Intelligent Crew Alerting System Root Cause Consolidation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional crew alerting systems in aircraft generate excessive and complex alert messages, increasing the workload for flight crews and requiring them to interpret alphanumeric codes and manage responses, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A crew alerting system that processes alert data to determine the originating cause of alerts and presents this information in a human-understandable format, using an alert model database to correlate root causes with alerts across multiple subsystems, thereby reducing clutter and providing recommended responses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional crew alerting systems display all individual alert messages from multiple subsystems, then complete information about aircraft status is provided, but flight crew workload increases significantly and response time is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual alert messages from different subsystems that share a common root cause into a single consolidated alert message. This consolidation reduces the number of separate alerts the flight crew must process while preserving all relevant information about the underlying problem, thereby reducing workload without sacrificing information completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer between the subsystems and the flight crew. This intermediary automatically analyzes alert messages, identifies common root causes, and synthesizes consolidated alerts, freeing the flight crew from the complex task of manually correlating multiple alerts while ensuring they receive comprehensive information about aircraft status.
2Measurement precision
If conventional systems display detailed alphanumeric alert codes, then precise diagnostic information is available, but interpretation time increases and crew response is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the alert information into two distinct layers: a consolidated human-readable summary for immediate crew awareness and understanding, and the underlying detailed alphanumeric codes preserved for later reference if needed. This segmentation allows the crew to quickly grasp the essential diagnostic information without being overwhelmed by detailed codes, reducing response time while maintaining diagnostic precision.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of presenting detailed alphanumeric codes first and requiring crew interpretation, the system inverts the presentation order by first providing a consolidated human-readable description of the root cause, then making the detailed codes available for reference. This inversion aligns with how flight crews naturally process information during critical situations.
3Measurement precision
If individual alert messages are processed separately from each subsystem, then subsystem-specific accuracy is maintained, but common root causes across multiple subsystems are not identified
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a universal alert processing framework that can handle alert messages from any subsystem while automatically detecting patterns across subsystems. The root cause analysis engine serves multiple functions: it maintains subsystem-specific diagnostic accuracy by analyzing each subsystem's alerts independently, while simultaneously identifying common root causes that affect multiple subsystems, thereby achieving both precision and cross-subsystem adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of managing alerts associated with the operation of an aircraft is provided. The method maintains an alert model database that correlates root causes to alerts associated with onboard aircraft subsystems. During operation of the aircraft, the method receives first alert data indicative of at least one alert of a first onboard aircraft subsystem, and traverses the alert model database to determine a root cause of the first alert data. The root cause (or some indicia thereof) can then be displayed on a display element.