Apparatus for electric aircraft communication
In an aspect an apparatus for electric aircraft communication is presented. An apparatus includes a first networking component installed on a first electric aircraft. An apparatus includes at least a processor communicatively connected to a first networking component. An apparatus includes a memory communicatively connected to at least a processor. A memory contains instructions configuring at least a processor to configure a first networking component to establish a communicative connection between the first networking component and a second networking component as a function of a communication criterion. At least a processor is configured to communicate aircraft data through a communicative connection.
1 . A manned electric aircraft, comprising:
a first networking component configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves;
a first sensor configured to detect a communication parameter associated with signal transmission;
a second sensor configured to detect aircraft data associated with the manned electric aircraft or a flight of the manned electric aircraft;
at least a processor installed on the manned electric aircraft and communicatively connected to the first networking component, the first sensor, and the second sensor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:
receiving, from each of a plurality of candidate network nodes, a metric quantifying a current performance capacity, wherein each candidate node of the plurality of candidate network nodes is ground based;
in response to receiving the metrics, determining a performance capacity for each candidate node based on the respective metric;
selecting a candidate network node of the plurality of candidate network nodes as a selected network node based on the determined performance capacities and a selection criterion, and the communication parameter;
establishing, via the selected network node, a communicative connection between the first networking component and a second networking component, wherein the second networking component is a device, external to the manned electric aircraft, capable of sending and receiving data; and
sending the aircraft data to the second networking component using the communicative connection.
2 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the second networking component is a component of a second aircraft.
3 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein selecting the selected network node includes applying an objective function configured to optimize the communicative connection using an optimization criterion relating the determined performance capacities and the selection criterion.
4 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the selected network node is selected from a plurality of candidate ground-based network nodes of an avionic mesh network.
5 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein determining the performance capacity includes generating a connection quality score for each of the plurality of candidate network nodes by applying an objective function to the received metrics, and
the selection criterion includes identifying a candidate ground-based network node having a connection quality score that satisfies a predetermined threshold.
6 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the metrics link through the respective candidate node.
7 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 6 , wherein the metric includes at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio, a latency, a packet loss rate, or a current data throughput associated with the respective candidate node.
8 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft data includes one or more parameters indicating an operational status of the manned aircraft or a component thereof.
9 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 8 , wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of battery health data, battery state of charge data, flight plan data, or flight component health data.
10 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the selection criterion includes an operational status of a battery of the manned electric aircraft, and wherein determining the performance capacity further includes adjusting a power consumption profile for the communicative connection based on the operational status.
11 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the selection criterion includes a flight plan of the manned electric aircraft, and wherein determining the performance capacity further includes identifying one or more nodes of the plurality of candidate network nodes situated along a projected trajectory of the flight plan.
12 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein determining the performance capacity includes applying a plurality of weights to the received metrics, and wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the plurality of weights based on the determined performance capacity of a currently selected network node.
13 . The manned electric aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of candidate network nodes includes at least one node of a mesh network, and wherein determining the performance capacity includes calculating a multi-hop latency for the at least one node of the mesh network.
14 . A method comprising:
detecting a communication parameter associated with signal transmission related to a manned electric aircraft and aircraft data associated with the manned electric aircraft or a flight associated with the manned electric aircraft, the manned electric aircraft having a first networking component configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves;
receiving, from each of a plurality of candidate ground-based network nodes, a metric quantifying a current performance capacity, wherein each candidate node of the plurality of candidate network nodes is ground based;
in response to receiving the metrics, determining a performance capacity for each candidate node based on the respective metric;
selecting a candidate network node of the plurality of candidate network nodes as a selected network node based on the determined performance capacities and a selection criterion;
establishing, via the selected network node, a communicative connection between the first networking component and a second networking component, wherein the second networking component is a device, external to the manned electric aircraft, capable of sending and receiving data; and
sending the aircraft data to the second networking component using the communicative connection.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the second networking component is a component of a second aircraft.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein determining the performance capacity includes generating a connection quality score for each of the plurality of candidate ground based network nodes by applying an objective function to the received metrics, and
the selection criterion includes identifying a candidate ground-based network node having a connection quality score that satisfies a predetermined threshold.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the metrics link through the respective candidate node.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the metric includes at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio, a latency, a packet loss rate, or a current data throughput associated with the respective candidate node.
19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the aircraft data includes one or more parameters indicating an operational status of the manned aircraft or a component thereof.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of battery health data, battery state of charge data, flight plan data, or flight component health data.