Patent Publication Number: US-2003234862-A1

Title: Aircraft mounted video recording system

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention relates to an aircraft mounted video recording system.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] Aircraft mounted video recording systems are used for a wide variety of applications. They are used by military, police and news organizations for aerial surveillance. They are used by the film industry in the making of films. They are used by the petroleum and mining industries for aerial surveying and inspection. They are used by environmental and conservation agencies for monitoring wildlife populations. In view of the unfortunate events relating to the September 11th, attack on the World Trade Center, there will increasingly be on board cameras monitoring the activities of passengers on passenger aircraft.  
       [0003] At the present time, the weak link in such aircraft mounted video recording systems is the storage medium. Video recorders are currently viewed as being the best available technology to record video output. In some applications, video output is communicated through wireless communication or via satellite to a computer positioned at a remote ground station. Generally, computers are not positioned on board aircraft to store video output. The reason for this is that the computers which are commonly used in our homes and businesses are too sensitive to the gravitational forces and vibration acting upon the aircraft. In some applications, such as flying at over a hundred miles per hour aerial mapping with infrared cameras looking for defects in pipelines, a further problem encountered is that the data stream is too fast and there is too much data for a computer to handle the data. In other applications problems are encountered due to the fact that computers are relatively temperature sensitive and will not operate properly in environments which are either too hot or too cold. A final problem, is the size and power requirements of computers that might be capable of handling the speed and volume of data, assuming that such computers could be isolated from gravitational forces and vibration.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] What is required is a more reliable aircraft mounted video recording system.  
       [0005] According to the present invention there is provided an aircraft mounted video recording system which includes, in combination, an aircraft and at least one video camera secured to the aircraft. A solid state storage unit is provided having a storage capacity of at least 5 gigabytes of uncompressed data. The solid state storage unit is mounted within the aircraft and receives data from the at least one video camera.  
       [0006] The aircraft mounted video recording system, as described above, represents an advance in the art. It s solid state storage units are not sensitive to gravitational forces or vibration. It operates through a relatively wide temperature range, as compared to computers we currently use for our homes and our businesses. It accepts a faster data stream. A trade off must be made between weight and storage capacity. A storage capacity of at least 5 gigabytes of uncompressed data is viewed as being necessary for this application. It is recognized that as data compression techniques improve that 5 gigabytes of uncompressed data may be stored in a compressed format.  
       [0007] Although beneficial results may be obtained through the use of the system, as described above, even more beneficial results may be obtained when a dedicated power supply is provided, separate and distinct from the electrical system of the aircraft, for supplying power to the solid state storage unit. The dedicated power supply is provided so as not to interfere with the electrical system of the aircraft. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0008] These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:  
     [0009]FIG. 1 is a top plan view, in section, of an aircraft mounted video recording system constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.  
     [0010]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the aircraft mounted video recording system illustrated in FIG. 1.  
     [0011]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the aircraft mounted video recording system with a security camera mounted inside a passenger compartment. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0012] The preferred embodiment, an aircraft mounted video recording system generally identified by reference numeral  10 , will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3.  
     [0013] Structure and Relationship of Parts:  
     [0014] Aircraft mounted video recording system  10  includes an aircraft  12  having an electrical system, which is represented by wires  14 . Video cameras  16  are secured to aircraft  12 . Video cameras  16  are shown as being mounted externally, as would be the case with an aerial mapping or surveillance application. It will be appreciated that video cameras  16  could be mounted within aircraft  12  to monitor passengers or cargo, as will hereinafter be further described. A solid state storage unit  18  is provided. Solid state storage unit  18  has a storage capacity of at least 5 gigabytes of uncompressed data for this application, in view of the quantity and speed of the data stream. It is preferred that the storage capacity be over 30 gigabytes of uncompressed data. The storage capacity is expressed in terms of uncompressed data. It is will be appreciated that the equivalent amount of data could be stored using data compression. Solid state storage unit  18  is mounted within aircraft  12  and receives data from video cameras  16  via input cables  20 . A dedicated power supply  22  is provided. Power supply  22  is separate and distinct from electrical system  14  of aircraft  12 . Power supply  22  supplies power via power cable  24  to solid state storage unit  18 . Referring to FIG. 2, it is preferred that a display monitor  19  be provided to enable members of the flight crew to monitor the images being captured.  
     [0015] Operation:  
     [0016] The use and operation of aircraft mounted video recording system  10  will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3. Referring to FIG. 1, aircraft  12  flies over a ground area  26 . Video cameras  16  take video images of ground area  26 . The video images are communicated via input cables  20  to solid state storage unit  18 . The power that solid state storage unit  18  requires to operate is supplied by power supply  22  via power cable  24 . Referring to FIG. 2, members of flight crew can monitor the images being captured.  
     [0017] Variations:  
     [0018] Referring to FIG. 3, as an anti-terrorist measure it may be desirable to position camera  16  within the passenger compartment of the aircraft. Camera  16  is mounted on tracks  50 . It is moved by a drive motor  52  along tracks  50 . A further drive motor  54  is provided to facilitate angular positioning of camera  16 . A hand controller  56  is provided to enable members of the flight crew to activate drive motor  52  to move camera  16  along tracks  50  and to activate drive motor  54  to angularly position camera  16  up or down and side to side. The focus functions of camera  16  are also controlled through hand controller  56 . As before, solid state storage unit  18  is provided which receives data from video cameras  16  via input cables  20  and a display monitor  19  is provided to enable members of the flight crew to monitor the images being captured. It is envisaged that an on board interface unit  58  will be provided through which the various components of the system are controlled. In addition, all data can be sent to ground based security personnel via a microwave transmitter  60 . In the event of an incident on the aircraft, a ground based control panel  62  can take over operation of the various components of the system, such as control over the positioning of camera  16  via duplicate over-riding controls.  
     [0019] In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.  
     [0020] It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.