Aircraft IoT Controller for Real-Time In-Flight Health Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional aircraft health monitoring systems rely on wired data-bus communication, limiting real-time data access and analysis to ground-based systems, which hinders proactive maintenance and decision-making during flight.
Innovation Solution
Implementing IoT-based smart controllers that provide wireless communication capabilities between aircraft components, enabling real-time data transmission and analysis of aircraft health information to ground-based systems during flight, with cognitive algorithms for predictive maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wired data-bus communication is used for aircraft health monitoring, then system reliability is maintained, but real-time data transmission capability during flight is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines wired data-bus communication (for reliability) with wireless communication capabilities (for real-time transmission) into a hybrid system. The smart controller maintains connections to both the aircraft's wired data bus and wireless networks, merging the strengths of both communication methods to achieve simultaneous reliability and real-time capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart controller acts as an intermediary device that receives data from the wired data bus and relays it through wireless communication channels. This intermediary function enables real-time data transmission during flight while maintaining the stability and reliability of the original wired data-bus architecture.
2Productivity
If wireless communication is implemented for real-time data transmission, then proactive maintenance capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The smart controller is designed as a multi-functional device that performs both traditional wired data-bus communication and wireless communication functions. By making the controller universal and capable of handling multiple communication protocols simultaneously, the patent avoids adding separate dedicated wireless hardware, thereby reducing the overall increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables ground-based systems to autonomously analyze aircraft health data in real-time and generate maintenance decisions without requiring physical inspection or intervention during flight. This self-service capability allows proactive maintenance while keeping the onboard hardware complexity minimal.
3Loss of time
If comprehensive aircraft health data is transmitted in real-time, then decision-making speed is improved, but data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and transmits only the most critical and relevant aircraft health parameters in real-time through wireless channels, rather than transmitting all available sensor data. This selective extraction approach enables fast decision-making with reduced data processing requirements on both onboard and ground systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data filtering, aggregation, and prioritization onboard before transmission. By pre-processing the data to identify and highlight critical health parameters ahead of time, the patent reduces the volume of data requiring immediate processing during flight operations, thereby enabling faster decision-making with lower computational burden.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of the disclosure provide an aircraft health monitoring system having an in-flight controller. The controller is configured to, responsive to a determination that an aircraft is in-flight, access a sensor network system of the aircraft to generate in-flight system health (IFSH) information. A transmission operation is initiated that transmits the IFSH information through a wireless communications path to a ground-based flight monitoring system. The ground-based flight monitoring system is operable to initiate an aircraft management operation associated with the aircraft.