Patent ID: 11881926
Assignee: ROHDE & SCHWARZ GMBH & CO. KG
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. An airborne communication apparatus for or within an aircraft, the airborne communication apparatus comprising:
at least one aircraft radio unit having a transceiver in communication with a ground location and providing a redundant communication link, such that the transceiver is configured to redundantly receive and transmit simultaneously voice over IP, VoIP, communication signals and analogue communication signals based on a same audio signal, the aircraft radio unit further comprising:
an audio interface which is connectable to an audio unit for audible communication with a crew member of the aircraft; and
a calculation unit coupled to the transceiver and the audio interface which is configured to:
receive the VoIP communication signals by a transmit radio unit of the transceiver and the analogue communication signals by an IP link of the transceiver simultaneously,
evaluate the received VoIP communication signals with a predefined first criterion related to signal quality;
evaluate the received analogue communication signals with the first criterion;
select, by an evaluation unit of the transceiver, one of the received VoIP communication signals and received analogue communication signals based upon evaluation of the received VoIP communication signals with a first criterion related to signal quality and the evaluation of the received analogue communication signals with the first criterion; and
provide the selected one of the received VoIP communication signals and received analogue communication signals to the crew member of the aircraft in audible form through the audio interface and the audio unit.