bfargin Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I had a student bring up an interesting topic the other day in my graduate level MIS class. We were discussing technology in aviation ( I try to combine my current job of teaching technology and my true love - aviation, when possible) when he asked me why with the advances in technology the black box hadn't been moved and located on the ground (on a server type system) instead of in the aircraft. The technology exists for each aircraft to have a private network connection using satellite or even ground based stations located around the world. All aircraft systems output could be broadcast, voice communication could be captured (internal and external), even passenger cabin voice could be captured. Data storage equipment is becoming cheaper every day and wireless technology is getting cheaper and more capable each day. Any thoughts on how long before or if this will ever happen?? Because of having to broadcast (encrypted if need be) the internal voice recordings from the cockpit, would pilot's groups/unions be opposed to this? Would it be seen as constant "monitoring" by the company since all communications would be recorded and could be monitored at any time with this type of arrangement? Would the initial expense be too great for this to be viable? Thoughts are welcome?!!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearedHot Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfargin Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 CH, Good one. Your predator topic was one we discussed (thanks to the discussions here). But, when it is just data being captured it's not as sophisticated a link required. A back up could still be on the aircraft, but then searching for lost black boxes at the bottom of the ocean wouldn't be required in the event of an accident or sabotage. Longer capture times could be obtained and recorded (kept). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clayton Bigsby Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 ACARS already broadcasts a ton of stuff for airliners...such as the auto-text messages from the Air France A330 to its dispatch. I think a lot of that kind of info is already exchanged, but clearly more could have been sent from the AF plane... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Last Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 ACARS already broadcasts a ton of stuff for airliners...such as the auto-text messages from the Air France A330 to its dispatch. I think a lot of that kind of info is already exchanged, but clearly more could have been sent from the AF plane... We'll be lucky to ever see an updated avionics suite for the 130 much less an always updating black box, which also seems like it would be broadcasting info that my fellow MC/AC brothers don't want anyone knowing about. I'm just sayin cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adam West Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I would seriously doubt any airline adopting this in the near future. The technology exists, but is not in place. Massive amounts of data would be required to be stored remotely and beamed via satellite network (which doesn't yet exist) to gargantuan remote servers on a continuous basis. There are approximately 30000 commercial flights per day. Lots of data, the infrastructure would take years to develop and I would guess hundreds of millions of dollars (building servers/launching a world-wide dedicated satellite network with continuous monitoring). All for a system that would replace a currently working system in an increasingly safe flight environment. Now consider the possibility that during a catastrophic failure of an aircraft, the likelihood of disconnection with a satellite is very good (how many times has your aircraft lost a GPS lock during normal cruise flight?). No uplink = no data sent. ACARS exists, but is MUCH more simplistic. It's just text messaging. Not continuous live voice with dozens of transmitted flight parameters. The traditional black box is a proven method of recording voice and other flight metrics and is usually recovered, in tact, with data. I also doubt airline guys would appreciate their conversations being beamed real-time (albeit possibly encrypted) through the ether, I know I wouldn't. Not sure we'd have a choice, we really don't have one to turn off the CVR; it's just there, but it stays in the cockpit. Bottom line, need drives innovation and change. There simply isn't a need for this expensive and complex solution when a cheaper, proven, and reliable system already exists. I had a student bring up an interesting topic the other day in my graduate level MIS class. We were discussing technology in aviation ( I try to combine my current job of teaching technology and my true love - aviation, when possible) when he asked me why with the advances in technology the black box hadn't been moved and located on the ground (on a server type system) instead of in the aircraft. The technology exists for each aircraft to have a private network connection using satellite or even ground based stations located around the world. All aircraft systems output could be broadcast, voice communication could be captured (internal and external), even passenger cabin voice could be captured. Data storage equipment is becoming cheaper every day and wireless technology is getting cheaper and more capable each day. Any thoughts on how long before or if this will ever happen?? Because of having to broadcast (encrypted if need be) the internal voice recordings from the cockpit, would pilot's groups/unions be opposed to this? Would it be seen as constant "monitoring" by the company since all communications would be recorded and could be monitored at any time with this type of arrangement? Would the initial expense be too great for this to be viable? Thoughts are welcome?!!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I was very disappointed that this thread wasn't about her: Oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hacker Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 That's exactly what airliners need -- a real-time data feed to someone on the ground. Certainly nobody would be looking at that data for violations, right?? It would ONLY be for safety data after an accident, right?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 (edited) I had a student bring up an interesting topic the other day in my graduate level MIS class. We were discussing technology in aviation ( I try to combine my current job of teaching technology and my true love - aviation, when possible) when he asked me why with the advances in technology the black box hadn't been moved and located on the ground (on a server type system) instead of in the aircraft. The technology exists for each aircraft to have a private network connection using satellite or even ground based stations located around the world. All aircraft systems output could be broadcast, voice communication could be captured (internal and external), even passenger cabin voice could be captured. Data storage equipment is becoming cheaper every day and wireless technology is getting cheaper and more capable each day. Any thoughts on how long before or if this will ever happen?? Because of having to broadcast (encrypted if need be) the internal voice recordings from the cockpit, would pilot's groups/unions be opposed to this? Would it be seen as constant "monitoring" by the company since all communications would be recorded and could be monitored at any time with this type of arrangement? Would the initial expense be too great for this to be viable? Thoughts are welcome?!!? Tell this student to call ALPA and ask them why this will never happen. Edited September 28, 2009 by Butters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverTQ Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 My better link Subject: A380 Sucks - FedEx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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