Aircraft monitoring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11354950-B2
Application number	US-201816642826-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2018
Priority date	Sep 6, 2017
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

Abstract

A monitoring system including pieces of measuring equipment and an LPWAN reception terminal. Each piece of measuring equipment has a sensor arranged to measure a parameter of the aircraft, an LPWAN antenna and an LPWAN transmitter, an independent power source that powers the piece of measuring equipment, a main cut-off member connected between the independent power source and the LPWAN transmitter, and a main control component arranged to monitor operating parameters of the LPWAN transmitter and to open and close the main cut-off member selectively as a function of the operating parameters.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aircraft surveillance system comprising a Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) network made up of pieces of measuring equipment and an LPWAN reception terminal, the LPWAN reception terminal also being adapted to be connected to maintenance equipment of the aircraft, each piece of measuring equipment comprising:
a sensor arranged to measure a parameter of the aircraft;
an LPWAN antenna and an LPWAN transmitter arranged to transmit measurement data produced by the sensor to the LPWAN reception terminal;
an independent power source that powers the piece of measuring equipment;
a main cut-off member connected between the independent power source and the LPWAN transmitter, the main cut-off member having an open state and a closed state, the LPWAN transmitter being powered by the independent power source via the main cut-off member; and
a main control component arranged to monitor operating parameters of the LPWAN transmitter and to open and close the main cut-off member selectively as a function of the operating parameters.

2. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the piece of measuring equipment further comprises a current-limiting component connected between the main cut-off member and the LPWAN transmitter.

3. The monitoring system according to claim 2 , wherein combined action of the current-limiting component and of the main cut-off member serves to define a predetermined maximum energy for transmitting LPWAN signals.

4. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the piece of measuring equipment is arranged to detect a stage of flight in which the aircraft is to be found, and wherein a sampling frequency for the sensor is adapted as a function of the stage of flight.

5. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the main control component and the main cut-off member are separate and distinct components.

6. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein individual sensor power units are only energized for different specific phases of flight.

7. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the operating parameters comprise a transmission power and a transmission frequency for LPWAN signals generated by the LPWAN transmitter, and wherein the main control component is arranged to open the main cut-off member when the transmission power is greater than a predetermined power threshold and/or when the transmission frequency lies outside a predetermined frequency band.

8. An aircraft surveillance system comprising a Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) network made up of pieces of measuring equipment and an LPWAN reception terminal, the LPWAN reception terminal also being adapted to be connected to maintenance equipment of the aircraft, each piece of measuring equipment comprising:
a sensor arranged to measure a parameter of the aircraft;
an LPWAN antenna and an LPWAN transmitter arranged to transmit measurement data produced by the sensor to the LPWAN reception terminal;
an independent power source that powers the piece of measuring equipment;
a main cut-off member connected between the independent power source and the LPWAN transmitter, the main cut-off member having an open state and a closed state; and
a main control component arranged to monitor operating parameters of the LPWAN transmitter and to open and close the main cut-off member selectively as a function of the operating parameters,
wherein the piece of measuring equipment further comprises a first secondary cut-off member connected between the independent power source and the LPWAN transmitter, and an accelerometer and a first secondary control component connected to the accelerometer and arranged to open the first secondary cut-off member when the first secondary control component detects that the aircraft is in a predetermined stage of flight.

9. An aircraft surveillance system comprising a Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) network made up of pieces of measuring equipment and an LPWAN reception terminal, the LPWAN reception terminal also being adapted to be connected to maintenance equipment of the aircraft, each piece of measuring equipment comprising:
a sensor arranged to measure a parameter of the aircraft;
an LPWAN antenna and an LPWAN transmitter arranged to transmit measurement data produced by the sensor to the LPWAN reception terminal;
an independent power source that powers the piece of measuring equipment;
a main cut-off member connected between the independent power source and the LPWAN transmitter, the main cut-off member having an open state and a closed state; and
a main control component arranged to monitor operating parameters of the LPWAN transmitter and to open and close the main cut-off member selectively as a function of the operating parameters,
wherein the piece of measuring equipment further comprises a second secondary cut-off member connected between the independent power source and the LPWAN transmitter, and a gyro and a second secondary control component connected to the gyro and arranged to open the second secondary cut-off member when the second secondary control component detects that the aircraft is in a predetermined stage of flight.

Assignees

• Safran Electronics & Defense

Inventors

• Fanton Nicolas
• Jeandon Thiebault
• Couturier Emmanuel

Classifications

• B64D2045/0085

  Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration · CPC title

• G07C5/085 Primary

  using electronic data carriers · CPC title

• B64F5/60

  Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• H04B7/18506

  Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service · CPC title