System and method for transmitting ACARS messages over a TCP/IP data communication link
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorRichard Eckert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ACARS messaging system according to the invention is deployed when a TCP/IP subnetwork is available to the aircraft. ACARS messages are encoded into ASN.1 notation and translated to become compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols. A wireless subnetwork provides the initial access point to establish the TCP/IP datalink for the ACARS message traffic. The system allows transmission of ACARS messages using low cost and high bandwidth TCP/IP networks in lieu of the private networks that carry conventional ACARS messages.
Claims37
An ACARS messaging method comprising:
- obtaining an ACARS message containing message content;
- encoding said ACARS message into an ASN.1 compliant message containing said message content;
- translating said ASN.1 compliant message into an ACARS-IP message containing said message content, said ACARS-IP message being compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols;
- and
- transmitting said ACARS-IP message between an aircraft and a message processing server via a TCP/IP datalink.
An ACARS messaging system comprising:
- means for obtaining an ACARS message containing message content;
- means for encoding said ACARS message into an ASN.1 compliant message containing said message content;
- means for translating said ASN.1 compliant message into an ACARS-IP message containing said message content, said ACARS-IP message being compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols;
- and
- means for transmitting said ACARS-IP message between an aircraft and a message processing server via a TCP/IP datalink.
A downlink ACARS messaging method comprising:
- establishing a TCP/IP datalink between an aircraft and a message processing server;
- encoding a handshake message containing an aircraft registration number for said aircraft into an ASN.1 compliant handshake message containing said aircraft registration number;
- translating said ASN.1 compliant handshake message into an ACARS-IP handshake message containing said aircraft registration number, said ACARS-IP handshake message being compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols;
- and
- transmitting said ACARS-IP handshake message to said message processing server via said TCP/IP datalink.
An uplink ACARS messaging method comprising:
- establishing a TCP/IP datalink between an aircraft and a message processing server;
- encoding a handshake message containing an identifier for said message processing server into an ASN.1 compliant handshake message containing said identifier;
- translating said ASN.1 compliant handshake message into an ACARS-IP handshake message containing said identifier, said ACARS-IP handshake message being compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols;
- and
- transmitting said ACARS-IP handshake message to said aircraft via said TCP/IP datalink.
An ACARS messaging method comprising:
- establishing a TCP/IP datalink between an aircraft and a message processing server;
- obtaining an ACARS message containing message content;
- encoding said ACARS message into an ASN.1 compliant message containing said message content;
- translating said ASN.1 compliant message into an ACARS-IP message containing said message content, said ACARS-IP message being compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols;
- transmitting said ACARS-IP message via said TCP/IP datalink;
- receiving said ACARS-IP message to obtain a received ACARS-IP message;
- and
- extracting said message content from said received ACARS-IP message.
An ACARS messaging system for an aircraft, said system comprising:
- a ACARS router;
- an onboard data communication element for said ACARS router, said data communication element being configured to establish a TCP/IP datalink between said aircraft and a message processing server;
- said ACARS router being configured to encode an ACARS message into an ASN.1 compliant message containing message content and to translate said ASN.1 compliant message into an ACARS-IP message containing said message content, said ACARS-IP message being compliant with the TCP/IP suite of protocols;
- and
- said data communication element being configured to transmit said ACARS-IP message between said aircraft and said message processing server via said TCP/IP datalink.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.