×

Wireless-based aircraft data communication system with automatic frequency control

  • US 6,167,238 A
  • Filed: 06/25/1999
  • Issued: 12/26/2000
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/25/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A system for providing a retrievable record of the flight performance of an aircraft comprising:

  • a ground data link unit that obtains flight performance data representative of aircraft flight performance during flight of the aircraft, said ground data link unit comprising;

    a) an archival data store operative to accumulate and store flight performance data during flight of the aircraft, andb) a spread spectrum transceiver coupled to said archival data store, and comprising a transmitter that is operative after the aircraft completes its flight and lands at an airport to download said flight performance data that has been accumulated and stored by said archival data store during flight over one of a plurality of sub-band frequency channels of a spread spectrum communication signal, wherein said sub-band frequency channel is chosen based on a position of the aircraft determined by an on board global positioning system in order to comply with any regulatory frequency requirements of the geographical area in which the aircraft has landed; and

    an airport based spread spectrum receiver that receives the spread spectrum communication signal from the aircraft and demodulates the signal to obtain the flight performance data.

View all claims
  • 1 Assignment
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×