Untitled record

Airborne communications network

Airborne Communication Network

Full description

Background of the invention

This disclosure relates generally to communication networks, and more specifically to an airborne communication network for transport between a number of aircraft.

Aircraft systems use sensors to monitor conditions inside and outside the aircraft. For example, a military aircraft could use sensors that monitor battle conditions. A control tower or other central control station can coordinate the movement of multiple aircraft by monitoring each aircraft's position and providing flight and communication instructions to the aircraft.

General description of the invention

According to one embodiment, an airborne communication network includes a node configured on an aircraft having one or more communication devices that communicate using a native communication protocol. The node includes an information conversion system that receives information formatted according to a native communication protocol from communication devices, combines the information into groups according to a common communication protocol, and stores the groups in a mass storage device. The clusters can then be deployed for reception by other nodes configured on the other plane. The information transfer system can also share groups stored in nodes of other aircraft.

Some detection models can provide several technical advantages. For example, an airborne communication network includes nodes that automatically exchange knowledge between multiple airborne systems. Each node includes a digital data exchange infrastructure that provides machine-to-machine (M2M) communication for automated information generation. Nodes, along with massive information storage devices, can automatically exchange information for time-sensitive operations, such as time-critical target maneuvers.

Some models may benefit from some features, none of them, or all of them. Other technical advantages can be easily ascertained by a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Brief explanation of the drawings

A complete understanding of the disclosure forms will appear clearer than the detailed description combined with the attached figures, which include:

Figure 1 is an illustration of an embodiment of an airborne communications network as directed in the present disclosure; And

Figure 2 is a diagram showing one example of a node that can be used with the airborne communication network from Figure 1; And

Figure 3 is a process flow diagram that shows a series of actions that can be performed by each node of the airborne communication network according to Figure 1.

Detailed description

Aircraft often use sensors to monitor their operations and other conditions around the aircraft. Typically, transmission devices associated with these sensors transmit information to a central control station using a “furnace pipe” structure. In general, “oven-pipe” architectures refer to the operating method of communications networks in which nodes readily share information with only one or many component nodes. However, information sharing between multiple aircraft may be difficult to achieve at that time.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of an airborne communications network as directed in the present disclosure.

The airborne communication network 10 includes a number of nodes 12 each configured in an aircraft 14. Each aircraft 14 may contain one or more communication devices 16 that generate information from Sensors 18 carried on board, and user inputs to the aforementioned 16 communication devices, or other onboard or remote sources. Nodes 12 may also be configured in other devices, such as satellites 20 or ground-based stations 22, which communicate with the aircraft 14. In certain embodiments, each node 12 includes information generated by communications devices 16 In a common communication protocol, information is stored, and information about the use of the other 14 aircraft is disseminated.

The 14 planes can coordinate with each other for any suitable reason. For example, 14 different types of aircraft can coordinate with each other during a military operation. In certain embodiments, the aircraft 14 may transmit information using a native protocol different from that used by the other aircraft 14. For example, the aircraft 14 can communicate information using the Terrestrial Radio Frequency (T_RF) protocol. 16 satellites can use the space radio frequency (space_RF) protocol. Ground-based stations can use 18 terrestrial radio frequency (T_RF) or unidirectional radio frequency (U_RF) protocols. Each node 12 contains the information and its related protocol in a form that can be read by aircraft 14 or other devices, such as satellites 20 or ground-based stations 22.

Node 12 transmits the information via any appropriate protocol that is readable by other nodes 14. In one embodiment, node 12 encapsulates the information in one or more message sets containing an extensible markup language (XML) protocol and transmits said message sets between node 12 using an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network. In another embodiment, node 12 includes pass-through information, such as standard audio data, standard audio data, digital audio data, or image data, in chunks with multimedia content that can be transmitted over an IPv6 network. Examples of multimedia content group formats suitable for this purpose include Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) or digital video broadcasting (DVB).

Node 12 of the airborne communication network 10 can be applied to any suitable type of aircraft. In the particular embodiment shown, the aircraft 14 is a military aircraft. Other examples of aircraft 14 include commercial aircraft that may share information between each other, such as weather information.

In one embodiment, the airborne communication network 10 may form part of a Global Information Grid (GIG). To enhance information sharing among member organizations, the US Department of Defense (DOD) developed the Global Information Processing Network. The global information network is associated with a set of information processing capabilities, associated operations, and a working group responsible for managing information among its military departments. Nodes 12 can receive information from the global information network, integrate this information into a common communication protocol, and disseminate the combined groups to other configured nodes 12 in an airborne communication network 10.

Figure 2 is a box diagram showing an example of node 12 that could be used with an airborne communications network 10 of Figure 1. Node 12 includes an information conversion system 26, a mass storage device 28, an ontology combining engine 30, a message-oriented middleware (MOM) infrastructure 32, and a service-oriented architecture infrastructure. Service oriented architecture (SOA) 34 that can be stored in memory 36 and executed by a processor 38 node 12.

The information conversion system 26 receives information from communication devices 16 and integrates the received information into a general communication protocol, such as the XML protocol. The information conversion system 26 also extracts the combined information from message or multimedia content for use by communication devices 16 that use the original protocol. Examples of information incorporated by the information conversion system 26 may include Internet Protocol (IP) data sets, data transmitted over computer bus protocols, data transmitted over sensor-specific protocols, high definition television information. (HDTV), analog voice data, and/or digital voice data.

The combined collections 40 of the information conversion system 26 may be stored in a mass storage device 28. In one embodiment, the mass storage device 28 includes a federated database. Each of the groups 40 is associated with a metadata record 42 generated by the ontology combining engine 30. Each metadata record 42 includes summary information associated with its group 40. In one embodiment, the intermediate data records 42 include security information data tags for implementing multiple independent level of security (MILS). Thus, users of the airborne communication network 10 may have restricted access to the groups 40 depending on the authorization level.

The ontology combining engine 30 organizes groups 40 stored in a mass storage device 28 according to a specific ontology, which may include one or more classifications. In one embodiment, the ontology combining engine 30 organizes collections 40 by generating an associated metadata record according to a specified ontology structure. For example, the information conversion system 26 may receive information that includes several features of a specific location associated with a specific target. The ontology merging engine 30 can then generate a metadata record 42 that includes the features of the site that are organized according to the ontology structure.

In one embodiment, the ontology fusion engine 30 can filter the received information according to the specified ontology structure. For example, information conversion system 26 may receive information associated with a particular location that may be outside the scope of the ontology. Information can be removed from a mass storage device 28 because it is no longer needed.

Message oriented middleware infrastructure 32 provides asynchronous communication of message or multimedia content with nodes 12 in an airborne communication network 10. Message oriented middleware infrastructure 32 includes a machine-to-machine (M2M) mechanism ) which provides information sharing between 12 nodes of the airborne communication network 10. In one embodiment, a message-oriented middleware infrastructure 32 includes a Java messaging service portion Java messaging service (JMS) 44 that provides technology for issuing requests to groups of other nodes 12. In another embodiment, a message-oriented middleware infrastructure 32 includes a data distribution service (DDS) portion 46 that provides access to information that has been combined using a publish/subscribe model.

Service oriented architecture infrastructure 34 provides a web services gateway from clusters 40 to other nodes 12 in an airborne communication network 10. In one embodiment, the service oriented architecture infrastructure 34 performs a discovery process to detect nodes 12 Other potentials and/or capabilities that could be associated with each node 12. For example, the service oriented architecture infrastructure 34 may perform a discovery process to determine which communication devices 16 are available and configured on other nodes 12 or remotely on the global information network. Once the available 16 contact methods are identified, they can be prompted to retrieve useful information. Using the service-oriented architecture infrastructure 34, access to the clusters 40 can be provided in accordance with specified service level agreements (SLAs), qualities of service (QoS), and/or classification of service standards to meet a specified level of data latency. .

Certain embodiments of an airborne communication network 10 comprise an infrastructure of service-oriented architecture 34 that can provide a feature such that nodes 12 can communicate with each other using a network type architecture. In this architecture, failure of node 12 or the communication path between any two nodes 12 may not necessarily cause loss of connectivity to other member nodes 12. For example, if a communication path is temporarily broken between adjacent nodes 12, a service-oriented architecture infrastructure 34 can redirect the communication through other nodes 12 in an airborne communication network 10.

Modifications, additions, or deletions may be made to the airborne communication system 10 without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The components of an airborne communication system 10 can be integrated or separate. For example, information conversion system 26, ontology combining engine 30, message oriented middleware infrastructure 32, and/or service-oriented architecture 34 may be implemented on the same system. Computation or can be implemented on different computation systems and connected to each other over a network. In addition, operations of an airborne communications system 10 may be performed by more, fewer, or other components. For example, a database system may be implemented at each node 12 to facilitate the organization of clusters 40 and associated metadata records 42 into a mass storage device 28. Additionally, information conversion system operations 26, integration engine ontology 30, message oriented middleware infrastructure 32, and/or service oriented architecture (SOA) 34 can be implemented Using any appropriate logic including software, hardware, and/or other logic. As used in the present application, each refers to each member of a group or each member of a subgroup of the group.

Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a series of commands that can be performed by each node 12 in the airborne communication network 10 of Figure 1. In action 100, the process is initiated.

In procedure 102, node 12 receives information from a communication device 16. The communication device 16 may be configured on board its associated aircraft 14 or configured remotely on a device, such as a satellite 20 or a ground-based station 22 In one embodiment, information is received from the World Wide Web.

In procedure 104, the information received is combined into one or more groups 40 comprising a common communication protocol that is readable by other nodes 12 configured in an airborne communication network 10. In one embodiment, the information is combined without extracting the information from its existing original protocol. In this way, access delay can be reduced by preserving the original existing protocol for the information. In one embodiment, the information can be embedded into an XML data stream and transmitted over the network using the IPv6 protocol. In another embodiment, the information flow may be integrated into multimedia content packages, such as the voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), motion picture experts group (MPEG) protocol, or digital video broadcasting protocol. (DVB) protocol.

In procedure 106, the ontology combining engine 30 may generate metadata according to the information received and store it as a metadata record 42 in a mass storage device 28. Node 12 may classify a metadata record 42 according to the ontology structure Specific. Using this ontology, messages can be associated with other messages with similar features. In one embodiment, the ontology merging engine 30 can filter received unclassified information according to any classification available in the ontology such that only information that falls within the scope of the ontology is retained in a mass storage device 28.

In procedure 108, groups 40 and associated intermediate data records 42 are stored in a mass storage device 28. In one embodiment, mass storage devices 28 are configured on each of the 12 nodes of an airborne communication network 10 comprising a federated database which In it, part of the information is stored in each of them and becomes available to the other 12 nodes.

In procedure 110, a service-oriented architecture infrastructure 34 disseminates messages for use by other nodes 12 in an airborne communication network 10 and shares collections that are stored in the other nodes 12. Intermediate data records 42 form a catalog discoverable by a service-oriented architecture infrastructure 34. For example, the subscribing node 12 can record the reception of collections 40 that have similar features in the ontology. Thus, when the set 40 has that particular feature stored in a mass storage device 28, a service-oriented architecture infrastructure 34 can automatically move the set 40 and/or its associated metadata record 42 to the shared node 12 for use.

In one embodiment, the request can be issued using the Java messaging service portion 44 of a single node 12 and the request can be responded to using the data distribution service portion 46 of a message oriented middleware infrastructure 32. The Java Messaging Service portion 44 provides efficient handling of independent requests while the Data Distribution Service portion 46 provides controlled delay for the response. Thus, the combination of the Java messaging service portion 44 and the data distribution service portion 46 can provide sufficient quality of service and classification of service variables for use with time-critical actions, such as targeting maneuvers that may depend on timely access to information in the set 40.

Modifications, additions, or deletions may be made to the airborne communications system 10 without departing from the detection range.

The method can include more, fewer, or other procedures. For example, the service vector architecture 34 can include a mechanism for translating information such as geographic coordinates to that used by the aircraft 14.

That is, the information received can include the coordinates of the particular target determined according to World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) data.

The aircraft's various systems, however, can be configured to use the coordinates specified according to North American Datum 1983 (NAD83) data.

When accessed, the service vector architecture infrastructure 34 may implement a global network service that automatically translates coordinate system information from WGS84 data into NAD83 data for use by various aircraft systems 14.

Although detection has been described in terms of specific embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that variations and permutations of the embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the description of the foregoing embodiments does not limit this disclosure. Changes, substitutions, and other changes may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of this disclosure, as determined by the following safeguards.