criteria comprises determining at least one of;

whether the aircraft came within a minimum separation threshold of the external hazard based on the set of anomalous incident reporting criteria, or whether the trigger from the anomaly alerting system qualifies for generating an anomalous incident report,

wherein determining whether the aircraft came within the minimum separation threshold of the external hazard based on the set of anomalous incident reporting criteria comprises determining;

that the time to intercept between the aircraft and the external hazard was less than a threshold time;

that the distance between the aircraft and the external hazard was less than a threshold distance, wherein the threshold distance is determined at least in part on the altitude of the aircraft;

or that the velocity change needed for the aircraft to avoid the external hazard was greater than a threshold velocity change.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the data onboard the aircraft relevant to the anomalous incident involving the aircraft comprises evaluating available data from one or more aircraft systems to select a portion of the available data determined to be relevant to the incident, and

wherein communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the aircraft comprises communicating to the transmission system the selected portion of the available data determined to be relevant to the anomalous incident.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the data transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident, thereby determining the selected data transmission mode prior to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident via the transmission system to a ground-based aircraft operator network, via the selected transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident, wherein:

if the determined priority level is high priority, the selected transmission mode is selected from among one or more of Satellite Communication (SatCom), High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on which transmission mode is currently available and enables transmission of the surveillance data within a shortest interval of time;

if the determined priority level is low priority, the selected transmission mode is Gatelink; and

if the determined priority level is intermediate priority, the selected transmission mode is selected from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on criteria that include reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to determining that the priority level is high priority, bypassing a Communication Management Unit (CMU) to communicate the data relevant to the anomalous incident and an instruction to transmit the data relevant to the anomalous incident directly to a communication system corresponding to the selected transmission mode.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a digest of the data relevant to the anomalous incident;

detecting, by the processing device, that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest, from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on which transmission mode is currently available and enables transmission of the digest within a shortest interval of time; and

communicating, by the processing device, the digest to a transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a downlink request for the data relevant to the anomalous incident in response to the digest, wherein communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode is further in response to the received downlink request.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein the received downlink request comprises an indication of a priority level for transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident, in response to the digest, and

wherein communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the aircraft in response to the received downlink request comprises transmitting the surveillance data in accordance with the priority level comprised in the received downlink request, such that:

if the priority level comprised in the received downlink request is high priority, the selected transmission mode is selected from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on which transmission mode is currently available and enables transmission of the surveillance data within a shortest interval of time;

if the priority level comprised in the received downlink request is low priority, the selected transmission mode is Gatelink and

if the priority level comprised in the received downlink request is intermediate priority, the selected transmission mode is selected from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on criteria that include reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

13. The method of claim 11,

wherein the received downlink request comprises a request for transmission of ongoing real-time data, and

wherein communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the aircraft in response to the received downlink request comprises transmitting the ongoing real-time data in accordance with the request.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected data transmission mode is Very High Frequency (VHF), and wherein detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode comprises detecting that the aircraft is within range of a VHF ground antenna.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected data transmission mode is High Frequency (HF), and wherein detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode comprises detecting that an HF radio onboard the aircraft is able to connect to an HF ground antenna.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected data transmission mode is Gatelink, and wherein detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode comprises detecting that the aircraft is in range of a Gatelink network.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing at least one of compressing, encrypting, formatting, and packaging the data relevant to the anomalous incident prior to communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode.

18. A system onboard an aircraft, the system comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processing devices operably coupled to the memory and configured to;

detect an anomalous incident involving the aircraft that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;

identify data onboard the aircraft relevant to the anomalous incident;

determine a priority level of the anomalous incident;

detect that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident; and

communicate the data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode, and

wherein if the priority level is low, detecting that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode network comprises detecting that the aircraft is at or proximate to an airport gate.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising communicative connections to one or more of a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) system, a ground proximity warning system (GPWS), a weather radar (WXR) system, and one or more additional types of anomaly alerting systems;

wherein the processing devices being configured to identify the data relevant to the anomalous incident stored on the aircraft system of the aircraft comprises the processing devices being configured to identify one or more of;

data received from the TCAS system relevant to a TCAS Resolution Advisory (RA);

data received from the GPWS relevant to a ground proximity alert;

data received from the WXR system relevant to a weather system alert; and

data received from the one or more additional types of anomaly alerting systems relevant to another type of alert, wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured to;

select the data transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident, thereby determining the selected data transmission mode prior to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode,

wherein if the priority level is high, the selected data transmission mode is selected from among one of Satellite Communication (SatCom), High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on which transmission mode is currently available and enables transmission of the surveillance data within a shortest interval of time; and

wherein if the priority level is intermediate, the selected transmission mode is selected from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on criteria that include reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

20. A computer program product configured to cause a computing device to:

detect an anomalous incident involving an aircraft that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;

identify data onboard the aircraft relevant to the anomalous incident;

determine a priority level of the anomalous incident;

detect that the aircraft is in range for a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident; and

communicate the data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode;

wherein if the priority level is low, detecting that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode network comprises detecting that the aircraft is at or proximate to an airport gate.