JP3308684B2 - Voice flight data recorder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voice recorder and a flight data recorder mounted on an aircraft, and more particularly to a voice flight data recorder combining both of them.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A large aircraft has a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) called a voice recorder and a data recorder (FDR) of a flight instrument called a flight data recorder for investigating the cause of an accident. : Fl
ight Data Recorder). The voice recorder is a multi-channel recorder that records noise in the cockpit, and communications and conversation voices of the PIC, the FO, and the engineer. The flight data recorder is a recorder that samples and records the instructions of a flight instrument and the detection data of a number of various sensors attached to each part of the aircraft. The recording media of the two recorders use magnetic tapes housed in independent special metal cases so as to withstand strong impacts and high temperatures in the event of an accident such as an airplane crash or fire. The magnetic tape as the above-mentioned recording medium has a vibration resistance of a mechanically movable portion for rotating the tape,
Since the impact resistance is limited and the heat resistance of the magnetic tape is also limited, the flash memory has recently been put to practical use. A flash memory is an improved type of an EEPROM (electrically erasable non-volatile memory) which is a conventional semiconductor memory. The number of times of rewriting is drastically increased, and an electrically erasable type erasable type erasable type. Semiconductor nonvolatile memory, that is, batch erase type EE
PROM. This new flash memory is gaining attention as an alternative to magnetic tapes and floppy disks.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional configuration example and memory contents. The upper part of FIG. 4A is a configuration example of a voice recorder, and the lower part is a configuration example of a flight data recorder. In FIG. 1A, 1 is a voice input unit, 11 is a voice memory control unit, 12 is a voice memory, 2 is a flight data input unit, 13 is a data memory control unit, and 14 is a data memory. In this example, a small-capacity flash memory of 2 Mbit or less is used for the voice memory 12 and the data memory 14, respectively. The voice recorder is configured such that audio signals from a plurality of microphones are input to an audio memory control unit 11 via an audio input unit 1 and written into a predetermined area of an audio memory 12 for each audio channel. Similarly, in the flight data recorder, signals from a plurality of flight instruments and sensors are input to the data memory control unit 13 via the flight data input unit 2, and the data memory 14
Are respectively written in predetermined areas of the data. FIG. 4B is an example of a block configuration of the audio memory 12 and the data memory 14. As the voice memory 12 and the data memory 14, a small-capacity flash memory of 2 Mbit or less is used.
(Central processing unit) software allows erasing in byte units, so writing and erasing do not overlap,
Writing is not waited for. Therefore, audio data,
The flight data is sequentially erased and written in block units from block 0 to block n as shown by arrows,
Returning to the first block 0, it is rewritten repeatedly during the flight.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, since the voice recorder and the flight data recorder are mounted on an airplane as independent devices, the recorded contents are reproduced to analyze the cause of the accident. When recording the voice recorder's playback signal, which is recorded continuously, and the flight data's playback signal, where sampling data is recorded, time matching, i.e., carefully checking the voice data and flight data recording at the same time However, there is a drawback that it takes time because of the skill and is limited to a specialized engineer. In the past, the installation of voice recorders and flight data recorders was mandatory only for large aircraft, but recently small aircraft accidents have occurred frequently, and it is recommended that such aircraft be installed on small aircraft. Became. Therefore, there is a strong demand for miniaturization, and as described above, replacement of a magnetic tape with a semiconductor memory is being studied. However, a shortage of memory capacity is a problem. Further, the two storage media are each housed in a special metal case, so that the volume is large and heavy, so that they cannot be mounted on a small machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and to meet the demands. The voice recorder and the flight data recorder are combined to realize a small size and light weight, and to easily set the recording time. And a combined cockpit voice flight data recorder (SSCVFDR: Solid State Cockpi
t Voice Flight Data Recorder), to provide a voice flight data recorder as a simple name.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A voice flight data recorder according to the present invention comprises a plurality of microphones in a cockpit.
Audio input section for inputting audio data of multiple channels
And multiple types of flight data from flight instruments and sensors
A flight data input to be input and the multi-channel audio
Electrical power storage for storing data and the plurality of types of flight data.
Removable nonvolatile memory, the output of the voice input unit and the
The output of the flight data input section is temporarily stored and
Erasing the memory contents and the temporarily stored latest data
Memory control unit that controls the writing of data
And the memory stores the audio data of the plurality of channels.
An audio memory unit for storing for each channel and the plurality of types of
A flight data memory unit for storing flight data for each type;
And a storage area for each channel of the audio memory unit.
Each storage area for each type of flight data memory
Can be used to block multiple erase or write units.
Having two data tables,
The control section takes in from the voice input section and temporarily
The audio data of the plurality of channels is read out and stored in each channel.
Channel at the same time, the two data
Write to one block and the other to write next
Erase the stored contents of the block
The plurality of types of flights taken from the input unit and temporarily stored
The data is read out and the flight data memory of each type is simultaneously
Write to one block of the two data tables
Write and erase the memory contents of the other block to be written next
And writing to the voice memory unit and the
Synchronize the timing of writing to the flight data memory
And the respective one of the data tables
Writing and erasing the storage contents of the other data table
And control to keep recording by repeating infinitely in turn.
It is characterized by having been constituted as follows.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a description will be given of a process until an embodiment of the present invention is realized. The configuration shown in FIG. 5 is assumed as a method for facilitating the collation of the recording times of the independent recorders shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG.
This is a configuration in which two memory control units are combined. However, the memory has the same area configuration as the conventional one as shown in FIG. 2B, while the same voice memory 12 and data memory 13 as the conventional one remain independent. In this case, since the number of the memory control units 15 is one, the recording time of the voice data and the flight data can be easily adjusted (synchronized), the size can be reduced, and the operation speed of the control unit 15 can be reduced. However, since the recording time of the audio data to be recorded continuously and the recording time of the flight data to store the sampling data are set at the beginning of the production of the equipment, the actual installed There is a drawback that alignment is difficult.

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram (A) showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3B is a configuration example diagram (B) of a memory content. In the figure,
Reference numerals 1 and 2 denote a voice input unit and a flight data input unit which are the same as those in the related art. Reference numeral 3 denotes a memory control unit, and reference numeral 4 denotes a flash memory, which comprises an audio memory unit for storing audio data shown in FIG. 1B and a data memory unit for storing flight data. The flash memory 4 is, for example, a large-capacity flash memory (flash EEPROM) of 4 Mbit to 8 Mbit.

As a condition relating to the configuration of the present invention, it is a technically important matter to satisfy both restrictions on rewriting control of a large-capacity flash memory and special standards of a voice recorder and a flight data recorder. First, restrictions on the flash memory 4 are as follows. (1) Due to the characteristics of a nonvolatile memory, erasing is required when rewriting is performed. (2) The flash memory is composed of a plurality of chips, and the storage area of each chip is divided into a plurality of blocks, and erasing is performed in units of these blocks. However, small-capacity flash memories of 2 Mbit or less are in units of blocks, but there are types in which byte erase is performed by software instead of auto-erase. (3) There is an erasing time that varies depending on the type of flash memory. In the case of block erasing, it usually takes a few seconds to about 10 seconds.
A time of about 5 to 10 ms is required. (4) When an erase or write operation is being performed on one block in the flash memory, a write operation and an erase operation on another block of the chip are prohibited. (5) There are different restrictions on the number of times of erasing the flash memory depending on the type.

The recording conditions of the voice recorder and the flight data recorder are as follows. (1) Voice and flight data for a certain period of time before the power is turned off must be retained. (2) The voice data held by the function of the voice recorder and the flight data held by the function of the flight data recorder must be held in physically divided areas. (3) If the audio data is of a plurality of channels, it must be held in an area physically divided for each channel. (4) Voice data and flight data must be synchronized in time.

As shown in FIG. 1, the flash memory 4
Is one piece of hardware, for example, composed of four chips. As described above, in a large-capacity flash memory, erasing in units of bytes cannot be performed by software, and all bits are collectively erased in units of blocks. Moreover, since erasing and writing cannot be performed simultaneously on the same chip, the audio memory unit and the data memory unit are each composed of two chips as shown in FIG. 1B, and the order of erasing and writing is indicated by arrows in the figure. As shown, the blocks of two chips are alternately accessed. In other words, when writing to a block of one chip, the block to be written next to the other chip is erased. In this way, continuity of data writing is ensured.

Next, the details of the memory control unit 3 for continuously writing and erasing data will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the memory control unit 3 of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart thereof. 2, reference numeral 31 denotes a voice input unit I / F (interface), 32 denotes a flight data input unit I / F, 33 denotes a central processing unit (CPU), 34 denotes a work memory, and 35 denotes a flash memory I / F. In the work memory 34, a buffer (1) for temporarily storing audio data to be continuously recorded and a buffer (2) for sampling flight data and temporarily storing the data until a predetermined storage amount is set. Therefore, when writing flight data to the data memory unit, it is necessary to consider the total writing time of one block. The storage capacities of the buffers (1) and (2) are set according to the number of audio channels, the number of flight instruments, the number of sensors, and the like of the mounted aircraft.

In order to continuously perform writing to the flash memory 4, the relationship between the erasing time of one block and the total writing time of one block is as follows: (erasing time of one block) <(total writing time of one block) Must. If the erase time of one block exceeds the total write time of one block, three or four chips each composed of two chips must be used. The number of the chips can be obtained by the following conditional expression. (Erasing time of one block) <N × (Total writing time of one block) When N in the above equation is a minimum value of a positive integer satisfying the condition of the above equation, (N + 1) or more per type of data In this case, continuity of data writing can be maintained. This can be applied to voice data and flight data in common, and the value of N differs for each type of data. Further, when the audio data has a plurality of channels, the value of N differs for each channel. The operation of the example of the order of writing and erasing in the case of one voice data channel and one kind of flight data shown in FIG. 1B will be described. When the writing of the audio data of FIG. 1B to the block 0 of the chip 1 is started, assuming that (erasing time of one block) ≒ (writing time of one block), when writing to the block 0 of the chip 1 starts, At the same time, erasing of block 0 of chip 2 may be started. In addition, in the case of (one block erase time) = 0.5 × (one block write time), it is sufficient to start erasing block 0 of chip 2 when half of data is written to block 0 of chip 1. Understand. The same applies to flight data.

As described above, when a large-capacity flash memory is used, the minimum number of used chips (N ₀ ) is set so that the relationship between the writing time and the erasing time is always the above. In order to further secure the required recording time, the required total used memory area (M) is obtained, and M ≦ (N ₀ ×
n) By obtaining the minimum integer n that satisfies m 2, the total required number of chips can be determined. Here, m is the memory capacity of one chip. Calculate the required total number of chips for each voice data and flight data by these methods,
The use area in the memory board can be classified. This makes it possible to efficiently allocate the number of memory chips by dividing the memory area for the memory in the same circuit for voice data and flight data, and to configure the common memory board with the minimum number of chips. Can be. Therefore, even if the number of audio channels and the number of recorded data are arbitrarily changed in accordance with the operation mode of the onboard aircraft, the above calculation method allocates the minimum required number of chips for each application and changes the software address control parameters. It is possible to respond only by doing.

The operation flow chart of FIG. 3 shows that the data fetched from the voice input unit 1 and the flight data input unit 2 is temporarily stored in the work memory (buffer) 34, This indicates that the block is erased and the block is permanently circulated.

[0016]

The present invention has the following advantages. (1) The voice recorder and the flight data recorder can be reduced in size and weight at once. (2) Since the stored data can be easily divided physically, the memory capacity can be effectively used. (3) Stable continuous recording using a large-capacity flash memory can be secured. (4) The same memory area can be arbitrarily divided and used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram and a memory content explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial detailed block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional device and an explanatory diagram of memory contents.

5A and 5B are a configuration example diagram and a memory content diagram illustrating the progress of improvement of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 voice input unit 2 flight data input unit 3 memory control unit 4 flash memory 11 voice memory control unit 12 voice memory 13 data memory control unit 14 data memory 15 memory control unit 31 voice input unit I / F 32 flight data input unit I / F 33 CPU 34 Work memory 35 Flash memory I / F

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toru Kikuta 4-7-111 Iidabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside Alpha Electronics Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-7-96897 (JP, A) JP-A-6 JP-A-321195 (JP, A) JP-A-6-247395 (JP, A) JP-A-6-107296 (JP, A) JP-A-6-290064 (JP, A) JP-A-6-70050 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Application Hei 2-17800 (JP, U) Special table 61-501169 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B64D 47/00 G01C 23/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] (1) A plurality of microphones in a cockpit.
An audio input unit for inputting audio data of several channels
Multiple types of flight data from line instruments and sensors are input
A flight data input unit, and the audio data of the plurality of channels.
And electrically erasable to store multiple types of flight data
Nonvolatile memory, the output of the voice input unit and the flight
A memory for temporarily storing an output of the data input unit;
Erase the stored contents and write the latest stored data
And a memory control unit for controlling the audio data of the plurality of channels in each channel.
Voice memory unit for storing data for each
The flight data memory unit stores data for each type.
The storage area and flight data for each channel of the voice memory section
Each of the storage areas for each type of data memory
Having blocks in units of erase or write
The memory control unit receives data from the voice input unit.
Read and temporarily store the audio data of the plurality of channels.
The two channels of the audio memory section are read out simultaneously for each channel.
Write to one block of the data table and then
Erase the memory contents of the other block to be written, and
The above-mentioned duplicate data taken from the flight data input unit and temporarily stored
Read out several types of flight data and fly each type simultaneously
One of the two data tables in the data memory section
Write to lock and write next block to write
Erasing the contents of the memory and writing to the voice memory section.
Of writing and writing to the flight data memory section
The data of the one
Writing to the table and writing the other data table
Recording is continued by infinitely repeating the erasure of the contents
Voice Flight Data Recorder configured to provide control
Order.