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US 11,867,533 B2Granted
Sensing systems and methods
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorDonald B. Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods provide for a sensing system for a vehicle system. The sensor monitors including a control circuit having one or more processors. The control circuit is communicatively coupled to a switch based on a Power over Ethernet (PoE) interface. The control circuit receives power from the PoE network switch. The sensor monitors include an interface circuit bi-directionally communicating with one or more sensors to acquire sensor measurements. The control circuit transmits the sensor measurements to the switch using the PoE interface.
Claims21
A sensing system for a vehicle, comprising:
- a control circuit including one or more processors, wherein the control circuit is communicatively coupled to a Power over Ethernet (PoE) network switch based on a PoE interface, wherein the control circuit receives power from the PoE network;
- and
- an interface circuit bi-directionally communicating with sensors to acquire sensor measurements, wherein the sensors differ from one another, wherein the control circuit transmits the sensor measurements to a network through the PoE network switch using the PoE interface,
- wherein the control circuit is operably coupled to a network interface port using the PoE interface, and wherein the network interface port provides a standardized and common interface for each and all of the sensors to couple to a plurality of systems of the vehicle and bi-directionally communicate between the plurality of systems of the vehicle and the different sensors that acquire the sensor measurements onboard the vehicle, wherein the network, the PoE network switch, and the network interface port differ from the plurality of systems of the vehicle and the sensors.
1 more element
A sensing method for a vehicle, comprising:
- enabling a Power over Ethernet (PoE) interface through a network interface port, the network interface port including a plurality of twisted pair cables that couple the port to a PoE network switch, wherein the network interface port provides a standardized and common interface for each and all sensors to couple to a plurality of systems of the vehicle and bi-directionally communicate between the plurality of systems of the vehicle and the different sensors that acquire sensor measurements onboard the vehicle, wherein a network, the PoE network switch, and the network interface port differ from the plurality of systems of the vehicle and the sensors;
- providing an interface circuit bi-directionally communicating with the sensors to acquire the sensor measurements, wherein the sensors differ from one another, and wherein the sensor measurements are transmitted to the network through the PoE network switch using the PoE interface.
A sensing method for an aircraft, comprising:
- enabling a Power over Ethernet (PoE) interface through a network interface port, the network interface port including a plurality of twisted pair cables that couple the network interface port to a PoE network switch, wherein the port provides a standardized and common interface for each and all sensors that differ from one another to couple to a plurality of systems of the aircraft and bi-directionally communicate between the plurality of systems of the aircraft and the different sensors that acquire sensor measurements onboard the aircraft, wherein a network, the PoE network switch, and the network interface port differ from the plurality of systems of the aircraft and the sensors;
- coupling a system on chip (SoC) to the network interface port, the SoC having an analog array, digital circuit blocks, a radio frequency (RF) interface, one or more processors, and one or more applications corresponding to a sensor protocol, the one or more applications comprising at least one of a Wireless Personal Area Network utilizing 6LowPAN, or a Thread protocol, wherein the RF interface utilizes at least one of a BLUETOOTH Low Energy, a ZIGBEE, or a Wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB), the SoC receiving electrical power from the PoE interface;
- providing an interface circuit bi-directionally communicating with the sensors to acquire sensor measurements to the PoE network switch using the PoE interface, wherein the interface circuit is operably coupled to the SoC;
- providing a removable memory card to store the one or more sensor measurements onto an external memory, wherein the removable memory card is configured for a Micro SD card memory, a flash memory, a multimedia card memory, or an SD card memory;
- and
- receiving the sensor measurements from the interface circuit utilizing at least one of an analog signal, an inter-integrated circuit protocol, a serial peripheral interface bus protocol, a universal serial bus protocol, or data packets.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.