Streaming Flight Data-Replace Reliance on Black Box Technology

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Streaming Flight DataCreating An Aerial Central NervousSystem To Save Lives

2009 June 6tags: Airline Safety, Aviation, Communication, FAA,NASA, Technology, Transporation Safetyby Mitch Chester

InthisWeb3.0age,whymustwerelyonshortburstsofdatafromadownedairlinertohelpuspiecetogetherwhathappened

andlearnhowtopreventfuturetragedies?

In the fatal moments before Air France Flight 447 became aviation history, at least 24 automatic messages received at the Air France

operation headquarters in Paris reportedly signaled electrical failure and loss of cabin pressure. Except for these tiny puzzle pieces, a

much wider range of information is contained in the submerged flight data recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR),

otherwise known as black boxes. If ever retrieved from their ocean resting place, it may be too late to learn the secrets within. Black

boxes can be limited in their usefulness, as seen in the AP video (below) about a Qantas mishap in 2008.

The illfated flight emitted the short messages by means of the Aircraft

Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which

transmits digital data to ground stations by satellite or radio signals.The automated signaling system is built upon 1978 technology.

According to AviationWeek.comon June 5, ACARS content only showswhat systems and computers malfunctioned, but theres no

information yet available about what actually happened to important

parameters such as airspeed, altitude or pitch angle during the last few

minutes of the flight.

A race against the calendar is underway by an international team of

investigators, which includes use of a French nuclear submarine, to

find the flight data and voice recorders. They are looking for a pinger

which emits signals to help locate the data units, but the signal may

last only 30 days from the time it starts.

Introduced in the 1950s, flight data recorders have been improved to

a new generation of digital flight data acquisition units. Over time, theFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) has required more data be

captured, such as time, altitude, airspeed, vertical acceleration,

heading, time of radio transmissions, pitch and roll attitude,

longitudinal acceleration, control column or pitch control surface position and engine thrust. Read a history of flight data recorders

and FAA requirements from Boeing.com. To improve recovery of vital information, proposals for deployable FDRs and CVRs, designed

to avoid the impact of the crash, have been made. See National Transportation Safety Board 1999 article by P. Robert Austin. Cockpit

video recorders have also been proposed to enhance safety, but no one is suggesting that such images are available from flight 447.

We have come too far to accept outmoded technology in modern aircraft. As amazing as black box technology has become, the process

of collecting reliable system metrics requires the application of new approaches. Whyshouldfuturelivesdependuponwhetheror

notmarineoperationscanretrievetwoorange(correct,theyarenotblack)unitsfromthebottomofoneofthedeepestsea

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The quest for information from 447 is telling. To be sure, about 4 minutes of limited information was transmitted from the plane as it

descended into the ocean. These bursts of information are just not enough to pinpoint a cause. If short and one dimensional

automated messages can be emitted from an airliner in trouble, why cant airlines deploy multidata systems to emit messages that

wirelessly stream, as events unfold, from a plane in imminent peril? It can be done, and it must.

If this were a perfect world, all commercial airplanes would be constantly streaming data to huge super computers which would

analyze data to look for trends and early warning signs of forthcoming technical and mechanical problems, aircraft by aircraft. It would

be a sort of living history of each plane, its operations and performance. In short, such a system would involve live aviation analytics

instead of the current Twitter approach to short, limited messages that give only a hint as to what transpired.

This is not a new concept. NASA published a report in January, 2000 on a data turbine designed to provide constantly updated

information about an aircraft and its surroundings. Part of the space agencys Aviation Safety Program, the system was designed to

signal when something indicated a potential safety hazard. It was also designed to be one step beyond the traditional black box

technology as it allowed immediate access to information that may or may not be recoverable from a flight data recorder following an

aircraft crash. The system was to be tested in 2001 with a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. This exciting technology has not been

deployed on commercial aircraft, and it is too late for the lost souls on the Airbus A330200 in the Atlantic, which was delivered to Air

France in April, 2005.

The problem, of course, is cost and scale. With thousands of planes with their avionic hearts pulsating in the skies every minute

worldwideit might be considered pie in the sky thinking to implement such a central nervous system of constant virtual flight data

information. Considering how many satellites, data centers, computers, software upgrades would be involved, and how much data

would be streaming, along with the expense of doing so, we need to lower expectations. We can, nonetheless, stillmarkedlyimprovein-flightdatatechnologyformidandpostflightanalysis.Atthesametime,thedatastreamingshouldbetwo-way.

Shockingly,accordingtoonepublishedreportonJune5,theAirFrancecrewhadnowaytoreceivereal-timeweatherdata

fromsatellites.

What if onboard streaming flight and pilot data could be activated by

the crew as soon as a problem manifests itself or at the slightest hint of

a potential concern? It could be broadcast from the aircraft to satellite

and landbased receivers, monitored and recorded in realtime. Such a

system would not be perfect, as it would be dependent upon human

activation and might not capture the proximate cause of the incident.

However, in those situations where the orange boxes were not

recovered the data would provide a much greater wealth of

information than is available when they cannot be found or recovered.

Instead of constantly monitoring of thousands of aircraft, only thoseairplanes in trouble would use this kind of network and

bandwidth. Onboard recorders could still be used, but their captured

data would longer be the sole source of inflight clues of what went

wrong.

Obviously, I am not a flight engineer or an FAA technician. Im just a

passenger who appreciates the opportunities presented by this

terabyte age. We are all familiar with the horrifying stories of

passengers in September, 2001, talking on their cell phones before

their flights tragically ended. They reported what was happening, live,

in crucial minutes. If passengers can report information via cell phone

technology, sophisticated flight decks can do the same at a higher technological level. We can expand on the passenger cell

phone example and integrate collectible flight data into as it happens reporting to convey valuable information about malfunctions

and errors.

IfwecandothiswithGMsOnstar(satellitelinkedsystemforterrestrialvehicles)wecandoitinthetroposphere.Certainly,

wecanmovepastrelianceupon thecollectionofvitalaerial informationstoredonhard to findand limitingboxeswhich

merelyrecordhistoryanddonotaffordproactiveopportunitiestoavoidheartbreakingdisasters.

Black boxes save lives because we learn from them. All we need is the will to develop and deploy a new generation of aircraft reporting

technology. In so doing, we will save countless lives and Air France Flight 447 will leave a legacy of safety improvement for future

generations of crews and passengers.

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