The Boeing Company

Charles Otis Adler

Timothy Allen Murphy

Sheila Ruth Conway

Douglas A Stoll

Jessie Turner

Fadl Ibrahim Khalil

Timothy McNally Mitchell

Timothy Edward Jackson

James C Russell

Steven Mark Walstrom

William R Richards

Ted Eigle

Ricardo Messias Fricks

John Harvey Roberson

Shellini P Dowell

Archibald A Gray

Warren S Ng

Collis M Walker

Scott B Vacknitz

Fadl I Khalil

Ramon L Cuenca

Thomas A Jessett

Jeffrey Kim Cunningham

Matthew Edward Lavelle

Daniel Bruce Holton

Thomas Jose Thalakottur

William Raymond Richards

An avionics unit assembly for an aircraft can include an avionics unit (e.g., an underwater locator device, 'ULD'), and a battery to power the avionics unit. The avionics unit assembly can further include a housing that encases the avionics unit and the battery. The housing includes a vent port for exhausting an emission from the housing during a failure of the avionics unit. The avionics unit assembly can further include one or more of a suppressor that filters the emission, a shield element that is resistant to chemical and/or thermal effects of the emission, and a bracket for mounting the avionics unit to a surface. A method integrating the avionics unit assembly onto a forward aircraft bulkhead at a mount location under an aircraft radome and for manufacturing the avionics unit, and an aircraft including the avionics unit are also described.

Behind the radome mounting system for aircraft avionics equipment

A system and method for autonomous distress tracking of an aircraft. An automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast transceiver is configured to transmit an automatic distress transmission. A system controller comprises a distress identifier that is configured to determine when the aircraft is in a distress condition. The system controller is configured to control the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast transceiver to transmit the automatic distress transmission in response to a determination that the aircraft is in the distress condition. The automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast transceiver and the system controller are contained within a housing attached to the aircraft on an outside of the aircraft.

Autonomous distress tracking using automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast

A method and an apparatus for deploying flight data from an aircraft. A bag is stored in a deflated state on the aircraft. The flight data is stored on a memory device coupled to the bag. The bag is inflated from the deflated state to the inflated state in response to a pressure level greater than a threshold pressure level to deploy the bag with the memory device coupled thereto from the aircraft.

Airbag deployable data recorder for aircraft

An example method for modifying a flight path of an aircraft includes receiving real time positioning estimates for an aircraft, receiving an actual navigation performance (ANP) of the aircraft informative of uncertainty in the position estimate, receiving a required navigation performance (RNP) instrument flight procedure for the aircraft, receiving spacing input from an air traffic controller that indicates spacing requirements between the aircraft and one or more other aircraft, receiving information relating to communities underneath the flight path, calculating, by a system onboard the aircraft, a modification to the flight path to be flown by the aircraft that causes the aircraft to remain within the containment boundaries of the RNP instrument flight procedure while reducing noise impact to the communities underneath the flight path and meeting the spacing requirements of the air traffic controller, and displaying a visual representation of a modified flight path for the aircraft.

Performance-based track variation for aircraft flight management

An aircraft avionics unit that enhances the emergency location capability of existing Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs). This aircraft avionics unit can be integrated with a wide range of existing ELTs and their existing aircraft interfaces by changes to a small number of the signal wires between the ELT and the aircraft systems and the addition of limited inputs from aircraft systems. This system requires no changes to either the current ELTs or the associated aircraft systems. The integrated system maintains the current ELT concept of operations while providing significantly enhanced ELT activation triggering with a low-impact, low-cost approach.

Emergency locator transmitter activation device for enhanced emergency location performance

Aircraft tracking and emergency location avionics architectures that integrate existing fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) installations, their associated aircraft avionics systems and existing flight deck interfaces with an Autonomous Distress Tracker (ADT) transceiver unit in a coupled configuration. Some of the architectures allow the ADT unit and its advanced distress detecting and reporting capabilities to monitor the activation control path for the ELT and the associated ELT activation outputs. Other architectures place the ADT unit and its advanced distress detection capabilities and ground-controlled capabilities in the activation control path for the ELT. Additional architectures entail the connection of an ADT unit to an ELT remote panel on the flight deck of an aircraft.

Integrated interface architecture and control logic for enhanced emergency location functionality

An example method for aircraft traffic spacing and timing control with flight path variation of an aircraft includes receiving information of aircraft traffic for an area, determining an aircraft spacing plan for the aircraft traffic for the area based on spacing requirements due to separation standards or flow management constraints for the aircraft traffic, determining that a modification to a flight path of an aircraft is required to meet a longitudinal spacing requirement between the aircraft and one or more additional aircraft of the aircraft traffic based on the aircraft spacing plan, determining a flight path modification to the flight path for the aircraft based on the modification that causes the aircraft to remain within associated margins of the RNP instrument flight procedure and alters the longitudinal spacing between the aircraft and the additional aircraft of the aircraft traffic, and assigning the flight path modification to the aircraft via a data communication link.

Aircraft traffic spacing and timing control with dynamic flight path variation

An example method for flight path variation of an aircraft for noise management includes receiving noise inquiries of a community related to aircraft noise during flight over the community, receiving an output from noise sensors positioned within the community, determining a noise distribution plan for additional aircraft flying over the community so as to steer the additional aircraft and distribute additional aircraft noise in response to the noise inquiries and the output from the noise sensors, and based on flight path data of the additional aircraft and the noise distribution plan, assigning a flight path modification to aircraft via a data communication link. The flight path modification informs the aircraft to adjust the flight path to remain within associated margins of a required navigation performance (RNP) instrument flight procedure and to reduce noise impact to the community underneath the flight path.

Community noise management with aircraft dynamic path variation

Systems and methods for providing emergency location functionality

A method, apparatus, and aircraft tracker system for reporting state information for an aircraft. A state of the aircraft is identified using sensor data received from an aircraft sensor system in the aircraft. The state information is transmitted at a reporting rate set using the state of the aircraft identified from the sensor data, at least one of a crew command or a ground command when at least one of the crew command is received from a crew interface or the ground command is received from a ground source, and a policy defining priorities for reporting that are based on at least one of the crew command, the ground command, or the state of the aircraft identified from the sensor data.

Controller for an aircraft tracker

Method, system, and computer program product for monitoring vehicle compliance with a vehicle operating instruction provided by a traffic controller. A spoken vehicle operating instruction is translated into a computer-readable instruction that can be used for data entry and/or retrieval. The computer-readable instruction is transformed into an expected vehicle operating trajectory by mapping to a published vehicle procedure or by calculating a trajectory based on provided instructions. The vehicle is monitored as it operates. In the event the monitored operation differs or is forecast to differ from conformance limits associated with the expected trajectory, an alert can be provided.

Method and system to monitor for conformance to a traffic control instruction

A control system for maximizing performance of an electronically scanned, mechanically augmented phased array (MAPA) antenna. In one preferred form, the control system forms a closed loop system which monitors a signal quality of the received signal from a primary signal source such as a primary satellite, and generates motor control signals for controlling a motor used to rotate the MAPA antenna about an axis so as to point the antenna at least slightly away from the primary signal source while electronically steering the antenna to track the primary signal source. The MAPA antenna is positioned so as to maximize the carrier-to-noise-plus-interference (CNI) ratio, and thus minimize the influence of interfering signal sources operating within a coverage region of the MAPA antenna. Open loop control arrangements are also described which make use of look-up tables or assumptions on the positions of interfering signal sources for generating motor control signals to position the MAPA antenna in desired orientations to limit the reception of signals from interfering signal sources.

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Charles Otis Adler