Aircraft Communications Management Unit Secure Message Routing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Aircraft personnel require secure and covert communication systems for both onboard and offboard messaging, ensuring message integrity, authenticity, and confidentiality, especially in sensitive situations, while maintaining consistent access to flight information and security protocols.

Innovation Solution

A secure communications network is established using a communications management unit (CMU) that integrates with personal communication devices (PCDs) and ground operations units, employing information security methods like authentication, message integrity verification, and encryption to protect and transmit messages, allowing authorized access and display while preventing unauthorized reading.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If information security protection is applied to message transmissions, then message confidentiality and integrity are improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage securityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

A management unit is introduced as an intermediary component that centralizes security management functions. This unit receives messages from multiple sources, applies security protection, authorizes display permissions, and relays responses, thereby managing the complexity of security implementation in a centralized manner while maintaining message confidentiality and integrity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If secure communication systems are implemented for all aircraft personnel, then communication security is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication securityVSAvoidoperational simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically manages security operations without requiring manual intervention from personnel. The management unit autonomously receives messages, applies security protection, authorizes display permissions, and relays responses, allowing aircraft personnel to communicate securely without needing to understand or manage the underlying security mechanisms

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

If message authentication and integrity verification are implemented, then message authenticity is improved, but processing time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage authenticityVSAvoidmessage processing time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Security protection is applied in advance when messages are received at the management unit, before they are distributed to display points. This preliminary application of authentication and integrity verification ensures message authenticity while allowing subsequent message display and relay operations to proceed efficiently without repeated processing delays

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS7630710B2Message transmission in onboard and off board aircraft communications networks

Publication Date: 2009.12.08 HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC

AI summary

A method for transmitting one or more messages over a secure communications network is disclosed. The method involves receiving the one or more messages from a plurality of message sources at a management unit within the secure communications network, the one or more messages protected with information security and authorizing each message for display at a display point. The method further involves transmitting each of the messages to a plurality of communication end points throughout the secure communications network and relaying at least one response through the management unit.