Prognosis and graceful degradation of wireless aircraft networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10944623-B2
Application number	US-201816044553-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2018
Priority date	May 24, 2018
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

Embodiments include a system for prognosis of a wireless aircraft network including a network manager including a network prognostic manager, one or more data controllers operably coupled to the network manager over a first connection, and one or more wireless nodes operably coupled to the one or more data controllers over a second connection, wherein the second connection is a different type of connection than the first connection, wherein the network manager includes a network prognostic manager, wherein the network prognostic manager. The network manager performs a method of receiving measured parameters from a wireless communications network, computing thresholds associated with the parameters, comparing the received parameters to the computed thresholds, identifying a failure condition based on the comparison of the received parameters to the computed thresholds, and based at least in part on the identified failure condition, executing a corrective action.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for prognosis of a wireless aircraft network comprising:
a network manager including a network prognostic manager;
one or more wireless data controllers operably coupled to the network manager over a first connection;
one or more wireless nodes operably coupled to the one or more wireless data controllers over a second connection, wherein the second connection is a different type of connection than the first connection;
wherein the network prognostic manager configured to:
receive measured parameters from the nodes, wherein the parameters include at least one of signal quality parameter, battery status, or operational hours for one or more data controllers and the parameters include at least one of signal quality parameter, battery status, or operational hours for one or more wireless nodes;
compute thresholds associated with the parameters, wherein the computed thresholds include a battery status threshold;
compare the received parameters to the computed thresholds, wherein the thresholds associated with the parameters are based on an average for measurements over a period of time under normal operating conditions;
identify a failure condition based on the comparison of the received parameters to the computed thresholds; and
execute a corrective action based at least in part on the identified failure condition, wherein the identified failure condition includes determining a battery status and signal quality parameter is below the computing threshold for a current wireless data controller, switching a connection between the one or more wireless nodes and the current wireless data controller to a redundant wireless data controller, if the battery status and signal quality parameter for the redundant data controller is determined to not be below the computing threshold, wherein the redundant wireless data controller is different from the current wireless data controller.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters include at least one of signal quality parameter, battery status, or operational hours for one or more data controllers and one or more wireless nodes.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the signal quality parameter is at least one of link quality indicator, received signal strength indicator, packet error rate, bit error rate and channel access failure.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more wireless data controllers and the one or more wireless nodes are associated with battery status information and operational hours information.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more wireless data controllers and the one or more wireless nodes that communicate over a wireless network are associated with signal quality parameters.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more wireless nodes area associated with multiple wireless data controllers including at least a first wireless data controller and a redundant wireless data controller.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more wireless data controllers and the one or more wireless nodes are configured in clusters for communication.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more wireless nodes are configured to enter a sleep mode based on the identified failure condition.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more wireless nodes are configured to communicate at a specified bandwidth.

10. A method implementing a prognostic of a wireless aircraft network comprising;
receiving measured parameters from nodes over a wireless communications network, wherein the parameters include at least one of signal quality parameter, battery status, or operational hours for one or more data controllers and the parameters include at least one of signal quality parameter, battery status, or operational hours for one or more wireless nodes;
computing thresholds associated with the parameters, wherein the thresholds associated with the parameters are based on an average for measurements over a period of time under normal operating conditions;
comparing the received parameters to the computed thresholds, wherein the computed thresholds include a battery status threshold;
identifying a failure condition based on the comparison of the received parameters to the computed thresholds; and
based at least in part on the identified failure condition, executing a corrective action, wherein the identified failure condition includes determining a battery status and signal quality parameter is below the computing threshold for a current data controller, switching, based on the determination, a connection between the one or more wireless nodes and the current data controller to a redundant data controller, if the battery status and signal quality parameter for the redundant data controller is determined to not be below the computing threshold, wherein the redundant data controller is different from the current data controller.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the signal quality parameter is at least one of link quality indicator, received signal strength indicator, packet error rate, bit error rate and channel access failure.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the identified failure condition includes at least a battery status is below the computed threshold, the corrective action includes reducing a data rate of wireless nodes.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the identified failure condition includes at least the signal quality parameter is below the computed threshold, the corrective action includes increasing a transmission power of a wireless node.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the identified failure condition includes inability to communicating with wireless data controller of a single cluster, the corrective action includes switching wireless node to a different cluster of wireless nodes associated with a different wireless data controller.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the method is performed by a network prognostic manager of a network manager.

Assignees

• Rosemount Aerospace Inc

Inventors

• Shreshthi Mahadevanna
• Das Subhra Kanti
• Sivaramasastry Adishesha Chinknyakanhalli

Classifications

• G01C21/26

  specially adapted for navigation in a road network · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• H04W28/0221

  power availability or consumption · CPC title

• G05B23/0213 Primary

  Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols · CPC title

• H04W4/48 Primary

  for in-vehicle communication · CPC title