System and method of transmitting data from an aircraft

• US 9,576,404 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2015
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gallagher, Shawn H., Ziarno, James J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajibade Akonai, Olumide T
• Application Number:
  US14/829,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20150363981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/14, 701/33.2, 701/33.3, 701/33.4, 455/431, 455/98, 455/558, 455/550.1, 455/66.1, 455/41.2, 455/95, 455/97, 340/945, 340/964, 340/971, 340/973
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/40 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• 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 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A system for transmitting aircraft data from an aircraft includes a Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) that records aircraft data. A PC card is interfaced to the DAU and stores the aircraft data from the DAU. A processor retrieves aircraft data from the memory. A first wireless transceiver is controlled by the processor and receives and transmits the aircraft data along a wireless communications signal. A wireless local area network (LAN) communications unit is configured as an access point and positioned within the aircraft and transmits and receives wireless communications signals to and from the PC card. A second wireless transceiver is mounted within the aircraft and receives the wireless communications signal from the wireless LAN communications unit for transmitting the aircraft data from the aircraft.

Claims

1. A system for transmitting aircraft data from an aircraft, comprising:

a wireless engine monitoring module mounted on the aircraft engine that collects engine data relating to operation of the aircraft engine and includes a wireless engine monitoring transceiver that transmits and receives the collected engine data over a first wireless communications signal;

a Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) that records aircraft data;

a PC card interfaced to the DAU, comprising

a memory that stores the aircraft data from the DAU;

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to retrieve aircraft data from the memory;

a first wireless transceiver controlled by the processor that receives and transmits the aircraft data over a second wireless communications signal;

a wireless local area network (LAN) communications unit configured as an access point and positioned within the aircraft that transmits and receives the first and second wireless communications signals to and from the respective wireless engine monitoring module and the PC card; and

a second wireless transceiver mounted within the aircraft that receives a third wireless communications signal containing aircraft data and the engine data from the wireless LAN communications unit and transmits the aircraft data and engine data from the aircraft.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said second wireless transceiver comprises a UHF transceiver configured to transmit and receive aircraft data and engine data over an air-to-ground communications signal.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said second wireless transceiver comprises a satellite communications transceiver configured to transmit and receive aircraft data and engine data over a satellite communications link.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said aircraft data comprises data related to at least one of aircraft contents, passenger data aircraft departure and arrival, passenger transactions or data from a sky marshall.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said aircraft data comprises flight performance data.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said engine data comprises at least one of full flight aircraft engine data and parsed aircraft engine data.

7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a logic circuit connected to the processor and DAU and configured to allow the DAU to extract aircraft data from the DAU into the memory of the PC card.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said first, second and third wireless communications signals comprise spread spectrum communications signals.

9. An aircraft data communications system comprising:

an engine monitoring module configured to be mounted at an aircraft engine of the aircraft and comprising,

a wireless engine monitoring transceiver,

a first memory,

a first processor coupled to the first memory and wireless engine monitoring transceiver and configured to;

collect and store in the first memory engine data relating to at least one engine parameter sensed during operation of the aircraft engine, and

transmit the engine data from the wireless engine monitoring transceiver over a first wireless communications signal;

a Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) that records aircraft data;

a PC card interfaced to the DAU, comprising

a second memory that stores aircraft data from the DAU and engine data received from the engine monitoring module,

a second processor coupled to the second memory and configured to retrieve aircraft data and engine data, and

a first wireless transceiver controlled by the second processor that receives engine data transmitted from the engine monitoring module for storage within the second memory and wirelessly transmits the aircraft data and engine data along a second wireless communications signal,

a wireless local area network (LAN) communications unit configured as an access point and positioned within the aircraft that transmits and receives first and second wireless communications signals to and from the engine monitoring module and the PC card; and

a second wireless transceiver mounted within the aircraft that receives a third wireless communications signal containing aircraft data and engine data from the wireless LAN communications unit and transmits the aircraft data and engine data from the aircraft.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said first processor at said engine monitoring module is configured to retrieve engine data and parse said engine data into selected segments of engine data.

11. The system according to claim 9, comprising a plurality of wireless engine sensors associated with the aircraft engine, each configured to sense an engine parameter as engine data and transmit the engine data to the wireless engine monitoring transceiver for transmission to the PC card.

12. The system according to claim 9, wherein each wireless engine sensor is configured to receive from the wireless engine monitoring module an engine sensing algorithm having data for changing a sampling rate of selected wireless engine sensors.

13. The system according to claim 9, wherein said second wireless transceiver comprises a UHF transceiver configured to transmit and receive aircraft data and engine data over an air-to-ground communications signal.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein said second wireless transceiver comprises a satellite communications transceiver configured to transmit and receive aircraft data and engine data over a satellite communications link.

15. The system according to claim 9, wherein said aircraft data comprises data related to at least one of aircraft contents, passenger data, aircraft departure and arrival, passenger transactions or data from a sky marshall.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein said aircraft data comprises flight performance data.

17. The system according to claim 9, wherein said engine data comprises at least one of full flight aircraft engine data and parsed aircraft engine data.

18. The system according to claim 9, further comprising a logic circuit connected to the second processor at the PC card and to the DAU and configured to allow the DAU to extract aircraft data from the DAU into the second memory of the PC card.

19. The system according to claim 9, wherein said wireless communications signal comprises a spread spectrum communications signal.

20. A method for transmitting aircraft data from an aircraft, comprising:

acquiring engine data within a wireless engine monitoring module that is mounted on the aircraft engine;

wirelessly transmitting the engine data from a wireless engine monitoring transceiver within the wireless engine monitoring module along a first wireless communications signal;

acquiring aircraft data within a memory of a PC card that is interfaced to a Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) of the aircraft;

retrieving aircraft data from the memory;

wirelessly transmitting from a first wireless transceiver the retrieved aircraft data along a second wireless communications signal;

receiving the wireless communications signal within a wireless local area network (LAN) communications unit mounted within the aircraft and configured as a wireless access point;

transmitting the aircraft data and engine data along a third wireless communications signal from the wireless LAN communications unit to a second wireless transceiver mounted within the aircraft; and

transmitting the aircraft data and engine data from the second wireless transceiver out of the aircraft.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said second wireless transceiver comprises a UHF transceiver configured to transmit and receive aircraft data and engine data over an air-to-ground communications signal.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein said second wireless transceiver comprises a satellite communications transceiver configured to transmit and receive aircraft data and engine data over a satellite communications link.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein said aircraft data comprises data related to at least one of aircraft contents, passenger data, aircraft departure and arrival, passenger transactions or data from a sky marshall.

24. The method according to claim 20, wherein said aircraft data comprises flight performance data.

25. The method according to claim 20, wherein said engine data comprises one of at least full flight aircraft engine data and parsed aircraft engine data.

26. The method according to claim 20, further comprising extracting aircraft data from the DAU into the memory of the PC Card via a logic circuit connected to the DAU.

27. The method according to claim 20, wherein said first, second and third wireless communications signals comprise spread spectrum communications signals.