Cost reduction system and method for flight data recording

• US 7,945,360 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teledyne Controls, LLC (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Teledyne Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Nahapetian, Armen
• Primary Examiner(s): REVAK, CHRISTOPHER A
• Application Number:
  US12/819,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20100256868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 330 Days
• Field of Search: 701/35, 701/14, 701/29, 701/1, 701/3, 360/5, 369/21, 348/143, 370/442, 370/474, 370/265, 370/412, 710/30, 710/36
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A method and system for acquiring aircraft parameters that includes sampling an aircraft parameter during a first sampling period, recording the full value of the aircraft parameter sampled during the first sampling period, then sampling the aircraft parameter during a fixed number of subsequent consecutive sampling periods, and recording the change between the value of the aircraft parameter sampled in the subsequent sampling periods and the value of the aircraft parameter sampled in the prior sampling period. A method and system for constructing a data stream that includes merging a voluntary data stream and the mandatory parameters and storing the merged data stream in a flight data recorder while maintaining the certification of the flight data recorder.

Claims

1. A system for recording aircraft parameter data, the system comprising:

a voluntary data acquisition unit for acquiring voluntary parameters describing the aircraft and forming a voluntary data stream comprising the parameters describing the aircraft;

a mandatory data acquisition unit in communication therewith for receiving the voluntary data stream and combining the voluntary data stream with the mandatory parameters into a single merged data stream; and

a flight data recorder in communication with the mandatory acquisition unit, wherein the flight data recorder is for storing the merged data stream;

wherein merging the voluntary data stream with the mandatory data comprises interlacing the mandatory parameters with the voluntary data stream such that the mandatory parameters have predetermined locations within the merged data stream, and wherein merging the voluntary data stream with the mandatory data stream does not require the re-certification of the flight data recorder.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mandatory data acquisition unit further comprises a first input port for receiving the voluntary data stream and a second input port for receiving the mandatory parameters.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first and second input ports are any one of a DIT429 and ARINC717 data port.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a voluntary data recorder in communication with the mandatory acquisition unit.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the merged data stream is recorded in the voluntary data recorder in addition to the flight data recorder.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the voluntary data acquisition unit is an ACMS/FOQA data acquisition unit.

7. A method for constructing a data stream, comprising:

receiving a voluntary data stream from a voluntary data acquisition unit, wherein the voluntary data stream comprises voluntary parameters describing the aircraft;

receiving a mandatory data stream, wherein the mandatory data stream comprises mandatory parameters describing the aircraft and required to be recorded by at least one government mandate, and wherein the voluntary parameters are not required to be recorded by the at least one government mandate;

merging the voluntary data stream and the mandatory data, wherein the merging comprises interlacing the mandatory parameters with the voluntary data stream such that the mandatory parameters have predetermined locations within the merged data stream;

storing the merged data stream in a flight data recorder;

wherein the merged data stream maintains the certification of the flight data recorder.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving the voluntary data stream from a voluntary acquisition unit configured to acquire parameters making up the voluntary data stream and form the voluntary data stream; and

receiving the mandatory data stream from a mandatory acquisition unit configured to acquire the mandatory parameters and form the mandatory data stream.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein merging the voluntary data stream and the mandatory data stream comprises merging the two data streams in the mandatory data acquisition unit.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing the merged data stream in a voluntary data recorder.