Patent ID: 9602187
Date: 2017-03-21
CPC Classifications: B64D,G07C,G08G,H04B

Claim:
1. A method of transmitting flight data from an aircraft to a ground station server using an airborne data processing unit comprising data tables and instruction sets, the method comprising: (a) during operation in a normal state; (b) in response to a pre-defined emergency triggering event, entering a demand state and collecting and transmitting as much flight data recorder data as possible to the ground station server, wherein the rate of data transmission is greater than in the normal state, and wherein the flight data recorder data is not analyzed, but rather simply gathered for transmission; (c) in response to a pre-defined potential emergency or non-emergency triggering event, entering a demand state and creating a flight data file containing data in addition to that transmitted in the normal state and transmitting the flight data file to the ground station server at a greater rate than in the normal state, and wherein the flight data file comprises an aircraft identifier, a date and time, a GPS location, an altitude, and an airspeed, and at least one other flight data relevant to the potential emergency or non-emergency triggering event; and (d) reverting back to the normal state upon the occurrence of a disarm trigger.