Weather data dissemination

• US 9,967,707 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2014
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Esposito, Carl, Jongsma, Kenneth R., True, Willard R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Chuong A
• Application Number:
  US14/254,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20150304813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,483 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/951 ground based
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/08 Adaptations of balloons, missiles, or aircraft for meteorological purposes; Radiosondes transmission of measurements G01D; transmitting circuits H04B; balloons in general B64B; aeroplanes in general B64D; missiles in general F42B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

In some examples, a first entity is configured to request weather data for a region of interest from a second entity. The second entity may transmit the requested weather data to the first entity in response to receiving the request. In some examples, the second entity only transmits the weather data to the first entity only in response to receiving a specific request for the weather data. Conversely, the first entity may only receive the weather data from the second entity in response to transmitting a request for the weather data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

requesting, by a processor of an entity, weather data corresponding to a region of interest from a first system onboard a first aircraft;

receiving, by the processor of the entity, the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft, wherein the first system onboard the first aircraft only transmits the weather data to the entity in response to receiving a request for the weather data from the entity;

receiving, by the processor of the entity, from a second system onboard a second aircraft, a request for the weather data corresponding to the region of interest; and

transmitting, by the processor of the entity, in response to the request from the second system onboard the second aircraft, the weather data corresponding to the region of interest received from the first system onboard the first aircraft to the second system onboard the second aircraft.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity comprises a third system onboard a third aircraft.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity comprises a ground station.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to requesting the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft, determining, by the processor of the entity, that the first system is capable of obtaining weather data corresponding to the region of interest.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising combining the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft with a set of weather data determined from a source other than the first system onboard the first aircraft.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, by the processor of the entity, the weather data to one or more additional entities that have a subscription for receiving weather data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor of the entity, the region of interest based on a flight plan of the second aircraft;

identifying, by the processor of the entity, an aircraft that can provide the weather data for the determined region of interest, as the first aircraft, prior to requesting the weather data corresponding to the region of interest from the first system onboard the first aircraft; and

transmitting, by the processor of the entity, the weather data for the region of interest determined based on the flight plan of the second aircraft, received from the first system onboard the first aircraft to the second system onboard the second aircraft.

8. A requesting system comprising:

a communications system; and

a processor configured to;

transmit a request, via the communications system, for weather data corresponding to a region of interest from a first system onboard a first aircraft, and receive, via the communications system, the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft, wherein the processor only receives weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft in response to transmitting the request for the weather data;

receive, via the communications system, from a second system onboard a second aircraft, a request for the weather data corresponding to the region of interest; and

transmit, via the communications system, in response to the request from the second system onboard the second aircraft, the weather data corresponding to the region of interest received from the first system onboard the first aircraft to the second system onboard the second aircraft.

9. The requesting system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to, prior to requesting the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft, determine that the first system onboard the first aircraft is capable of obtaining weather data corresponding to the region of interest.

10. The requesting system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to combine the weather data received from the first system onboard the first aircraft with weather data determined from a source other than the first system onboard the first aircraft and transmit the combined weather data to another entity.

11. The requesting system of claim 8, wherein the requesting system is a ground-based system, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify the first system onboard the first aircraft as being capable of obtaining weather data for the region of interest,

determine that one or more other aircraft will be encountering the region of interest, and transmit the weather data received from the first system onboard the first aircraft to the one or more other aircraft in response to determining that the one or more other aircraft will be encountering the region of interest.

12. The requesting system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to use the weather data corresponding to the region of interest from the first system onboard the first aircraft to determine a flight path for the second aircraft.

13. The requesting system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

request weather data corresponding to the region of interest from a third system onboard a marine vessel;

combine the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft with the weather data corresponding to the region of interest from the third system onboard the marine vessel; and

transmit, in response to the request from the second system onboard the second aircraft, the combined weather data received from the first system onboard the first aircraft and the weather data from the third system onboard the marine vessel to the second system onboard the second aircraft.

14. The requesting system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

request weather data corresponding to the region of interest from a third system onboard a ground-based vehicle;

combine the weather data from the first system onboard the first aircraft with the weather data corresponding to the region of interest from the third system onboard the ground-based vehicle; and

transmit, in response to the request from the second system onboard the second aircraft, the combined weather data received from the first system onboard the first aircraft and the weather data from the third system onboard the ground-based vehicle to the second system onboard the second aircraft.

15. A system onboard a first aircraft, the system comprising:

at least one sensor;

a communications system; and

a processor configured to;

receive a request, via the communications system, from a requesting entity, for weather data corresponding to a region of interest,

geo-reference the weather data, wherein the geo-referenced weather data identifies a location of the weather data and a time stamp indicating a time for which the weather data was generated, and

transmit, via the communications system, the weather data corresponding to the region of interest to the requesting entity, wherein the weather data is generated by the at least one sensor, wherein the processor is configured to transmit the weather data to the requesting entity only in response to receiving the request.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a memory that stores the weather data, wherein the processor retrieves the weather data from the memory prior to transmitting the weather data to the requesting entity.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising the aircraft, wherein the aircraft comprises the at least one sensor, the communications systems, and the processor.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the weather data comprises one or more of air temperature, pressure, wind direction, relative humidity, wind speed, wind shear, an indication of hail, a presence of turbulence, an indication of lightening, or an indication of precipitation.