Systems and methods for synchronizing various types of data on a single packet

1. A method for synchronizing data of a plurality of different data types on a single packet, comprising:

receiving said data by an electronic circuit of a data recorder;

receiving, by said electronic circuit, an audio frame containing voice data and timing data communicated over a plurality of channels;

in response to the reception of said audio frame, generating a combined packet using said audio frame and at least a portion of said data; and

storing, substantially simultaneously, said combined packet in a primary data store and a secondary data store of said data recorder for subsequent use in reconstructing events leading up to a crash of a land vehicle, aircraft or vessel;

wherein said audio frame and said portion of data are time synchronized to each other on said combined packet.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said data comprises at least one of data link data, flight data and image/video data.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of channels comprises a cockpit channel and a plurality of pilot channels.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said combined packet is generated by encapsulating a packet payload with a packet header including a common clock time tag.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said packet header comprises information specifying at least one of said plurality of different data types, a current power up counter value, a packet number from a last power up, a number of milliseconds since a last time tag generation, a size of said audio frame, and a size of each type of data which has been buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said packet header comprises at least one of rotor speed data, Greenwich mean time data, data specifying a time of a last erasure of memory, and/or data specifying a data rate of inputs to said data recorder.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said packet payload comprises said audio frame and said portion of said data.

8. The method according to claim 4 , where said portion of data comprises data link and timing data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, flight and timing data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, and an “N” millisecond fraction of a video frame defined by image/video and timing data buffered by said data recorder.

9. A method for synchronizing data of a plurality of different data types on a single packet, comprising:

receiving said data by an electronic circuit of a data recorder;

storing said data in a buffer of said data recorder;

receiving, by said electronic circuit, an audio frame containing voice data and timing data communicated over a plurality of channels;

in response to the reception of said audio frame, generating a combined packet using said audio frame and at least a portion of said data stored in said buffer, wherein said audio frame and said portion of data are time synchronized to each other on said combined packet; and

storing, substantially simultaneously, said combined packet in a primary data store and a secondary data store of said data recorder for subsequent use in reconstructing events leading up to a crash of a land vehicle, aircraft or vessel;

wherein said portion of data comprises data link data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, flight data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, and an “N” millisecond fraction of a video frame defined by image/video data buffered by said data recorder.

10. The data recorder according to claim 9 , said plurality of channels comprises a cockpit channel and a plurality of pilot channels.

11. A data recorder, comprising:

an electronic circuit configured to

receive data of a plurality of different data types,

receive an audio frame containing voice data and timing data communicated over a plurality of channels,

generate a combined packet in response to the reception of said audio frame, said combined packet generated using said audio frame and at least a portion of said data, and

substantially simultaneously store said combined packet in a primary data store and a secondary data store of said data recorder for subsequent use in reconstructing events leading up to a crash of a land vehicle, aircraft or vessel;

wherein said audio frame and said portion of data are time synchronized to each other on said combined packet.

12. The data recorder according to claim 11 , wherein said data comprises at least one of data link data, flight data and image/video data.

13. The data recorder according to claim 11 , wherein said plurality of channels comprise a cockpit channel and a plurality of pilot channels.

14. The data recorder according to claim 11 , wherein said combined packet is generated by encapsulating a packet payload with a packet header including a common clock time tag.

15. The data recorder according to claim 14 , wherein said packet header comprises information specifying at least one of said plurality of different data types, a current power up counter value, a packet number from a last power up, a number of milliseconds since a last time tag generation, a size of said audio frame, and a size of each type of data which has been buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds.

16. The data recorder according to claim 14 , wherein said packet header comprises at least one of rotor speed data, Greenwich mean time data, data specifying a time of a last erasure of memory, and/or data specifying a data rate of inputs to said data recorder.

17. The data recorder according to claim 14 , wherein said packet payload comprises said audio frame and said portion of said data.

18. The data recorder according to claim 14 , where said portion of data comprises data link and timing data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, flight and timing data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, and an “N” millisecond fraction of a video frame defined by image/video and timing data buffered by said data recorder.

19. A data recorder, comprising:

a buffer; and

an electronic circuit configured to

receive data of a plurality of different data types,

store said data in said buffer;

receive an audio frame containing voice data and timing data communicated over a plurality of channels,

generate a combined packet in response to the reception of said audio frame, said combined packet generated using said audio frame and at least a portion of said data stored in said buffer, and

substantially simultaneously store said combined packet in a primary data store and a secondary data store of said data recorder for subsequent use in reconstructing events leading up to a crash of a land vehicle, aircraft or vessel;

wherein said audio frame and said portion of data are time synchronized to each other on said combined packet; and

wherein said portion of data comprises data link data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, flight data which was buffered by said data recorder during a last “N” milliseconds, and an “N” millisecond fraction of a video frame defined by image/video data buffered by said data recorder.

20. The data recorder according to claim 19 , said plurality of channels comprises a cockpit channel and a plurality of pilot channels.