Flight Data Integrity Verification via Dissimilar Format Duplication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for transferring flight data from aircraft to the ground are prone to corruption, which can lead to erroneous information and safety risks due to the lack of guaranteed integrity, especially for critical safety impact data, as they rely on design assurance levels that do not ensure the absence of catastrophic failures in avionics systems and ground processing equipment.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that record flight data in both digital and additional dissimilar formats, allowing for comparison on the ground to detect corruption, using cyclic redundancy check coding and standard operating systems like WINDOWS, to ensure the integrity of safety-critical data during transfer and processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If flight data is transferred electronically to ground scrutinizing means, then data availability for analysis is improved, but data integrity is worsened due to potential corruption during transfer and processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a duplicate copy of the flight data in a different format (additional data) that is independently processed on the ground. This copy serves as a verification reference to detect any corruption that may have occurred during the transfer or processing of the original digital data, thus maintaining data integrity while preserving availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the additional data is compared with the processed digital data to detect discrepancies. This comparison provides feedback about data integrity status, allowing the system to identify and report corrupted data without affecting the availability of the original data for analysis.
2Measurement precision
If pilot confirmation is required for each flight data item, then data accuracy is improved, but operational efficiency is worsened due to additional checking requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-verification of data integrity through the automatic comparison of digital data with additional data in different formats. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for manual pilot confirmation while maintaining data accuracy, as the system independently detects and reports any inconsistencies or corruptions in the flight data.
3Reliability
If design assurance levels DAL A, B, C are applied to avionics systems, then flight safety is improved, but system complexity is worsened due to stringent design rules and failure mode analysis
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the flight data into multiple formats (digital format and additional dissimilar format) that can be independently processed and verified. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high reliability through redundancy while reducing the complexity of individual components, as each segment can be processed independently without requiring complex integrated failure mode analysis across the entire system.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of transferring and processing flight data of an aircraft including recording the aircraft flight data in an onboard avionics system in a digital format so as to obtain digital data, the flight data including safety impact flight data and flight data having no recognized effect on safety. The method further includes recording at least the safety impact flight data in the onboard avionics system in an additional format dissimilar to the digital format so as to obtain additional flight data, storing the digital data and the additional flight data separately, transferring the digital data and the additional flight data to a monitoring computer on the ground, displaying the digital data on a screen in the form of display digital data, and transferring the digital data and the additional flight data to a complementary interpretation unit so as to generate one of display data and print data relating to the additional flight data.