Page 17 - ITU-T Focus Group on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring - Use cases and requirements

ITU-T Focus Group on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring
Use cases and requirements

data, switch and lever position data in the cockpit such as thrust lever position, fuel flow and many more. The
frequency in which individual parameters varies in the range of 0.25 Hz to 20 Hz.

3.2 Quick access recorder (QAR)

QAR, or digital ACMS recorder (DAR), can be any flight data recording device where a removable media can
be easily removed by a technician for subsequent processing and flight data monitoring (FDM) analysis. This
can include acquisition units with built-in personal computer (PC) card slots, or supplementary 4MCU-sized
recording devices/small-sized solid state devices that record data transmitted to it by an acquisition unit. The
nature of QAR recordings is very similar to DFDR recordings, except that there is a variety of proprietary QAR
recording styles, plus QARs can record data that is supplied by ACMS functionality (see ACMS below). The unit
is not designed to withstand a crash.

DFDR and QAR data can both be used for FDM, but QAR data is the predominant source of flight data for
FDM because the removable media is a much more efficient means of flight data removal from the aircraft.
QARs have media, such as magneto-optical disks and Type II Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association (PCMCIA) cards or compact flash cards. In more recent years, devices have been introduced that
automatically transmit recorded flight data at the end of a flight via second/third/fourth generation mobile
network (2G/3G/4G) cellular connections or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) to transfer data to the airline back office.
In addition, aircraft such as Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A350 have no option to fit QAR and virtual QAR
applications within network file servers' record QAR data.

The image below is an example of a view of recorded flight data as generated by GDRAS and could be DFDR
or QAR data. The recorded flight data has previously been transcribed from the DFDR/QAR recording medium
and a selection of recorded parameters are being decoded into engineering units and displayed for scrutiny
by the GDRAS user.

3.3 Aircraft condition monitoring system (ACMS)

In the 1980s, as recorded flight data became more useful to airlines, acquisition unit manufacturers developed
a range of functions (separated from the mandatory flight data record functionality) that allowed airlines to
develop their own airborne applications. The outcome was a suite of functionality that worked on aircraft
parameters in real time on the aircraft, without any regulatory control, for the benefit of the airline.

This custom monitoring and reporting is referred to as aircraft integrated data system (AIDS), airplane
information management system (AIMS), aviation data acquisition system (ADAS), ACMS or airplane condition
monitoring function (ACMF), depending on the system manufacturer and age of the acquisition system. The
outcome of this secondary process (hereafter generically called ACMS in this document) can be made available

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