Wireless spread spectrum ground link-based aircraft data communication system for engine event reporting

Abstract

The system and method of the present invention provides a record of the performance of an aircraft engine. A plurality of sensors sense engine conditions and generate engine data. A ground data link unit is positioned within the aircraft and receives the engine data and stores the engine data within an archival data store. A wideband spread spectrum transmitter that can be part of a transceiver downloads the engine data to a ground based spread spectrum receiver that can be part of a transceiver, and receives the wideband spread spectrum communication signal from the aircraft. It demodulates the wideband spread spectrum communication signal to obtain the engine data.

1. A system for providing a record of the performance of an aircraft engine comprising:
 a plurality of sensors positioned on the aircraft for continuously sensing engine conditions during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing  and generating engine data relating to the continuously sensed operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing;    
 a ground data link unit positioned within the aircraft and operatively connected to said plurality of sensors for receiving said engine data, said ground data link unit comprising: 
 a) a  an archival data store operative to accumulate and continuously store the engine data during the entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing to create an archival store of such engine data , and  
 b) a wideband spread spectrum transceiver coupled to said data store, and comprising a transmitter that is operative to download said engine data that has been accumulated and stored by said archival data store during the entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing  over a wideband spread spectrum communication signal after the aircraft completes its flight and land at an airport; and  
 
 a ground based spread spectrum transceiver for receiving the wideband spread spectrum communication signal from the aircraft and demodulating the wideband spread spectrum communication signal to obtain the accumulated engine data representative of the performance of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from take- off to landing.    
 
     
     
       2. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein said aircraft includes a FADEC engine control system, wherein said sensors are operatively connected to said FADEC engine control system. 
     
     
       3. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein said sensors are positioned to sense at least one of said  core compartment bleeding, sump pressurization, sump vent, active clearance control, and low pressure and high pressure recoup. 
     
     
       4. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein said sensors are positioned to sense at least one of oil pressure, oil temperature, fuel flow and engine hydraulics. 
     
     
       5. A system according to  claim 1 , and further comprising a plurality of sensors loaded throughout the aircraft for sensing routine aircraft conditions and generating parametric data such as received by a flight data recorder representative of aircraft flight performance during a flight of said aircraft. 
     
     
       6. A system according to  claim 5 , and further comprising a multiplexer connected to said plurality of sensors and ground data link unit for receiving the parametric data and multiplexing the parametric-data for delivery to said ground data link unit. 
     
     
       7. A system according to  claim 1 , and further comprising a ground based sever connected to said ground based spread spectrum receiver for receiving said engine data for further processing of said engine data. 
     
     
       8. A system according to  claim 1 , and further comprising a remote flight operations center operatively coupled to said ground based spread spectrum transceiver for receiving and processing engine data downloaded from said aircraft. 
     
     
       9. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communication signal comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum signal. 
     
     
       10. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communication signal comprises a frequency hopping spread spectrum signal. 
     
     
       11. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein said data store comprises an archival data store. 
     
     
       12. A system according to  claim 1 , wherein said ground data link unit is operative to store flight performance data and downloaded said flight performance data over side wideband spread spectrum communication signal. 
     
     
       13. A method of providing a record of the performance of an aircraft engine comprising:
 continuously sensing engine conditions during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing and generating engine data relating to the continuously sensed operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing;   
 collectingaccumulating and continuously storing engine data within a groundan archival data store of a ground data link unit during at least initial take-off of an aircraft from an airport andduring an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing to create an archival store of such engine data;    
 processing the engine data within a central processing unit of the ground data link unit to determine engine problems;  
 upon initial take-off,  downloading the engine data that has been collected during initial take-offaccumulated and continuously stored within said archival data store during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing  over a wideband spread spectrum communication signal to a ground based spread spectrum receiver; and  
 demodulating within the ground based spread spectrum receiver the wideband spread spectrum communication signal to obtain the engine data representative of the operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from take- off to landing  for further processing.  
 
     
     
       14. A method according to  claim 13 , and further comprising the step of forwarding the engine data to a ground based server connected to the ground based spread spectrum receiver and processing the engine data within the ground based server. 
     
     
       15. A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communication signal comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum signal. 
     
     
       16. A method according to  claim 13 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communication signal comprises frequency hopping spread spectrum signal. 
     
     
       17. A method of providing a record of the performance of an aircraft engine comprising:
 continuously sensing engine conditions during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing and generating engine data relating to the continuously sensed operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing;   
 collectingaccumulating and continuously storing engine data within an archival data store of a ground data link unit during engine operation during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing to create an archival store of such continuously monitored engine data;    
 downloading the engine data that has been collected  accumulated and stored within the archival data store during the entire flight of the aircraft from at least take- off to landing  over a wideband spread spectrum communication signal to a ground based spread spectrum receiver after the aircraft completes its flight and lands at an airport; and  
 demodulating within the ground based spread spectrum receiver the wideband spread spectrum communications signal to obtain the engine data representative of the operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from take- off to landing  for further processing.  
 
     
     
       18. A method according to  claim 17 , and further comprising the step of collecting engine data within an archival data store of the ground data link unit. 
     
     
       19. A method according to  claim 17 , and further comprising the step of collecting engine data during at least initial take-off of the aircraft. 
     
     
       20. A method according to  claim 19 , and further comprising the step of downloading the engine data upon initial take-off. 
     
     
       21. A method according of  claim 17 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communication signal comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum communication signal. 
     
     
       22. A method according to  claim 17 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communication signal comprises a frequency hopping spread spectrum communication signal. 
     
     
       23. A method according to  claim 17 , wherein the ground based spread spectrum receiver comprises a transceiver. 
     
     
       24. A method of providing a record of the performance of an aircraft engine comprising:
   continuously sensing engine conditions during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing and generating engine data relating to the continuously sensed operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing;        accumulating and continuously storing the engine data within an archival data store of a ground data link unit during the entire flight of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing to create an archival store of such continuously monitored engine data;        downloading the engine data that has been accumulated and stored during the entire flight of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing over a wideband spread spectrum communications signal to a ground based spread spectrum receiver after the aircraft completes its flight and land at an airport; and        demodulating within the ground based spread spectrum receiver the wideband spectrum communications signal to obtain the engine data representative of the operation of the engine during an entire flight of the aircraft from take - off to landing for further processing.     
     
     
       25. A method according to  claim 24 , and further comprising the step of collecting the engine data from a FADEC engine control system. 
     
     
       26. A method according to  claim 24 , and further comprising the step of downloading the engine data upon initial take- off.   
     
     
       27. A method according to  claim 24 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communications signal comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum communications signal. 
     
     
       28. A method according to  claim 24 , wherein the wideband spread spectrum communications signal comprises a frequency hopping spread spectrum communications signal. 
     
     
       29. A method according to  claim 24 , wherein the ground based spread spectrum receiver comprises a transceiver. 
     
     
       30. A method according to  claim 24 , and further comprising the step of continuously collecting the engine data from a plurality of sensors positioned on the aircraft that sense engine conditions and continuously generate engine data relating to operation of the engine. 
     
     
       31. A method of providing data of the performance of an aircraft engine comprising:
   continuously monitoring the performance of the aircraft engine during at least two entire flights of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing;        generating engine data representative of the continuously monitored aircraft engine during the at least two entire flights of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing;        accumulating and continuously storing the continuously generated engine data within a ground data link unit positioned within the aircraft during the at least two entire flights of the aircraft from at least take - off to landing to create an archival store of such continuously monitored engine data;        after the aircraft completes its at least two flights and lands at an airport, transmitting the accumulated, stored generated engine data from the ground data link unit over a wideband spread spectrum communications signal to a ground based spread spectrum receiver; and        demodulating the received spread spectrum communications signal to obtain the accumulated engine data representative of the performance of the aircraft engine during the at least two entire flights of the aircraft from take - off to landing.     
     
     
       32. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of transmitting the accumulated generated engine data from the ground data link unit to a cellular infrastructure that includes the ground based spread spectrum receiver. 
     
     
       33. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of transmitting the accumulated generated aircraft data over a frequency hopping spread spectrum communications signal. 
     
     
       34. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of transmitting the accumulated generated engine data over a direct sequence spread spectrum communications signal. 
     
     
       35. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of transmitting the generated engine data automatically after the aircraft has landed. 
     
     
       36. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of uploading data to the ground data link unit over a wideband spread spectrum communications signal after the aircraft has landed. 
     
     
       37. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of selecting a frequency channel for transmitting the accumulated generated engine data from a plurality of available frequency channels. 
     
     
       38. A method according to  claim 37 , and further comprising the step of selecting a frequency channel based on communication limitations of a governing jurisdiction in which the ground based spread spectrum receiver is located. 
     
     
       39. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of transmitting the accumulated generated engine data from the ground based spread spectrum transceiver to a flight operations center for further processing. 
     
     
       40. A method according to  claim 31 , and further comprising the step of storing the generated engine data within a memory of the ground data link unit.