USO0RE40479E

(19) United States (12) Reissued Patent

(10) Patent Number:

Wright et a]. (54)

US RE40,479 E

(45) Date of Reissued Patent:

Sep. 2, 2008

WIRELESS SPREAD SPECTRUM GROUND

4,718,229 A

1/1988 Riley ..................... .. 60/39281

LINK-BASED AIRCRAFT DATA

4,729,102 A

3/1988 Miller, Jr. et a1. ......... .. 364/424

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR ENGINE EVENT REPORTING

(Continued) FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

(75) Inventors: Thomas H. Wright, Indialantic, FL (US); James J. Ziarno, Malabar, FL

EP GB

(Us)

0 407 179 A1 2 276 006 A

1/1991 9/1994

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

(73) Assignee: Harris Corporation, Melbourne, FL

(Us)

W.R. Beckman, “L41 0]] Flight Data Recording Systemsi Background, Features, Implications and Bene?ts, ” AIAA

(21) Appl. No.: 10/703,031 Nov. 6, 2003 (22) Filed:

Aircraft Systems and Technology Conference, Los Angeles, California, Aug. 21423, 1978, 9 pages (Exhibit 8). ARINC Characteristic 591, “Quick Access Recorder For AIDS System (QAR), ” Airlines Electronic Engineering

Related U.S. Patent Documents

Committee, Aeronautical Radio, Inc., May 18, 1972, 21 pages (Exhibit 9).

Reissue of:

(64)

Patent No.:

6,353,734

Issued:

Mar. 5, 2002

Appl. No.:

09/711,436

“Wired Datalink for the Parked Airplane,” Paper Presented at AEEC Data Link Subcommittee Meeting, May 16, 1989,

Filed:

Nov. 13, 2000

10 pages.

(Continued)

U.S. Applications: (63)

Continuation of application No. 09/344,522, ?led on Jun. 25, 1999, now Pat. NO. 6,148,179.

(51)

Int. Cl. H04B 1/034 G08B 21/00 G06F 7/70

(52)

(74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiAllen, Dyer, Doppelt, Milbrath & Gilchrist, PA.

(2006.01) (2006.01) (2006.01)

(57)

U.S. Cl. ........................ .. 455/98; 455/431; 340/945;

340/825.72; 701/14; 701/35; 375/130; 370/316; 342/33

(58)

Field of Classi?cation Search .................. .. 455/98,

455/66.1, 431, 67.1, 54.1, 33; 340/825.72, 340/825.69, 945, 961, 971, 539.1, 3.43; 701/14, 701/35; 375/130; 342/33, 36; 370/310, 316 See application ?le for complete search history. (56)

Primary ExamineriDonnie L. Crosland

ABSTRACT

The system and method of the present invention provides a record of the performance of an aircraft engine. A plurality of sensors sense engine conditions and generate engine data. A ground data link unit is positioned Within the aircraft and receives the engine data and stores the engine data within an archival data store. A Wideband spread spectrum transmitter that can be part of a transceiver downloads the engine data to a ground based spread spectrum receiver that can be part of a

transceiver, and receives the Wideband spread spectrum communication signal from the aircraft. It demodulates the Wideband spread spectrum communication signal to obtain the engine data.

References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,642,775 A

2/1987

37 Claims, 14 Drawing Sheets

Cline et al. ............... .. 364/443

Data 101

Source“,

100

US RE40,479 E Page 2

US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,872,182 A

10/1989

McRae et a1. ................ .. 375/1

5,022,024 A 5,339,330 A

6/1991 Paneth et a1. 8/1994 Mallinckrodt

5,351,194

9/1994

A

5,359,446 A

Ross et a1.

370/50 375/1

......

. . . ..

10/1994 Johnson et a1. .

364/449

359/152

Future Concepts for Maintenance, Report of the Portable Maintenance Access Terminal (PMAT) Working Group Meeting, ARINC, 94i205/FCMi69, Sep. 1, 1994, 38 pages. GateiAircraft Terminal Environment Link (Gatelink)i Ground Side, ARINC Speci?cation 632, Dec. 30, 1994. Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Letter 91*079/

Ng ....................... .. 236/169

DLK*391,Apr. 5, 1991.

10/1995

Schuchman et a1. .

..... .. 342/37

A

10/1995

Polivka et a1.

. . . ..

375/200

GateiAircraft Terminal Environment Link (Gatelink)iAir craft Side, ARINC Characteristic 751, Jan. 1, 1994.

A

7/1997

. . . ..

364/578

5,445,347 A

8/1995

5,459,469 A 5,463,656 5,652,717

......

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Aviation Week & Space Technology, “Safety Board Urges Mandatory Use of FDR/CVRs in Commuter Transports,” Avionics, p. 73, McGrawiHill, Inc., Aug. 31, 1987. Aviation Week & Space Technology, “Conversion Approach Appears Flawed,” Aerospace Business, vol. 139, No. 4, p. 48, McGrawiHill, Inc., Jul. 31, 1993. Electronic Engineering Times, “Module is Result of Work With AppleiPlessey Makes Leap With Wireless LAN,” Nov. 7, 1994.

Mini QAR (QuickiAccess Recorder), Avionics Test Solu tions brochure, published by Avionica, 1996, 3 pages.

2007; US. Patent and Trademark O?ice, Application No. 90/008,567; Filing Date: Mar. 30, 2007; 21 pages.

Miller et a1.

.......

5,757,772 A

5/1998 Thornberg et a1. ..

5,761,625 A

6/1998

5,943,399 A

8/1999 Bannister et a1.

6,088,632

7/2000

A

6,148,179 A

370/236

Honcik et a1. ............... .. 701/14 Zaccaria et a1.

.. 379/88.17 .....

11/2000 Wright et a1. ..... ..

. . . . . . ..

701/3

455/66

6,181,990 B1

1/2001 Grabowsky et a1. .

6,195,247 B1

2/2001

6,353,734 B1

3/2002 Wright et a1. ............... .. 455/98

Cote et a1.

........ ..

701/14 .. 361/253

O?ice Action in Ex Parte Reexamination mailed Dec. 19,

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 1 0f 14

I'lu!

,/ ¢

////

GATE SYSTEM

1.

US RE40,479 E

US. Patent

g

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 2 0f 14

/-10

US RE40,479 E

10\%

f1 0

__

10\

1,000 1,000‘

2

/10

10\ g

déf

10

1 000'

10\

¢ié

l-————-5 NAUTICAL MILEs—-1 MINIMUM AIRSPACE SEPARATION ON A FAR 91.181 FEDERAL AIRWAY

12

150010

smmmmm

wwrwmmma” Emmwnansma

' 6

N0 CROSS- \

WIND % "

/

@ ©\X INDICATOR

I

:ff/ '

qf'l‘? TRAFFIC PATTERN LANDING RUNWAY EH; ‘0R NDICATORS LANDING STRIP)

\

‘,EI INDICATORS WIND CONE

TYPICAL AIRPORT TRAFFIC PATTERN

FIG. 3.

'

US. Patent

US RE40,479 E

500

400

31 1

M.mO
2 56

0 231

0

239

2 _ _

m"

m n

. u_ n

O -

1 9 92

1

NUMBER OF NEAR MID AIR COLLISIONS BETWEEN 1992 AND 1997

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 4 0f 14

US RE40,479 E

SINGLE GROUND SINGLE AIRBORNE COVERAGE CELL COVERAGE CEU. GROUND COVERAGE

/

AT 2 Mbps

// /

“ '

22

AIRBORNE COVERAGE

(‘A

AT 355 kbps% / 20

23 MHz FREQUENCY SPECTRUM

FIIG. 5..

|L‘

10 MIIES

!

PEG. 5A.

10 MILES

|

10 MiLES

—|

EN ROUTE AIRCRAFT ACTING AS REPEATERS EXTEND THE COMMUNICATION RANGE OF THE GROUND BASED NETWORK

FIIG. 6,

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

~$\

Sheet 5 0f 14

H ow

\8

o;

N?

US RE40,479 E

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 7 0f 14

US RE40,479 E

RADIO TOWER OMNI-DIRECTIONAL ANTENNAS PROVIDE BOTH GROUND AND AIR COVERAGE

FIG. 7.

5% m WWW mm m R \ -L" "I

m--.“ R J.-

f w_\FM4 mmm Mm mmm om

Wmemm am N ww

u um m

A“ -. "r w m . u

A.

WWW mwm mmmmm mm m 1% m Mm w“ .

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 9 0f 14

IP DATAGRAM /—600 RECEIVED

WAIT UNTIL GDL PATH AVAILABLE

US RE40,47 9 E

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 12 0f 14

US RE40,479 E

COCKPIT

122

INSTRUMENTS, DISPLAY

12s

1291‘ 12s

\

Data (64 wPs); \

Mandatory Param. A&D DFDAU

BITE

Aux

DFDR

—-—Outputq 124;

54m Th

1 To/From NC 8 stems (Nav. Data, FM , etc...)

//-125

-AX'

Accerlee?om§er GDL 131 411

PT NAL $RIL9I'ER

AIRCRAFT

ANTENNA

113‘?



GOL "101 Antenna /113

f:

[101

NETWORK PROCESSOR [134 JDFDAU TRANSCEIVER D'SC'QETES gfsTEMS \136 13M\1s2? [134 135 134b ARCHIVE DS GDL

BUFFER

r,/'111

US. Patent

Sep. 2, 2008

Sheet 14 0f 14

US RE40,479 E

US RE40,479 E 1

2

WIRELESS SPREAD SPECTRUM GROUND LINK-BASED AIRCRAFT DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR ENGINE EVENT REPORTING

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to use a

wireless spread spectrum ground link-based aircraft data communication system for downloading engine data initially during take-off.

Matter enclosed in heavy brackets [ ] appears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue speci?ca tion; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

In accordance with the present invention, the system pro vides a record of the ?ight performance of an aircraft and the

record of engine data that is downloaded during initial take off. In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of sensors are positioned on the aircraft for sensing engine con

This application is a Reissue ofpalenl application Ser. No.

ditions and generating engine data relating to the operation of the engine during at least initial take-off. A ground data link unit is positioned within the aircraft and operatively

09/711,436 ?led on Nov. 13, 2000, now US. Pat. No. 6,353, 734, which is a Continuation of patent application Ser. No. 09/344,522, ?led Jun. 25, 1999, now US. Pat. No. 6,148,

connected to the plurality of sensors for receiving the engine data. A central processing unit of the ground data link unit can receive the engine data and process the data for further downloading or initial determination of engine problems. The ground data link unit includes a data store operative to

179, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by refer ence in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a system and method for provid ing a record of the ?ight performance of an aircraft and engine performance, and more particularly, to a spread spec trum ground link-based aircraft data communication system

20

that downloads not only engine data during initial take-off, but also ?ight performance data after the aircraft has landed. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

25

A great amount of mechanical stress is placed on jet

accumulate and store ?ight performance data during ?ight of the aircraft. The data store can also accumulate and store

engine data received from the plurality of sensors. A spread spectrum transceiver is coupled to the data store and includes a transmitter that is operative after the aircraft completes its ?ight and lands at an airport to download the ?ight performance data that has been accumulated and stored by the data store during ?ight over a spread spectrum

engines and their associated components during initial take

communication signal. The spread spectrum transceiver also

off. Some jet engine components and processes are now con

receives the engine data and is operative to download the engine data upon initial take-off over a spread spectrum

trolled through the well known engine air ?ow FADEC con trol system, which may include the sensing and control of

30

core compartments bleeding, sump pressurization, sump venting, active clearance control, draining, and low pressure and high pressure recoup. In other jet engine designs, other engine sensors sense various associated components.

from the aircraft upon initial take-off and demodulates the 35

During initial take-off, the pilot observes many cockpit

spread spectrum communication signal to obtain the engine data. The airport based spread spectrum receiver receives ?ight performance data that has been stored and downloaded from a ground data link unit after an aircraft has landed at the

meters and observes engine performance. Based upon his analysis of the observed meters and his overall experience, the pilot may make an emergency landing or continue his ?ight to the destination even if he believes minor engine

communication signal. The airport based spread spectrum receiver receives the spread spectrum communication signal

airport. 40

problems are occurring during initial take-off or in ?ight. If this engine data, such as that type of data contained through

In one aspect of the present invention, the data store of the ground data link unit is operative to store engine data to be accumulated during ?ight of the aircraft and then down loaded upon landing at the destination airport. The system

initialized initially during take-off, both onboard and

also includes a FADEC engine control system. The sensors are operatively connected to the FADEC engine control sys

on-ground, such as by a ground crew or automatic server

45 tem. The sensors are positioned to sense at least one of the

located on the ground, better control over the engine could

be exerted. Additionally, such information obtained during

core compartment bleeding, sump pressurization, sump venting, active clearance control, and low pressure and high

initial take-off could be used to determine maintenance

pressure recoup. The sensors can also be positioned to sense

the engineer ?ow FADEC control and other sensors could be

at least one of oil pressure, oil temperature, fuel ?ow and

schedules. Any immediate maintenance could be scheduled when the aircraft landed at its destination.

50

engine hydraulics. In still another aspect of the present invention, a plurality

In copending patent application Ser. No. 08/557,269, ?led Nov. 14, 1995, and entitled, “WIRELESS, FREQUENCY

of sensors can be located throughout the aircraft for sensing

AGILE SPREAD SPECTRUM GROUND LINK-BASED

routine aircraft conditions and generating parametric data

AIRCRAFT DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM,” (US. Pat. No. 6,047,165 issued Apr. 4, 2000) the disclosure which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, a ground

such as received by a ?ight data recorder representative of 55

the aircraft ?ight performance during ?ight of the aircraft.

mance data representative of aircraft ?ight performance is * obtained during ?ight of the aircraft and stored in a, data store. After the aircraft lands at the airport, the data is down loaded to an airport based spread spectrum receiver that could be part of an airport based server. Although the ?ight

60

rality of sensors and the ground data link unit for receiving the parametric data and multiplexing the parametric data for delivery to the ground data link unit. In still another aspect of the present invention, an airport based server is connected to the airport based spread spec trum receiver for receiving the engine data for further pro cessing of the engine data. A remote ?ight operations center

performance data is collected during ?ight, the spread spec

65

The system can include a multiplexer connected to the plu

data link system provides a wireless mechanism for transfer ring data ?les to and from aircraft while the aircraft is on the

ground at ground data link equipped airports. Flight perfor

operatively coupled to the airport based spread spectrum receiver for receiving and processing any ?ight performance

trum transceiver could be used for downloading data initially

data downloaded from the aircraft. The spread spectrum

at take-off.

communication signal can comprise a direct sequence

US RE40,479 E 3

4

spread spectrum signal and a signal Within the S band. It can also comprise a signal Within the range of about 2.4 to about 2.5 GHZ. The data store of the ground data link unit can

FIG. 9 is a detailed schematic draWing shoWing the inter connection of an airport netWork and ground data link net Work. FIG. 10 is a ?oW chart shoWing basic ?le transfer. FIG. 11A is a schematic draWing that shoWs an example

further comprise means for compressing the ?ight perfor mance data during the ?ight of the aircraft. The emitted poWer of the spread spectrum communication signal can be about one Watt.

of an airborne system acting as a mobile node on its oWn

In a method aspect of the present invention, engine data is collected Within the ground data link unit during initial take off of an aircraft from an airport. The method comprises the step of doWnloading the engine data that has been collected during initial take-off over a spread spectrum communica tion signal to an airport based spread spectrum receiver. The method also comprises the step of demodulating Within the

home subnet and a foreign agent for other mobile nodes. FIG. 11B is a schematic draWing that shoWs an example of an airborne system acting as its oWn foreign agent on a

foreign subnet and a foreign agent for other mobile nodes. FIG. 12 is a block diagram shoWing the basic elements of a ground data link unit. FIG. 13 is another block diagram of another part of the

airport based spared spectrum receiver the spread spectrum communication signal to obtain the engine data. Demodu

ground data link unit shoWing various components.

lated data is forWarded to a server for further processing. The

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating basic components of the ground data link aircraft unit. FIG. 15 is another block diagram of the ground data link unit of the present invention shoWing greater detail of the interconnection With ?ight management computers and on board GPS system.

method further comprises the step of collecting data Within the ground data link unit on the ?ight performance of the aircraft during ?ight of the aircraft. The ?ight performance data is accumulated and stored Within a data store of the

20

ground data link unit. After the aircraft lands in an airport at

completion of its ?ight, the ?ight performance data is doWn

FIG. 16 is a more detailed block diagram of a type of

loaded over a spread spectrum communication signal to an

airport based spread spectrum receiver. The receiver demodulates the receive spread spectrum signal to obtain the

25

?ight performance data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In still another aspect of the present invention, the engine data is processed Within an airport based server that is con

nected to the airport based spread spectrum receiver. The spread spectrum communication signal includes a direct sequence spread spectrum signal that can comprise a signal Within the S band. The spread spectrum communication sig

30

and alloWed patent application Ser. No. 08/557,269, ?led AGILE SPREAD SPECTRUM GROUND LINK-BASED

AIRCRAFT DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM,” the 35

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention Will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention Which folloWs, When considered in light of

the accompanying draWings in Which:

40

invention, a ground data link unit obtains ?ight performance

data representative of aircraft ?ight performance during 45

multiplexed and sent serially to the GDL unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram shoWing the ground cover

An archival data store is operative to accumulate and store

age cell and an airborne coverage cell. 50

coverage cell and a single airborne coverage cell. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating hoW en route aircraft can act as repeaters to extend the communication

FIG. 6B is a chart shoWing various jet engine event reports at engine start.

55

?ight performance data during ?ight of the aircraft. A Wide band spread spectrum transceiver is coupled to the archival data store and includes a transmitter that is operative after the aircraft completes its ?ight and lands at an airport to doWnload the ?ight performance data that has been accumu lated and stored by the archival data store during ?ight over a

Wideband spread spectrum communication signal. An air port based Wideband spread spectrum transceiver includes a receiver that receives the Wideband spread spectrum com 60

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an omni-directional

antenna providing both ground and air coverage that can be used With the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the use of the ground data link unit of the present invention With various end nodes.

?ight of the aircraft. This type of data could be that data that is conventionally forWarded to the “black box” used in an aircraft. Different sensors receive telemetry data, Which is

FIG. 4 is a bar chart illustrating the number of near mid air collisions betWeen 1992 and 1997.

range of a ground-based netWork. FIG. 6A is a cross-section of an example of a jet engine that generates engine events to be transferred from the ground data link unit of the present invention While en route after initial aircraft take-off.

port multiple airline applications, such as ?ight safety, engi In one basic application of the system and method of the

of an airport. FIG. 2 is a draWing illustrating a minimum air space sepa ration for aircraft on a federal airWay.

FIG. 5A is a frequency spectrum graph for a single ground

disclosure Which is hereby incorporated by referenced in its entirety. In the GDL, the system provides a Wireless mecha nism for transferring data ?les to and from air transport air craft While they are on the ground at ground data link equipped airports. The ground data link is designed to sup neering and maintenance, and passenger services.

FIG. 1 is a draWing shoWing a representative gate system

FIG. 3 is a plan diagram of a typical airport tra?ic pattern.

Harris Corporation of Melbourne, Fla. is a manufacturer of Ground Data Link (GDL), such as disclosed in copending

Nov. 14, 1995, and entitled “WIRELESS, FREQUENCY

nal comprises a signal Within the range of about 2.4 to about 2.5 GHZ. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

spread spectrum transceiver that can be used With the present invention.

65

munication signal from the aircraft and demodulates the sig nal to obtain the ?ight performance data. In one aspect of the invention, an adaptive poWer control unit varies the emitted poWer level of the Wideband spread spectrum communica tion signal based upon the geographic location of the airport. In still another aspect of the invention, the airport based spread spectrum transceiver includes a probe transmission circuit that transmits a probe beacon on each sub-band fre

quency channel approved for use by the regulatory body of

US RE40,479 E 5

6

that country to the spread spectrum transceiver of the ground

When aircraft leave and arrive as often as every 45 seconds,

data link unit to determine Which sub-band frequency chan

an air-to-air repeater netWork, in accordance With the present invention, can extend the netWork conductivity betWeen air craft and the ground netWork. This can also enhance sched

nel is preferred. The ?xed ground-based spread spectrum transceiver can be operative to select desired sub-band fre

uling and airline maintenance. A bene?t of spread spectrum modulation is its inherently loW energy density Waveform properties, Which are the basis for its acceptance for unlicensed product certi?cation. Spread spectrum also provides the additional bene?ts of resistance to jamming and immunity to multipath interfer

quency channels and dynamically assign such sub-band fre quency channels based upon the measured signal quality on each approved frequency and channel for the geographic location of the airport. An airport based archival data store can also be coupled to

the airport based Wideband spread spectrum transceiver that receives and stores the ?ight performance data. An airport

ence. The spread spectrum signal can be both direct sequence and frequency hopping as is Well knoWn to those skilled in the art, although a DSSS standard is considered preferable in some instances over a frequency hopping stan dard. Referring noW to FIG. 12, there is shoWn a of representa tive example of an overall system architecture of a Wireless

based processor can be coupled to the archival data store for

retrieving ?ight performance data from the airport based archival data store for further processing. A remote ?ight operations control center can also be operatively coupled to the base station to doWnload the ?ight performance data. The present invention provides an improvement With advantageous features over the general system as disclosed

in the copending and incorporated by reference ’269 patent

ground link-based aircraft data communication system used With the present invention. The architecture has three inter

application identi?ed above. In one aspect, the ground data

linked subsystems: (1) an aircraft-installed ground data link

link can be used in an aircraft, automobile or similar vehicle.

(GDL) subsystem 100; (2) an airport-resident ground sub

Transmit poWer and frequency can be automatically adjusted to comply With the regulatory requirement of the country or

system 200; and (3) a remote airline operations control cen ter 300. The aircraft-installed ground data link (GDL) sub system 100 includes a plurality of GDL airborne segments 101, each of Which is installed in the controlled environment of the avionics compartment of a respectively different air craft. Each GDL airborne segment 101 is operative to com municate With a Wireless router (WR) segment 201 of the

area Where the transceivers operate. The system can use a

location sensing device to determine latitude and longitude, such as a global positioning system (GPS) receiver technol ogy. The system is advantageous because it enables mobile

25

units to use location information to control transmit poWer

and frequency, as opposed to information transmitted Within

a ?xed, ground based probe message.

30

The ground data link transceiver can also be used in an

air-to-ground application, Where the range is about 21 miles. The on-ground application uses data rates ranging from about 1 to 11 Mbps for doWnloading, from the aircraft, ?les such as electronic maintenance log books, cabin mainte nance logs, Weight and balance reports and ?ight deck com puter results. During in ?ight, only a number of functions are transmitted and it is possible to reduce the data rate from the initial range of about 355 Kbps to improve the communica

tion range of the netWork Without adversely impacting

communications link 120. The Wireless router segment 201 routes the ?les it receives

from the GDL airborne segment 101, either directly to the airport base station 202 via the Wired Ethernet LAN 207, or 35

40

throughput. Data rate can be varied to accommodate the

amount and priority of data, based on the required distance. An example of a spread spectrum transceiver that can be used for the present invention, and provides data rates as

high as 11 Mbps, is the type disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/819,846, ?led Mar. 17, 1997, to Snell. Additionally, engine events are sensed and stored not only in the archival storage during ?ight of an aircraft, but also doWnloaded during the ?rst 30 seconds of take-off and/or during initial climb. Thus, it is possible for a maintenance

airport-resident ground subsystem 200 through a Wireless

indirectly through local area netWorks 207 and airport resident Wireless bridge segments 203. The Wireless commu nication link 120 can be a spread spectrum radio frequency (RF) link having a carrier frequency lying in an unlicensed portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as Within the 2.4-2.5 GHZ S-band. As Will be described, once installed in an aircraft, the aircraft unit (AU) 102 of a GDL segment 101 collects and stores ?ight performance data generated on board the air craft during ?ight. It also stores and distributes information uploaded to the aircraft via a ground subsystem’s Wireless router 201, Which is coupled thereto by Way of a local area netWork 207 from a base station segment 202 of a ground subsystem 200 in preparation for the next ?ight or series of

?ights. 50

The uploaded information, Which may include any of audio, video and data, typically contains next ?ight informa tion data, such as a ?ight plan, dispatch release, or load

creW or other ?ight operations control center to obtain data

manifest, and uploadable softWare including, but not limited

during initial take-off and climb to aid in determining Whether engine maintenance Would be required at the desti nation station. It is also possible to download 0001 times of

to, a navigation database associated With the ?ight manage

an aircraft. Additionally, data such as the Weight of the remaining fuel can be doWnloaded and used for refueling planning. Last minute changes in gate assignment can be uploaded. En route Wind and temperature data can be doWn loaded and used to enhance the ?ight planning of subsequent

entertainment package.

ment computer, as Well as digitiZed video and audio ?les that may be employed as part of a passenger service/

The ground subsystem 200 includes a plurality of airport resident GDL Wireless router segments 201, one or more of 60

airports served by the system. A respective airport Wireless

?ights over the same route.

router 201 is operative to receive and forWard ?ight perfor

The present invention is also advantageous because air craft using the GDL netWork can act as Wireless repeaters. Planes can be spaced ?ve or ten miles apart and the Wireless communication system of the present invention can be

extended, depending on the range of various airplanes.

Which are distributed Within the environments of the various

65

mance data that is Wirelessly doWn linked from an aircraft’s GDL unit 101 to supply information to the aircraft in prepa ration for its next ?ight, once the aircraft has landed and is in

communication With the Wireless router. Each ground sub system Wireless router 201 forWards ?ight ?les from the

US RE40,479 E 7

8

aircraft’s GDL unit and forwards the ?les to a server/ archive

computer terminal 204 of the aircraft base station 202, which

a standard ?ight data link 129 through which collected ?ight data is coupled to the ?ight data recorder in a conventional

resides on the local area network 207 of the ground sub

manner.

system 200.

As described brie?y above, and as diagrammatically illus

The airport base station 202 is coupled via a local commu

trated in FIGS. 13 and 14, the GDL unit 111 can be a bidi

nications path 207, to which a remote gateway (RG) segment

rectional wireless (radio frequency carrier-based) subsystem

206 is interfaced over a communications path 230, to a cen

containing a processing unit 132 and associated memory or data store 134, serving as both an archival data store 134a and a buffer 134b for airline packet communications as

tral gateway (CG) segment 306 of a remote airline opera tions control center 300, where aircraft data ?les from vari ous aircraft are analyZed. As a non-limiting example, the communications path 230 includes an ISDN telephone com

described below. The memory 134 is coupled to the DFDAU 126, via data path 124, which is parallel to or redundant with

pany (Telco) land line, and the gateway segments include standard LAN interfaces. However, it should b ob served that other communication media, such as a satellite links, for

example, may be employed for ground subsystem-to-control center communications without departing from the scope of the invention. The ?ight operations control center 300 includes a system controller (SC) segment 301 and a plurality of GDL work stations (WS) 303, which are interlinked to the systems con troller 301 via a local area network 305. Flight operations and ?ight safety analysts are allowed at control center 300 to evaluate the aircraft data ?les conveyed to the airline opera tions control center 300 from the airport base 4 station seg ments 202 of the ground subsystem 200. The respective GDL workstations 303 may be allocated

20

with a wireless router 201, the GDL unit 111 includes a

wireless (RF) transceiver 136, which is coupled to the 25

for different purposes, such as ?ight operations, ?ight safety , engineering/maintenance or passenger services. As

described brie?y above, the server/archive terminal 204 in the base station segment 202 is operative to automatically

30

forward OOOI reports downloaded from an aircraft to the

?ight control center 300; it also automatically forwards raw The system controller 301 has a server/archive terminal

?les, as it retrieves downloaded ?les from a ground sub system. As a non-limited example, such database manage ment software may delete existing ?les from a base station segment’s memory once the ?les have been retrieved. Referring now to FIG. 13, a respective GDL segment 101 is diagrammatically illustrated as comprising a GDL data storage and communications unit 111 (hereinafter referred to simply as a GDL unit) and an associated external airframe (e.g., fuselage) mounted antenna unit 113. In an alternative

35

40

then accesses the report data ?le (such as OOOI) stored in memory 134, encrypts the data and transmits the ?le via a selected sub-channel of the wireless ground communication

The recipient wireless router 201 forwards the report data ?le to the base station segment temporarily until the report ?le can be automatically transmitted over the communica

tion path 230 to the remote airline ?ight operations control center 300 for analysis. As shown in FIG. 15, the CPU can

receive multiplexed telemetry data from multiplexer 150. An 45

elements, or multiple, differentially (orthogonally) polariZed 50

on-board GPS system 152 can provide latitude/longitude data 154, which is used for the adaptive power control and frequency channel selection based on geographical area, as described above. First and second ?ight management com puters 160, 162 can so be updated with, ?les and veri?ed as accurate by ?rst and second Control Data Units (164, 166) as described below. Further details of the associated compo nents are described in the above-identi?ed and incorporated

by reference ’269 application. Air Tra?ic Control (ATC) at busy airports requires that

parameter transducers, and cockpit instruments and display components, shown within broken lines 122, are coupled.

channels of the unlicensed 2.4-2.5 GHZ S-band segment of interest, a wireless router 201 could continuously broadcast an interrogation beacon that contains information represen tative of the emitted power level restrictions of the airport. Using an adaptive power unit within its transceiver, the GDL unit 111 on board the aircraft could respond to this beacon signal by adjusting its emitted power to a level that will not

link 120 to wireless router 201.

embodiment, antenna unit 113 may house diversely con?g ured components, such as spaced apart antenna dipole antenna components. The GDL unit 111 is preferably installed within the con trolled environment of an aircraft’s avionics compartment, to which communication links from various aircraft ?ight

antenna unit 113. As will be described, on each of a plurality of sub-band

exceed communication limitations imposed by the jurisdic tion governing the airport. The wireless (RF) transceiver 136

?ight data ?les. unit 304 that preferably includes database management soft ware for providing for ef?cient transfer and analysis of data

the data path to the ?ight data recorder 128. Processing unit 132 receives and compresses the same ?ight performance data that is collected by the aircraft’s digital ?ight data recorder, and stores the compressed data in associated memory 134. A report can be generated by the processing unit 132, that includes many items of data, such as the ?ight number/ leg and tail number/tray number of the aircraft and the appropriate OOOI time. To provide bidirectional RF communication capability

55

aircraft operate under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) to com

When so installed, the GDL unit 111 is linked via an auxil

ply with a “gate system,” which provides lateral separation

iary data path 124 to the aircraft’s airborne data acquisition equipment 126 (e. g., a DFDAU, in the present example). The GDL unit 111 synchronizes with the ?ight parameter data

between arriving and departing aircraft. FIG. 1 is one type of gate system of an aircraft, which in this example, is located

stream from the DFDAU 16, and stores the collected data in memory. It is also coupled via a data path 125 to supply to

in Calgary. Aircraft entering the airspace enter along the 60

one or more additional aircraft units, such as navigational

equipment and/or passenger entertainment stations, various data, audio and video ?les that have been uploaded from an

airport ground subsystem wireless router 201. The airborne data acquisition unit 126 is coupled to the

aircraft’s digital ?ight data recorder (DFDR) 128 by way of

65

Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STAR), shown in a dotted line. Departing aircraft are vectored to exit the airspace on one of the outbound Standard Instrument Departure (SID)

gates, shown in solid, circular arc lines. The actual departure gate assigned is the gate that is closed to the route of a ?ight. Once a departing aircraft exits the airport airspace under the jurisdiction of the airport ATC, it proceeds along a course consistent with its ?ight plan as ?led with the ATC. Aircraft

Wireless spread spectrum ground link-based aircraft data ...

Nov 6, 2003 - ARINC Characteristic 591, “Quick Access Recorder For. AIDS System ..... Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention Will ...

3MB Sizes 3 Downloads 165 Views

Recommend Documents

spread spectrum communications handbook pdf
spread spectrum communications handbook pdf. spread spectrum communications handbook pdf. Open. Extract. Open with. Sign In. Main menu. Displaying ...

spread spectrum techniques pdf
File: Spread spectrum techniques pdf. Download now. Click here if your download doesn't start automatically. Page 1 of 1. spread spectrum techniques pdf.

SAW Spread Spectrum RFID Tags and Sensors
the SAW CDMA tag is wireless and passive, while the Si tag is an active tag that requires ... still low cost and has similar advantages to the CDMA approach, will ...

Delay spread estimation for wireless communication systems ...
applications, the desire for higher data rate transmission is ... Proceedings of the Eighth IEEE International Symposium on Computers and Communication ...

Application of Spread-Spectrum and Frequency ...
Jul 13, 2009 - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. University of British Columbia ..... the geophysical medium (e.g. a wired or wireless connection, or even via the internet) for the ... W.H. Freeman and Company, 1980. Fig.

Spread spectrum Image and Audio Transmission using ...
digital data is one, and the transmission is switched off when the digital data is zero. ..... communication using a chaos based signal encryption scheme", IEEE ...

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) spread-spectrum system and ...
Mar 9, 2011 - Networks,” First Annual UCSD Conference on Wireless Communi cations in Cooperation ...... Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the ...... approach that of a Wired system. A space coding ...

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) spread-spectrum system and ...
Mar 9, 2011 - (10) Patent Number: US RE43 ...... and Spread Spectrum Systems”, MacMillan Publishing Company,. NY, 1985 .... 1800-1805, Sweden. Cimini ...

secure spread spectrum watermarking for multimedia pdf ...
watermarking for multimedia pdf. Download now. Click here if your download doesn't start automatically. Page 1 of 1. secure spread spectrum watermarking for ...

On the Secrecy of Spread-Spectrum Flow Watermarks
law enforcement agencies to detect stepping stones used by attackers [20], to determine whether a certain ... sequence, a specific PN code with good autocorrelation features, to spread the bits of a ..... recover the original signal from those freque

secure embedding of spread spectrum watermarks ...
unauthorized copy (e.g. on a peer-to-peer network), the watermark present in ... content stream into various segments (e.g. chapters in a movie) and prepares ...

Doppler Spread Estimation for Wireless OFDM Systems - IEEE Xplore
operating conditions, such as large range of mobile subscriber station (MSS) speeds, different carrier frequencies in licensed and licensed-exempt bands, ...

Single-Radio Adaptive Channel Algorithm for Spectrum Agile Wireless ...
network might be partitioned into many small fragments, each on a different dynamic ... wireless ad hoc networks operating in static spectrum en- vironments.

Daily Breakfast Spread - DBS
Sep 17, 2013 - There are three main takeaways from the upside surprise in the WPI inflation data. Firstly, the notable spike in Aug WPI despite ongoing demand destruction highlights that supply-side constraints are back on the drivers' seat. To this

Spread of Microcosmus squamiger
MNHN in Paris, hosted us several times to complete this revision and were always open to discussion and willing. Fig. 1. Map of the locations of the confirmed ...

Daily Breakfast Spread - DBS Bank
Sep 17, 2013 - to massive pump-priming and a ballooning subsidy bill. Expect a one off upward shift in the underlying .... US: IP (Aug). 0.5% m/m. 0.4% m/m. 0.0% m/m. US: Capacity utilisation (Aug). 77.9%. 77.8%. 77.6%. Sep 17(Tue). SG: NODX (Aug). 2