US 5,289,377 A · Fault-tolerant solid-state flight data recorder

Abstract

A flight data recorder for reliable, high-speed storage of flight data employs a distributed, modular architecture in which an array of controller/memory modules is arranged in parallel controller/memory chains and the memory in the individual controller/memory modules is partitioned into submodules. This distributed architecture allows failed controller/memory modules or failed memory submodules to be bypassed, thus providing fault tolerances for both controller and memory functions. The modular architecture allows the number of controller/memory modules to be easily configured to accommodate any required storage size, while the number of parallel controller/memory chains can be configured to accommodate any required data rate.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A fault-tolerant flight data recorder, comprising:

a demultiplexer for converting a serial input data stream into a parallel data stream;
a distributed array of controller/memory modules arranged in one or more parallel controller/memory chains for storing the parallel data stream, the controller/memory modules being arranged in parallel pairs in each controller/memory chain, the memory in each controller/memory module being partitioned into memory submodules to allow failed controller/memory modules or failed memory submodules to be bypassed to provide fault tolerance for both controller and memory functions;
and
a multiplexer for converting the parallel data stream from the controller/memory chains into a serial output data stream when the parallel data stream is retrieved from the flight data recorder.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Fault-tolerant solid-state flight data recorder

Life of this patent

Fault-tolerant solid-state flight data recorder

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23