Methods and systems for requesting and retrieving aircraft data during flight of an aircraft

• US 9,725,186 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2014
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Inventors: O'Dell, Robert, Conzachi, Keith D., Gallagher, Jim, Britt, Nolle, Kerekesh, William, Geary, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan K
• Application Number:
  US14/316,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20140309820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments relate to methods for requesting and retrieving aircraft data during flight of an aircraft. This aircraft data can be used to perform additional monitoring of aircraft sub-systems to detect an abnormal condition, and/or to identify one or more sources that are causing the abnormal condition. In one embodiment, aircraft data for one or more relevant parameters can be requested from the ground, measured on-board the aircraft, and stored in a data file that is then communicated back to personnel on the ground. The real-time aircraft data for one or more relevant parameters can then be analyzed to identify the one or more sources that are causing the abnormal condition.

Claims

1. A system for health and trend monitoring of an aircraft, the system comprising:

a gateway configured to communicate with the aircraft via satellite communication links and to receive a crew alerting system (CAS) message file comprising unprocessed data from the aircraft, wherein the CAS message file automatically indicates that measured parametric data from a sub-system of the aircraft is outside one or more threshold limits;

a ground-based computer configured to;

process the unprocessed data in the CAS message file to generate processed data;

generate a parameter request message for transmission to the aircraft using the gateway, wherein the parameter request message includes a parameter file that specifies a duration value and additional parametric data to be collected by the aircraft to identify one or more sources that are causing the measured parametric data to be outside the one or more threshold limits, wherein the duration value specifies how long the additional parametric data is to be recorded; and

process the additional parametric data recorded by the aircraft in response to receiving the additional parametric data at the gateway.

2. An aircraft, comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a gateway via satellite communication links;

a plurality of sub-systems; and

an on-board computer communicatively coupled with the transceiver and the plurality of sub-systems, the on-board computer configured to;

generate a crew alerting system (CAS) message file comprising unprocessed data, wherein the CAS message file automatically indicates that measured parametric data from at least one sub-system of the plurality of sub-systems are outside one or more threshold limits;

receive a parameter request message that includes a parameter file specifying a duration value and additional parametric data that is needed from the aircraft to identify one or more sources that are causing the measured parametric data to be outside the one or more threshold limits, wherein the duration value specifies how long the additional parametric data is to be recorded;

record the additional parametric data for the duration value; and

generate a data file for transmission by the transceiver to a ground based computer.

3. A computer, comprising:

a processor that is configured to perform processing to;

determine, in response to processed data generated based on unprocessed data of a crew alerting system (CAS) message file transmitted from an aircraft while in flight, a duration value and additional parametric data to be recorded by the aircraft to identify one or more sources that are causing measured parametric data of the aircraft to be outside of at least one threshold, wherein each duration value specifies how long parametric data for that particular relevant parameter are to be measured and recorded; and

generate a parameter request message comprising a parameter file that specifies the duration value and the additional parametric data to be recorded, and

communicate the parameter request message for transmission to the aircraft over satellite communication links.