Automated transmission of vehicle anomalous incident data via preferred transmission modes

• US 9,934,621 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2017
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• 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:
  US15/408,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20170323492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 441 Days
• 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 qualifies 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 system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices operably coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

detect an anomalous incident involving a vehicle on which the system is disposed and that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;

identify data collected or communicated by one or more systems onboard the vehicle, wherein such data is relevant to the anomalous incident;

determine a priority level of the anomalous incident;

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

detect that the vehicle is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest;

communicate the digest to a transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest; and

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

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

select the data transmission mode for transmitting the digest based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the data relevant to the anomalous incident via the transmission system to a ground-based vehicle operator network, via the selected transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

select, in response to determining the priority level as high priority, a transmission mode 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;

select, in response to determining the priority level as low priority, a transmission mode from among one or more of Gatelink and SatCom, based on which transmission mode is lowest cost; and

select, in response to determining the priority level as intermediate priority, a transmission mode 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 comprise reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

communicate, in response to determining that the priority level is high priority, both (1.) the data relevant to the anomalous incident, and (2.) an instruction to transmit the data relevant to the anomalous incident, directly to a communication system corresponding to the selected transmission mode, thereby bypassing a Communication Management Unit (CMU) of the vehicle, instead of communicating the data and the instruction to the CMU.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate the digest such that the digest comprises an indication of a nature or type of the anomalous incident.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate the digest such that the digest comprises summary data selected from among a larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the selected data transmission mode is a first selected data transmission mode, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, via a second selected data transmission mode, a request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident and from which the summary data for the digest was selected; and

communicate, in response to receiving the request, the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the second selected data transmission mode.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the received request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident comprises a request for transmission of ongoing real-time data, and

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to communicate, in response to the request for transmission of ongoing real-time data, additional data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle in real-time.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the received request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident comprises an indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident, and

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to communicate the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle, in response to the received request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data, in accordance with the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident, such that the one or more processors are configured to:

select, in response to the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident being high priority, 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;

select, in response to the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident being low priority, a lowest-cost mode from among at least Gatelink and SatCom; and

select, in response to the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident being intermediate priority, 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.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors being configured to detect that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest comprises the one or more processors being configured to:

detect what transmission modes are currently available, from among transmission modes comprising one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular; and

determine which of the available transmission modes enables transmission of the digest within a shortest interval of time.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors being configured to identify the data onboard the vehicle that is relevant to the anomalous incident comprises the one or more processors being configured to identify 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.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

store the data that is relevant to the anomalous incident.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors being configured to detect the anomalous incident comprises the one or more processors being configured to detect via at least one of a TCAS system, a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) system, 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.

14. The system 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 vehicle and an external hazard, a distance between the vehicle and the external hazard, a velocity change needed for the vehicle to avoid the external hazard, and a trigger from an anomaly alerting system,

wherein the one or more processors being configured to determine whether the anomalous incident qualifies for reporting relative to the set of anomalous incident reporting criteria comprises the one or more processors being configured to determine at least one of;

whether the vehicle 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, and

wherein the one or more processors being configured to determine whether the vehicle 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 vehicle and the external hazard was less than a threshold time;

that the distance between the vehicle 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 vehicle;

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

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors being configured to identify the data onboard the vehicle that is relevant to the anomalous incident involving the vehicle comprises the one or more processors being configured to evaluate available data from one or more vehicle systems to select a portion of the available data determined to be relevant to the incident, and

wherein the one or more processors being configured to communicate the data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle comprises the one or more processors being configured to communicate to the transmission system the selected portion of the available data determined to be relevant to the anomalous incident.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft.

17. A method comprising:

detecting, with one or more processors of a system disposed on a vehicle, an anomalous incident involving the vehicle and that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;

identifying, with the one or more processors, data collected or communicated by one or more systems onboard the vehicle, wherein such data is relevant to the anomalous incident;

determining, by with the one or more processors, a priority level of the anomalous incident;

generating, with the one or more processors, a digest of the data relevant to the anomalous incident;

detecting, with the one or more processors, that the vehicle is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest;

communicating, with the one or more processors, the digest to a transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest; and

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

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the digest comprises an indication of a nature or type of the anomalous incident, and summary data selected from among a larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident, the method further comprising:

selecting the data transmission mode for transmitting the digest based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident; and

communicating the digest to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the selected data transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident,

wherein selecting the data transmission mode for transmitting the digest based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident comprises;

selecting, in response to determining the priority level as high priority, a transmission mode 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;

selecting, in response to determining the priority level as low priority, a transmission mode from among one or more of Gatelink and SatCom, based on which transmission mode is lowest cost; and

selecting, in response to determining the priority level as intermediate priority, a transmission mode 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 comprise reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having executable instructions stored thereon to cause a computing system to:

detect an anomalous incident involving a vehicle on which the system is disposed and that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;

identify data collected or communicated by one or more systems onboard the vehicle, wherein such data is relevant to the anomalous incident;

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

determine a priority level of the anomalous incident;

detect that the vehicle is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest;

communicate the digest to a transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest; and

wherein if the priority level is low, detect that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode network comprises detect that the vehicle is at or proximate to a vehicle terminus.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the digest comprises an indication of a nature or type of the anomalous incident, and summary data selected from among a larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident, and the executable instructions are to further cause the computing system to:

select the data transmission mode for transmitting the digest based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident; and

communicate the digest to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the selected data transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident,

wherein selecting the data transmission mode for transmitting the digest based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident comprises;

selecting, in response to determining the priority level as high priority, a transmission mode 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;

selecting, in response to determining the priority level as low priority, a transmission mode from among one or more of Gatelink and SatCom, based on which transmission mode is lowest cost; and

selecting, in response to determining the priority level as intermediate priority, a transmission mode 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 comprise reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.