Light monitoring system and method for operating same

1. A method for monitoring the operating state of a lighting system, comprising:

acquiring test data from a plurality of operating components of the lighting system at a plurality of different operating states of the lighting system, whereby a set of test data is acquired for each operating state of the lighting system;

constructing a model of the lighting system using said plurality of test data sets;

acquiring runtime data from the lighting system; and

applying the runtime data to the model of the lighting system, wherein the model of the lighting system is operable to output operating state data responsive to input of operating data, whereby the operating state data indicates an operating health of the lighting system,

wherein the step of acquiring test data includes selecting the plurality of operating components of the lighting system to include an illumination ballast unit comprising a processor, the illumination ballast unit having a first input coupled to a cabin inter communication data system for receiving commands for setting power delivered to at least one of a plurality of light emitting elements, a second input coupled to a power supply for receiving power and an output coupled to the at least one of the plurality of the light emitting elements, and

includes selecting from a group of test data consisting of a command signal supplied to the first input, a current supplied to the second input, a voltage supplied at the second input, a temperature of the processor, a power consumption of the processor, and a temperature of the illumination ballast unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring test data includes selecting the plurality of operating components of the lighting system to include at least one light emitting element and at least one non-light emitting element.

3. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the step of acquiring test data includes selecting the plurality of operating components of the lighting system to include at least one light emitting element, and includes selecting the acquiring test data from the group of test data consisting of a luminescence of the light emitting element, an intensity of the light emitting element, a current supplied to the light emitting element, a voltage developed across the light emitting element, and an operating temperature of the light emitting element.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of acquiring test data includes selecting the operating states of each of the plurality of operating components to comprise at least one normal state and at least one faulty state.

5. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the step of acquiring test data includes selecting the plurality of operating components of the lighting system to comprise at least one light emitting element, and

wherein the step of acquiring runtime data includes selecting runtime data from the group of runtime data consisting of a luminescence of the light emitting element, an intensity of the light emitting element, a current supplied to the light emitting element, a voltage developed across the light emitting element, and an operating temperature of the light emitting element.

6. A method comprising: monitoring an aircraft lighting system using the method of claim 1 .

7. A method for monitoring the operating state of a lighting system, comprising:

acquiring test data from a plurality of operating components of the lighting system at a plurality of different operating states of the lighting system, whereby a set of test data is acquired for each operating state of the lighting system;

constructing a model of the lighting system using said plurality of test data sets;

acquiring runtime data from the lighting system; and

applying the runtime data to the model of the lighting system, wherein the model of the lighting system is operable to output operating state data responsive to input of operating data, whereby the operating state data indicates the operating health of the lighting system,

wherein the step of acquiring test data includes selecting the plurality of operating components of the lighting system to comprise an illumination ballast unit having a first input coupled to a cabin inter communication data system for receiving commands for setting power delivered to at least one of a plurality of light emitting elements, a second input coupled to a power supply for receiving power and an output coupled to the at least one of the

plurality of the light emitting elements, the illumination ballast unit comprising a processor, and

the step of acquiring runtime data includes selecting data from the group of runtime data consisting of a command signal supplied to the first input, a current supplied to the second input, a voltage supplied at the second input, a temperature of the processor, a power consumption of the processor, and a temperature of the illumination ballast unit.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of acquiring runtime data from the lighting system includes acquiring runtime data at a predefined time interval.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of acquiring runtime data from the lighting system includes acquiring runtime data from the lighting system upon sensing a predefined operating condition.

10. A system operable to monitor an operating health of a lighting system having a plurality of operating components, the system comprising: a plurality of sensors operable to acquire data from the plurality of operating components; and

a processor coupled to the plurality of the sensors, the processor operable to acquire test data from the plurality of sensors and operable to construct a model of the lighting system using the acquired test data, the processor further operable to acquire runtime data of the lighting system from sensors, and to output operating state data indicating the operating health of the lighting system responsive to acquiring the runtime data of the lighting system, wherein the plurality of operating components of the lighting system include an illumination ballast unit comprising a processor, the illumination ballast unit having a first input coupled to a cabin inter communication data system for receiving a command signal for setting power delivered to at least one of a plurality of light emitting elements, a second input coupled to a power supply for receiving power and an output coupled to the at least one of the plurality of the light emitting elements, the acquired test data consisting of test data selected from the group of test data consisting of the command signal supplied to the first input, a current supplied to the second input, a voltage supplied at the second input, a temperature of the processor, a power consumption of the processor, and a temperature of the illumination ballast unit,

whereby a set of test data is acquired for each operating state.

11. The system of claim 10 ,

wherein the plurality of operating components of the lighting system monitored by the system includes at least one light emitting element and an illumination ballast unit, the illumination ballast unit having a first input coupled to a cabin inter communication data system for receiving commands for setting power delivered to at least one of a plurality of light emitting elements, a second input coupled to a power supply for receiving power and an output coupled to the at least one of the plurality of the light emitting elements, and

wherein the plurality of sensors are operable to sense runtime data selected from the group of data consisting of a luminescence of the light emitting element, an intensity of the light emitting element, a current supplied to the light emitting element, a voltage developed across the light emitting element, an operating temperature of the light emitting element, a command signal supplied to the first input, a voltage supplied to the second input of the illumination ballast unit, a current supplied to the second input of the illumination ballast unit, and the temperature of the illumination ballast unit.

12. An aircraft lighting system, comprising:

at least one light emitting element; and

a monitoring system as claimed in claim 10 .

13. A computer program product, resident on a computer readable medium, for providing instruction code to monitor an operating health of a lighting system having a plurality of operating components, the computer program product comprising:

instruction code to acquire test data from the plurality of operating components at a plurality of different operating states of the lighting system, wherein a plurality of test data sets is acquired for each operating state of the lighting system;

instruction code to construct a model of the lighting system using the plurality of test data sets;

instruction code to acquire runtime data from the lighting system; and

instruction code to apply the runtime data to the model of the lighting system, wherein the model of the lighting system is operable to output operating state data responsive to the input of operating data, whereby the operating state data indicates the operating health of the lighting system, wherein the instruction code of acquiring test data includes selecting the plurality of operating components of the lighting system to include an illumination ballast unit comprising a processor, the illumination ballast unit having a first input coupled to a cabin inter communication data system for receiving commands for setting power delivered to at least one of a plurality of light emitting elements, a second input coupled to a power supply for receiving power and an output coupled to the at least one of the plurality of the light emitting elements, and

includes selecting from a group of test data consisting of a command signal supplied to the first input, a current supplied to the second input, a voltage supplied at the second input, a temperature of the processor, a power consumption of the processor, and a temperature of the illumination ballast unit.