Distributed vehicle monitoring systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10403059-B2
Application number	US-201715614275-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2017
Priority date	Jun 5, 2017
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

Distributed monitoring systems and methods are provided for monitoring a vehicle, such as a rotorcraft. One exemplary system includes a plurality of sensor management modules onboard the vehicle and coupled to respective sensing arrangements mounted onboard the vehicle to provide measurement data corresponding to a respective mechanical component. A mobile device is communicatively coupled to the management modules over a wireless network associated with the vehicle. The mobile device configures the management modules for sampling their sensing arrangements, receives the measurement data obtained in accordance with the configuration information from the management modules, determines the condition of the respective mechanical components based on the corresponding measurement data, and displays a graphical representation of the condition of the respective mechanical component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A monitoring system for a plurality of mechanical components of a vehicle, the monitoring system comprising:
a plurality of management modules onboard the vehicle, each management module of the plurality of management modules being coupled to one or more sensing arrangements mounted onboard the vehicle to provide measurement data corresponding to a respective mechanical component of the plurality of mechanical components; and
a mobile device communicatively coupled to the plurality of management modules over a wireless network to:
configure the plurality of management modules for sampling the one or more sensing arrangements to obtain the measurement data in accordance with monitoring configuration information;
broadcast a broadcast measurement request on the wireless network to synchronize the measurement data from the plurality of management modules;
receive a plurality of measurement files including the measurement data from the plurality of management modules over the wireless network, each measurement file of the plurality of measurement files including a header formatted with measurement configuration information;
utilize the measurement configuration information to interpret the measurement data and assign sampling times, temporal attributes, or sequential attributes to individual samples contained within a respective measurement file; and
for each mechanical component of the plurality of mechanical components:
determine, at the mobile device, a condition of the respective mechanical component based on the interpreted measurement data corresponding to the respective mechanical component; and
display, at the mobile device, a graphical representation of the condition of the respective mechanical component.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device configures the plurality of management modules by transmitting a respective configuration to each of the plurality of management modules over the wireless network and instructing each of the plurality of management modules to implement measurement configuration information contained in the respective configuration.

3. The monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein the measurement configuration information includes at least one of a sampling order for the one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module, a sampling frequency for sampling one of the one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module, a sampling duration for sampling one of the one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module, a triggering criterion for sampling one of the one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module, and a gain factor for one of the one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module.

4. The monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein the measurement configuration information includes synchronization information for synchronizing the measurement data from the respective management modules.

5. The monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising an onboard system providing current status information for the vehicle, wherein the mobile device receives the current status information from the onboard system and transmits the broadcast measurement request based at least in part on the current status information.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising a remote device communicatively coupled to the mobile device over a second communications network separate from the wireless network, wherein the mobile device uploads the measurement data to the remote device over the second communications network.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising a remote device communicatively coupled to the mobile device over a second communications network separate from the wireless network, wherein the mobile device receives the monitoring configuration information from the remote device over the second communications network.

8. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device comprises a user input device to receive the monitoring configuration information.

9. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a rotorcraft.

10. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein each management module of the plurality of management modules is coupled to each of the one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module via a respective electrical connection.

11. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein each management module of the plurality of management modules samples the respective one or more sensing arrangements associated with the respective management module substantially synchronously with one or more other management modules of the plurality of management modules.

12. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a helicopter and the mobile device determines the condition of a rotor assembly of the helicopter by performing rotor track and balance analysis using the measurement data from the management module of the plurality of management modules that is coupled to one or more sensing arrangements mounted onboard the helicopter to provide the measurement data corresponding to the rotor assembly.

13. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is configured to execute a health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) application at the mobile device, the HUMS application being configured to:
utilize the measurement configuration information to interpret the measurement data; and
for each mechanical component of the plurality of mechanical components:
determine a health of the respective mechanical component based on the measurement data corresponding to the respective mechanical component; and
display a graphical representation of the health of the respective mechanical component.

14. A method of monitoring health of a plurality of mechanical components of a vehicle, the method comprising:
configuring, by a mobile device using a wireless network associated with the vehicle, measurement parameters of a plurality of sensor management units onboard the vehicle, wherein each sensor management unit of the plurality of sensor management units includes one or more sensor interfaces coupled to one or more sensors via one or more electrical connections and each sensor management unit utilizes its respective measurement parameters for obtaining measurement data from the one or more sensors at the one or more sensor interfaces;
broadcasting, by the mobile device on the wireless network, a broadcast measurement request to the plurality of sensor management units, wherein the one or more measurement parameters configure synchronizing the measurement data from the one or more sensors across the plurality of sensor management units in response to the broadcast measurement request;
receiving, at the mobile device, a plurality of measurement files comprising the measurement data from the plurality of sensor management units over the wireless network wherein each measurement file of the plurality includes measurements from the one or more sensors associated with the respective sensor management unit and includes a header formatted with measurement configuration information;
utilizing, at the mobile device, the measurement configuration information to interpret the measurement data and assign sampling times, temporal attributes, or sequential attributes to individual samples contained within a respective measurement file;
determining, at the mobile device, conditions of the plurality of mechanical components based on the interpre

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Moravek Patrik
• Beran Jan
• Kalmar Robert

Classifications

• G08C17/02

  using a radio link · CPC title

• G07C2205/02

  using a vehicle scan tool · CPC title

• G07C5/0825

  using optical means · CPC title

• H04Q2209/40

  using a wireless architecture · CPC title

• H04Q9/00

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom · CPC title