Aircraft data transmission using phase separation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9667316-B2
Application number	US-201313897243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2013
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

Provided are methods and systems for terrestrial data transmission between aircrafts and external networks connected to gates at airports. This type of data transmission is performed through an electrical power cable that includes multiple conductors interconnecting electrical components of an aircraft and a gate. Each conductor may be used to establish a separate broadband over power line (BPL) communication channel using its own frequency range that does not overlap with frequency ranges of other channels. As such, no radio frequency (RF) shielding is needed in the cable and any standard multi-conductor cable may be used. A channel management unit is used to control allocation of data domains among different communication channels depending on characteristics of the data domains, characteristics of the channels, and other factors. For example, one channel may be designated for secure data transfer of specific data domains, such as aircraft control data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for terrestrial data transmission between aircrafts and external networks, the method comprising:
establishing a first broadband over power line (BPL) communication channel and a second BPL communication channel through an electrical power cable connected to an aircraft and a gate,
the power cable comprising a first conductor and a second conductor,
the first BPL communication channel established through the first conductor,
the second BPL communication channel established through the second conductor;

generating a first transmission packet from a first data domain and a second transmission packet from a second data domain using a channel management unit;
sending the first transmission packet for transmission through the first BPL communication channel; and
sending the second transmission packet for transmission through the second BPL communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmission of the first transmission packet and the second transmission packet is performed at least one of at the same time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmission of the first transmission packet is performed independently from transmission of the second transmission packet.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the channel management unit generates the first transmission packet and the second transmission packet based on one or more factors selected from the group consisting of:
duration of the power cable connection,
security status of each of the first data domain and the second data domain,
security of each of the first BPL communication channel and the second BPL communication channel,
transmission priority of each of the first data domain and the second data domain,
transmission rate of each of the first BPL communication channel and the second BPL communication channel, and
data amount in each of the first data domain and the second data domain.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data domain and the second data domain comprise one or more data types selected from the group consisting of aircraft control data, in-flight entertainment, and airplane information system.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising prefetching at least one of the first data domain and the second data domain.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a first frequency band for the first BPL communication channel and using a second frequency band for the second BPL communication channel, the second frequency band not overlapping with the first frequency band.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first transmission packet is generated at least in part from the second data domain.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating one or more additional transmission packets for transmitting over the first BPL communication channel.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the first frequency band is below 30 MHz, and wherein at least a portion of the second frequency band is above 30 MHz.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing a third BPL communication channel through a third conductor of the electrical power cable and using a third frequency band not overlapping with the first frequency band and the second frequency band;
generating a third transmission packet from a third data domain using the channel management unit; and
sending the third transmission packet through the third BPL communication channel.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein at least a portion of the first frequency band is below 30 Mhz, wherein at least a portion of the second frequency band is between 30 Mhz and 67 Mhz, and wherein at least a portion of the third frequency band is above 67 Mhz.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first conductor and the second conductor is configured to transmit an electrical current of at least about 50 A.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical power cable does not include a radio frequency (RF) shielding around the first conductor or the second conductor.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical power cable is between about 10 feet and 500 feet long.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting electrical power at about 110V and about 400 Hz using the first conductor while sending the first transmission packet through the first BPL communication channel.

17. A system for terrestrial data transmission between aircrafts and external networks, the system comprising:
an electrical power connector for connecting to an electrical power cable,
the electrical power connector comprising a first conductor and a second conductor;

a first BPL module coupled to the first conductor and configured to establish a first BPL communication channel;
a second BPL module coupled to the second conductor and configured to establish a second BPL communication channel; and
a channel management unit coupled to the first BPL module and to the second BPL module,
the channel management unit configured to generate a first transmission packet from a first data domain and a second transmission packet from a second data domain and to send the first transmission packet through the first BPL communication channel and the second transmission packet through the second BPL communication channel.

18. The system of claim 17 , further comprising a first computer system configured to store the first data domain and a second computer system configured to store the second data domain, the first computer system and the second computer system communicatively coupled to the channel management system.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the first data domain and the second data domain comprises one or more data types selected from the group consisting of aircraft control data, in-flight entertainment, and airplane information system.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Nguyen Nha Thanh
• Kumar Anil
• Mitchell Timothy M
• Sampigethaya Radhakrishna G
• Ayyagari Arun
• Shetty Sudhakar S

Classifications

• H04B2203/5466

  using three phases conductors · CPC title

• H04B3/54 Primary

  Systems for transmission via power distribution lines · CPC title

• H04B2203/5408

  using protocols · CPC title