Back to results
US 11,999,504 B2Granted
Smart avionics system
AssigneeInFlight Labs, LLC
InventorJoseph Bekanich
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention is an aircraft communication network including: avionics monitoring software in communication with a flight data recorder and an aircraft emergency location transmitter; the avionics monitoring software functioning to acquire real-time aircraft operating parameters by monitoring an ADS-B system and a power management module to communicate with an activation module that activates an aircraft emergency location transmitter and initiates two-way communication with a satellite upon detection of an anomaly in the aircraft operating parameters, the aircraft emergency location transmitter transmitting aircraft location coordinates and an emergency signal.
Claims17
An aircraft emergency communication network suitable for providing two-way communication between an aircraft in flight and ground-based facilities, said aircraft communication network comprising:
- avionics monitoring software in communication with aircraft avionics, said aircraft avionics including a flight data recorder and an aircraft emergency location transmitter;
- said avionics monitoring software functioning to acquire real-time aircraft avionics operating parameters by additionally monitoring an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) system and a device/aircraft power management module;
- said avionics monitoring software further functioning to communicate with an activation module to activate at least one of (i) said aircraft emergency location transmitter and (ii) a satellite tracking system upon detection of an anomaly in said aircraft avionics operating parameters, at least one of said aircraft emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system functioning to transmit aircraft location coordinates and an emergency signal;
- at least one of said aircraft emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system further in communication with said avionics monitoring software such that said at least one of said emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system can be remotely activated and remotely reset by air traffic authorities through a ground-based web interface in communication with the ground-based facilities;
- a self-powered processor/compiler in communication with said avionics monitoring software;
- and
- a transmitter in communication with said processor/compiler, said processor/compiler functioning to provide real-time data processed from said real-time aircraft avionics operating parameters to said transmitter for transmission to the ground-based facilities using two-way ground-to-air communication methodology so as to enable immediate viewing and reporting by the ground-based facilities.
4 more elements
An aircraft emergency communication network suitable for providing two-way communication among aircraft, ground-based facilities, and search and rescue satellite systems, said network comprising:
- avionics monitoring hardware and software in communication with aircraft avionics, said aircraft avionics including an aircraft emergency location transmitter, a satellite tracking system, and a device/aircraft power management module;
- said avionics monitoring hardware and software functioning to acquire real-time aircraft operating parameters by monitoring said device/aircraft power management module;
- said avionics monitoring hardware and software further functioning to communicate with an activation module to activate at least one of (i) said aircraft emergency location transmitter and (ii) two-way communication with the search and rescue satellite systems upon detection of an anomaly in said real-time aircraft operating parameters, said aircraft emergency location transmitter functioning to transmit aircraft location coordinates and an emergency signal,
- at least one of said aircraft emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system further in communication with said avionics monitoring hardware and software such that said at least one of said emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system can be remotely activated and remotely reset by air traffic authorities through a ground-based web interface in communication with the search and rescue satellite systems;
- a self-powered processor/compiler in communication with said avionics monitoring hardware and software;
- and
- a transmitter in communication with said processor/compiler, said processor/compiler functioning to transmit said real-time aircraft operating parameters to said at least one of said emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system for transmission to at least one of the ground-based facilities and the search and rescue satellite systems.
4 more elements
An aircraft communication system suitable for providing two-way communication between an aircraft in flight and ground-based facilities, said aircraft communication system comprising:
- avionics monitoring software in communication with aircraft avionics, said aircraft avionics including a flight data recorder, an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) system, a device/aircraft power management module, and at least one of an aircraft emergency location transmitter and a satellite tracking system;
- said avionics monitoring software functioning to acquire real-time aircraft operating parameters by monitoring said ADS-B system and said device/aircraft power management module;
- said avionics monitoring software further functioning to communicate with an activation module for initiating activation of at least one of (i) said aircraft emergency location transmitter, (ii) said satellite tracking system, and (iii) two-way communication with a satellite upon detection of an anomaly in said aircraft operating parameters, said aircraft emergency location transmitter functioning to transmit aircraft location coordinates and an emergency signal;
- at least one of said aircraft emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system further in communication with said avionics monitoring software such that said at least one of said emergency location transmitter and said satellite tracking system can be remotely activated and remotely reset by air traffic authorities through a ground-based web interface in communication with the ground-based facilities;
- a self-powered processor/compiler in communication with said avionics monitoring software;
- a transmitter in communication with said processor/compiler, said processor/compiler functioning to transmit real-time data processed from said aircraft avionics operating parameters to said transmitter for transmission and reporting to the ground-based facilities for immediate viewing using said ground-based web interface;
- and
- a waterproof crash-survivable enclosure with floating capability, said enclosure containing said flight data recorder, said emergency location transmitter, and said transmitter.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.