Automated transmission of vehicle anomalous incident data via preferred transmission modes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9934621-B2
Application number	US-201715408231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to techniques for automated transmission of surveillance incident data or other anomalous incident data from an aircraft via a preferred transmission mode. An example method includes detecting, by a processing device onboard an aircraft, an anomalous incident involving the aircraft that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria. The method further includes identifying, by the processing device, data onboard the aircraft relevant to the anomalous incident. The method further includes detecting that the aircraft is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the data relevant to the anomalous incident. The method further includes communicating the data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the aircraft via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the aircraft is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices operably coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
detect an anomalous incident involving a vehicle on which the system is disposed and that qualifies for reporting relative to a set of anomalous incident reporting criteria;
identify data collected or communicated by one or more systems onboard the vehicle, wherein such data is relevant to the anomalous incident;
determine a priority level of the anomalous incident;
generate a digest of the data relevant to the anomalous incident;
detect that the vehicle is in a status that makes available a selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest;
communicate the digest to a transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the selected data transmission mode in response to detecting that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest; and
wherein if the priority level is low, detecting that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode network comprises detecting that the vehicle is at or proximate to a vehicle terminus.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
select the data transmission mode for transmitting the digest based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the data relevant to the anomalous incident via the transmission system to a ground-based vehicle operator network, via the selected transmission mode based on the determined priority level of the anomalous incident, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
select, in response to determining the priority level as high priority, a transmission mode from among one or more of Satellite Communication (SatCom), High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on which transmission mode is currently available and enables transmission of the surveillance data within a shortest interval of time;
select, in response to determining the priority level as low priority, a transmission mode from among one or more of Gatelink and SatCom, based on which transmission mode is lowest cost; and
select, in response to determining the priority level as intermediate priority, a transmission mode from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on criteria that comprise reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
communicate, in response to determining that the priority level is high priority, both (1.) the data relevant to the anomalous incident, and (2.) an instruction to transmit the data relevant to the anomalous incident, directly to a communication system corresponding to the selected transmission mode, thereby bypassing a Communication Management Unit (CMU) of the vehicle, instead of communicating the data and the instruction to the CMU.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate the digest such that the digest comprises an indication of a nature or type of the anomalous incident.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate the digest such that the digest comprises summary data selected from among a larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the selected data transmission mode is a first selected data transmission mode, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive, via a second selected data transmission mode, a request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident and from which the summary data for the digest was selected; and
communicate, in response to receiving the request, the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident to a transmission system for transmission from the vehicle via the second selected data transmission mode.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the received request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident comprises a request for transmission of ongoing real-time data, and
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to communicate, in response to the request for transmission of ongoing real-time data, additional data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle in real-time.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the received request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident comprises an indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident, and
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to communicate the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident to the transmission system for transmission from the vehicle, in response to the received request for transmission of the larger set of surveillance data, in accordance with the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident, such that the one or more processors are configured to:
select, in response to the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident being high priority, from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on which transmission mode is currently available and enables transmission of the surveillance data within a shortest interval of time;
select, in response to the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident being low priority, a lowest-cost mode from among at least Gatelink and SatCom; and
select, in response to the indicated priority level for transmitting the larger set of surveillance data relevant to the anomalous incident being intermediate priority, from among one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular, based on criteria that include reduced expense of transmission mode and transmission within a selected interval.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors being configured to detect that the vehicle is in the status that makes available the selected data transmission mode for transmitting the digest comprises the one or more processors being configured to:
detect what transmission modes are currently available, from among transmission modes comprising one or more of SatCom, High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), ground-based broadband, and ground-based cellular; and
determine which of the available transmission modes enables transmission of the digest within a shortest interval of time.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors being configured to identify the data onboard the vehicle that is relevant to the anomalous incident comprises the one or more processors being configured to identify data relevant to a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Resolution Advisory (RA), another type of surveillance alert, a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) alert, a weat

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Gremmert Scott R
• Wilmot Stephen

Classifications

• G07C5/008 Primary

  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

• G01S13/953

  mounted on aircraft · CPC title

• G01S17/933

  of aircraft or spacecraft · CPC title

• G08G5/0021

  Physics · mapped topic