Ground support equipment for an aircraft video surveillance system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10583938-B2
Application number	US-201715485873-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2017
Priority date	Apr 15, 2016
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

An aircraft ground support equipment, GSE, unit for externally accessing video data from an aircraft video surveillance system, AVSS. The GSE unit constitutes a back-up AC power supply for the aircraft's AVSS and comprises a power output connector for connecting a power cable to a ground connection panel on the outside of the aircraft. AC power is supplied either by a rechargeable battery through a converter, or by mains power plugged into the GSE unit. A power source selection switch is switched to route either battery power or external power to the aircraft dependent on factors including battery status, presence of power at the external power connector and presence of power in the aircraft. Video data from the AVSS can thus be streamed out, even in the absence of aircraft power, for example to a portable personal computer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ground support equipment unit for enabling ground crew to support an aircraft video surveillance system from outside an aircraft via a ground connection panel, the unit comprising:
a power output connector for connecting a power cable to a power input connector on an aircraft's ground connection panel, thereby to enable external power supply to the aircraft video surveillance system;
a rechargeable battery and a converter configured to output AC power at a specified voltage and frequency;
an external power connector for connecting an external power cable carrying AC power;
a power source selection switch connected to receive power from the converter and the external power connector and which is switchable to route power either from the rechargeable battery via the converter or from an external power source via the external power connector to the power output connector;
a controller configured to switch the power source selection switch dependent on factors including battery status and presence of power at the external power connector; and
an aircraft power status sensor for indicating presence of power in the aircraft;
wherein the controller also takes account of power status in the aircraft, as sensed by the aircraft power status sensor, as a factor for switching the power source selection switch.

2. The unit of claim 1 , further comprising a manual switch actuator which is user operable to switch the power source selection switch.

3. The unit of claim 1 , wherein, in a situation when power is sensed by respective status sensors to be available both from the rechargeable battery and from an external power source via the external power connector, the controller is configured to control the power source selection switch preferentially to select the rechargeable battery.

4. The unit of claim 3 , further comprising a user-actuatable switch to toggle between battery power and external power, the controller having logic to permit such user-actuated toggling conditional on both sources of power being available as sensed by the status sensors.

5. The unit of claim 1 , wherein in response to the aircraft power status sensor indicating a presence of power in the aircraft for the aircraft video surveillance system, the controller is configured to set the power source selection switch to an open circuit position, and, in response to the aircraft power status sensor indicating an absence of power in the aircraft, the controller is configured to switch to the rechargeable battery or to the external power source.

6. The unit of claim 5 , wherein, when the aircraft video surveillance system is operating under power from the aircraft, the controller is operable to monitor the aircraft power status sensor and, in response to sensing a loss of power in the aircraft, the controller is configured to switch the power source selection switch to supply power either from the rechargeable battery or from the external power source, so as to maintain power uninterruptedly to the aircraft.

7. The unit of claim 1 , further comprising a battery charger connected to charge the rechargeable battery; and a further external power connector connected to the battery charger to supply further external power to the battery charger for charging the rechargeable battery.

8. The unit of claim 1 , further comprising an aircraft video surveillance system data connector for connecting a data cable to a data connector on an aircraft's ground connection panel, thereby allowing data communication between the aircraft and the ground support equipment unit.

9. The unit of claim 8 , further comprising a further aircraft video surveillance system data connector for connecting an external device to the ground support equipment unit in order to participate in the data communication, in particular to receive video data from the aircraft collected by the aircraft video surveillance system.

10. The unit of claim 8 , further comprising a data storage device for storing video data collected by the aircraft video surveillance system.

11. A system comprising an aircraft parked on ground in combination with a ground support equipment unit according to claim 8 , wherein the ground support equipment unit is connected to the aircraft via a power cable having a first end connected to the ground support equipment unit via the power output connector and a second end connected to the aircraft via a power input connector on the aircraft's ground connection panel, thereby to enable external power supply to the aircraft video surveillance system.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a data cable having a first end connected to the ground support equipment unit via the aircraft video surveillance system data connector and a second end connected to the aircraft via a data connector on the aircraft's ground connection panel, thereby allowing data communication between the aircraft and the ground support equipment unit.

13. An assembly of parts comprising a ground support equipment unit according to claim 1 and a computer loaded with a software application including machine readable instructions for communicating, storing and displaying aircraft video surveillance system video data.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Mehrholz Holger
• Redemann Axel
• Schmelz Michael
• Stuebner Joern

Classifications

• H02J9/062 Primary

  for AC powered loads · CPC title

• B64F1/362

  Installations for supplying conditioned air to parked aircraft · CPC title

• B64F1/36 Primary

  Other airport installations (ground installations for de-icing aircraft B64F5/20) · CPC title

• B64D47/08

  Arrangements of cameras · CPC title

• B64F1/352

  Mobile units · CPC title