Flight recorder deployment system and method
AssigneeDRS C3 & Aviation Company
InventorsBlake van den Heuvel, Ari Kaufmann, Vincent James O'Hara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention provides an automatic deployable flight recorder (ADFR) system that includes a deployable fight recorder, a plurality of crash sensors, and a recorder release unit. The recorder release unit is communicatively coupled to the deployable fight recorder and the plurality of crash sensors, and is configured to initiate deployment of the deployable flight data recorder from an aircraft when a deployment criteria that is adjusted based on a flight condition of the aircraft is satisfied.
Claims20
A deployable flight recorder comprising:
- a first memory unit including a first communication interface to receive flight data from an aircraft, wherein the first memory unit includes a primary flight data memory partition and a backup cockpit voice data memory partition;
- a second memory unit including a second communication interface to receive cockpit voice data from the aircraft, wherein the second memory unit includes a backup flight data memory partition and a primary cockpit voice data memory partition;
- an emergency locator transmitter unit housed inside the deployable flight recorder;
- and
- a battery for powering the emergency locator transmitter unit.
An automatic deployable flight recorder system comprising:
- a deployable flight recorder including a dual memory subsystem, each memory unit of the dual memory subsystem including at least a primary memory partition and a backup memory partition, wherein the backup memory partition of one memory unit is used for backing up the primary memory partition of the other memory unit;
- and
- a crash sensor system configured to degenerate a deployment signal to deploy the deployable flight recorder in response to detecting a deployment criteria corresponding to one of a plurality of sensitivity states, the plurality of sensitivity states including a normal sensitivity state when the aircraft is cruising in flight, and an alert sensitivity state when the aircraft is taking off or landing.
A method for initiating transmission of an emergency location transmission signal, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a deployable flight recorder, an aircraft identifier from an aircraft prior to deployment of the deployable flight recorder from the aircraft;
- receiving a deployment signal in response to a crash sensor system of the aircraft detecting a deployment criteria while in flight, the deployment criteria corresponding to one of a plurality of sensitivity states, wherein the plurality of sensitivity states include a normal sensitivity state when the aircraft is cruising in flight, and an alert sensitivity state when the aircraft is taking off or landing;
- subsequent to receiving the deployment signal, initiating broadcast of an emergency locator transmission signal, the emergency locator transmission signal including the aircraft identifier received from the aircraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.