Programmable portable electronic device for airborne operational communications

• US 9,571,181 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2012
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Zulch, Harold Anthony III, Judd, Tom D., Hickman, Stephen Otis
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUONG, THAO DUC
• Application Number:
  US13/409,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20130232237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide improved systems and methods for a programmable portable electronic device for airborne operational communications. In one embodiment, a method comprises loading application configuration information onto a storage medium on the portable electronic device from an external storage medium, the application configuration information defining an application configuration for the avionic operational data communications application and configuring an avionic operational data communications application stored in the storage medium on the portable electronic device according to the application configuration information stored in the storage medium. Further, the method includes receiving avionic operational data from an airborne server; executing the avionic operational data communications application to process the avionic operational data, wherein the execution of the avionic operational data communications application produces operational communications according to the application configuration information stored in the storage medium; and communicating the operational communications with a ground peer.

Claims

1. A communication system, the system comprising:

an external storage medium storing operational application configuration information defining an application configuration for an avionic operational data communications application;

an aircraft communication system configured to perform operational communications, the aircraft communication system comprising;

a portable electronic device, wherein the portable electronic device is removable from the aircraft, the portable electronic device hosting the avionic operational data communications application that produces the operational communications from avionic operational data, wherein the avionic operational data communications application is configured by the application configuration information stored on the portable electronic device, wherein the avionic operational data communications application controls operational communications, wherein operational communications include processed avionic operational data that is communicated between an aircraft and a fleet operations and control, wherein the application configuration information is loaded into a storage medium on the portable electronic device from the external storage medium; and

an aircraft server coupled to the portable electronic device, wherein the aircraft server and the portable electronic device communicate avionic operational data, wherein the aircraft server and the portable electronic device communicate independent of cockpit displays and instrumentation, wherein security measures prevent an unauthorized electronic device from accessing the avionic operational data and the operational communications; and

a ground communication system configured to receive the operational communications, the ground communication system comprising;

a ground network configured to communicate the operational communications across a communication link with the aircraft server; and

a ground peer application, configured to process the operational communications.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the aircraft server further receives the operational communications from the portable electronic device and controls a transmission of the operational communications across the communication link.

3. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device controls communication of the operational communications across the communication link.

4. The communication system of claim 1 further comprising a communication transmitter for receiving operational communications from the portable electronic device and for transmitting the operational communications across the communications link.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the external storage medium is accessed by a plurality of portable electronic devices for loading application configuration information into storage mediums on the plurality of portable electronic devices.

6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the application configuration information stored in the external storage medium is generated using a configuration generation tool.

7. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the aircraft server is a communication management unit, wherein the portable electronic device is a personal electronic device.

8. A portable electronic device, the device comprising:

a storage medium that stores application configuration information and an avionic operational data communications application that produces operational communications from avionic operational data, wherein the application configuration information is loaded into the storage medium from an external storage medium that stores the application configuration information defining an application configuration for the avionic operational data communications application, wherein the avionic operational data communications application is configured by the application configuration information stored in the storage medium, wherein the avionic operational data communications application controls operational communications, wherein operational communications include processed avionic operational data that is communicated between an aircraft and a fleet operations and control;

a network interface configured to receive and transmit the avionic operational data and operational communications with an aircraft server independent of cockpit displays and instrumentation; and

a processing unit configured to process the received avionic operational data by executing the avionic operational data communications application as defined by the application configuration information, wherein the portable electronic device is removable from an aircraft, wherein security measures prevent an unauthorized electronic device from accessing the avionic operational data and the operational communications.

9. The portable electronic device of claim 8, wherein the network interface transmits and receives the avionic operational data and the operational communications from the aircraft server.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 9, wherein the network interface transmits the avionic operational data to the aircraft server to relay the operational communications with a ground server.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 9, wherein the network interface communicates with the aircraft server through a secure local network.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 8, wherein the network interface performs operational communications with a ground server.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 8, wherein the application configuration information stored in the external storage medium is generated using a configuration generation tool.

14. A method for processing avionic operational data on a portable electronic device, the method comprising:

loading application configuration information into a storage medium on the portable electronic device from an external storage medium, the application configuration information defining an application configuration for an avionic operational data communications application, wherein the portable electronic device is removable from an aircraft, wherein the avionic operational data communications application controls operational communications, wherein operational communications include avionic operational data that is communicated between an aircraft and a fleet operations and control;

configuring the avionic operational data communications application stored in the storage medium on the portable electronic device according to the application configuration information stored in the storage medium;

receiving avionic operational data, with the portable electronic device, from an aircraft server independent of cockpit displays and instrumentation;

executing the avionic operational data communications application to process the avionic operational data, wherein the execution of the avionic operational data communications application produces operational communications from the avionic operational data according to the application configuration information stored in the storage medium;

communicating the operational communications with a ground peer; and

preventing an unauthorized electronic device from accessing the avionic operational data and the operational communications.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating the application configuration information using a configuration generation tool.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein communicating the operational communications with a ground peer comprises communicating with the ground peer through an aircraft server, wherein the aircraft server forms a communication link with the ground peer.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein communicating the operational communications with a ground peer comprises directly communicating with the ground peer through a communication link.