Multi-use optical data, powerline data, and ground power interface for airplane factory automation

A method for communicating data between a ground system and a vehicle, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a ground bus multiplexer associated with the ground system, the data via a plurality of ground data buses associated with the ground system;
• multiplexing, by the ground bus multiplexer, the data into at least one data path of a multi-use power interface;
• transmitting, by the multi-use power interface via the at least one data path, the data from the ground bus multiplexer to a vehicle bus multiplexer on the vehicle;
• and
• demultiplexing, by the vehicle bus multiplexer, the data from the at least one data path of the multi-use power interface into a plurality of vehicle data buses on the vehicle;
• and
• transmitting, by the vehicle bus multiplexer, the data via the plurality of vehicle data buses to an onboard system on the vehicle.

A system for communicating data between a vehicle and a ground system, the system comprising:

• a vehicle bus multiplexer on the vehicle to receive the data via a plurality of vehicle data buses from an onboard system on the vehicle, and to multiplex the data into at least one data path of a multi-use power interface;
• the multi-use power interface to transmit via the at least one data path the data from the vehicle bus multiplexer to a ground bus multiplexer associated with the ground system;
• and
• the ground bus multiplexer to demultiplex the data from the at least one data path of the multi-use power interface into a plurality of ground data buses associated with the ground system, and to transmit the data via the plurality of ground data buses to the ground system.

A method for establishing a connection for a transfer of data from a vehicle to a ground system via a multi-use power interface, the method comprising:

• authenticating, by at least one processor on the vehicle, the ground system by verifying at least one of:
• a voltage provided by the multi-use power interface is approximately an expected voltage,
• a phase separation from a power provided by the multi-use power interface is approximately an expected phase separation,
• a current provided by the multi-use power interface is approximately an expected current,
• a broadband over powerline (BPL) link provided by the multi-use power interface is healthy, and
• an optical link provided by the multi-use power interface is healthy;
• and
• sending, by the at least one processor, at least one command to at least one onboard system on the vehicle to transfer the data to the ground system via the multi-use power interface, if the at least one processor authenticates the ground system.