FR3027017A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MAINTENANCE OF AN ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT OF AN AIRCRAFT - Google Patents

Abstract

There is proposed a method of maintenance of an electronic equipment embedded in an aircraft, comprising the following steps implemented by a maintenance box embedded in the aircraft: reception of a user command issued by ground equipment, generating an electronic equipment management command from the user command, the method being characterized by issuing, by an HTTP server executed by the maintenance box, data for displaying on a GUI terminal terminal screen, the user command being issued in response to the selection of an administration action of the electronic equipment displayed by the test GUI.

Description

The invention relates to the field of systems and methods for implementing maintenance actions on an electronic equipment embedded in an aircraft.

STATE OF THE ART An aircraft must regularly undergo maintenance actions, in particular on its on-board electronic equipment. In order to communicate with an on-board electronic system, it is common to use a Ground Support Equipment (GSE) in the form of a user terminal (eg a PC). This terminal comprises a computer program, referred to in the maintenance program suite, which generates, on manipulation of a user 15 of the terminal, commands intended to administer the on-board electronic system: for example, to display the data stored in the onboard system, the modify, unload them to the ground terminal, trigger the test of an on-board equipment. The commands generated by the maintenance program 20 depend, of course, on the electronic equipment to be administered. Also, this maintenance program must be configured to generate interpretable commands by the aircraft specific equipment (s) to be administered. Furthermore, such a maintenance program must be able to be installed on terminals having various hardware and software configurations (including various operating systems). Also, unless you impose a specific hardware and software configuration specific terminal, it is necessary to adapt the maintenance program: - to different hardware standards, technological developments (for example: maintenance PCs replaced by tablets), 3027017 2 to different operating systems (Windows® XP / Vista / 7, iOS®, Android®, etc.). Regular updates of this program are therefore to be made, which generates significant development efforts. This also requires more complex configuration management of a fleet of maintenance programs. In order to minimize the redevelopment of the maintenance program, it is possible to design it by software layers: a generic high-level layer, independent of the type of terminal, and a low-level interface layer for interfacing with the terminal at the same time. ground. This layer development solution theoretically saves the redevelopment of the high-level layer of the software, but in any case, it remains to redevelop the interface layer of this software. It remains necessary to create as many versions as there are configurations of terminal on the ground (hardware or software). Moreover, it is difficult in practice to isolate a high-level part totally generic.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to allow the implementation of maintenance actions on equipment on board an aircraft, using various ground equipment, while limiting the development costs of the aircraft. program used to implement these maintenance actions.

The invention therefore proposes a method for the maintenance of an electronic equipment embedded in an aircraft, comprising the following steps implemented by a maintenance box on board the aircraft: reception of a user command sent by a device to the aircraft. ground, generating an electronic equipment administration command from the user command, the method being characterized by the transmission, by an HTTP server executed by the maintenance box, of data enabling the user to display on a screen of the terminal on the ground of a graphical administration interface, the user command being issued in response to the selection of an administration action of the electronic equipment displayed by the graphic interface. 'administration. The administration (reading, writing, unloading of data, tests) of the electronic equipment of the aircraft is supported, in the context of the present method, by an on-board box on the aircraft and not by a terminal on the aircraft. soil handled by the user.

A generic internet browser installed in a ground terminal is sufficient to access the on-board administration functions and allow the user to administer the on-board electronic system. Therefore, no specific complex maintenance software needs to be installed in the ground terminal.

In this way, generic user commands can be issued by ground terminals of various hardware configurations, their translation into commands specific to the electronic equipment to be administered being supported by the maintenance box. As a result, the management of a fleet of ground terminals is facilitated. The method according to the invention can also be supplemented by the following features, taken alone or in any of their technically possible combinations: the ground equipment and the maintenance box communicate via a wireless link. The method comprises transmitting administration data between the ground equipment and the equipment to be administered by means of an FTP server executed by the maintenance box. The method comprises a step of attempting to update the generator program, triggered during an initial connection of the ground terminal to the maintenance box. - The attempt to update includes the substeps of: o transmission by the maintenance box of a version number of the generator program to the ground terminal, o transmission by the ground terminal of a request to bet Update 5 includes the version number from a third-party update server, o Downloading a new version of the execution program from the third-party server to the box via the ground terminal in response to the request.

There is also provided a computer program product comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the foregoing method, when this program is executed by a maintenance box embedded in an aircraft.

It is also proposed a maintenance device of an electronic equipment embedded in an aircraft in the form of a maintenance box adapted to be permanently embedded in the aircraft, the housing comprising: - a communication interface with a terminal on the ground, 20 - a program generating electronic equipment administration commands from user commands received by the reception interface, the maintenance device being characterized in that it comprises an HTTP server configured to transmit data for displaying on a screen of the ground terminal of a management graphical interface, the user command being issued in response to the selection of an administration action displayed by the interface administrative graph. Finally, there is provided a maintenance system including such a maintenance device, and a ground terminal comprising a communication interface with the maintenance device, a display screen and an HTTP client. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows, which is purely illustrative and nonlimiting, and which should be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. maintenance system according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 represents steps of a maintenance method implemented by the system illustrated in FIG. 1. In the set of figures, similar elements bear identical references.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, an aircraft A maintenance system comprises a maintenance box 1, and a ground terminal 2. The maintenance box 1 is adapted to be embarked permanently in the aircraft A.

The maintenance box 1 comprises a data processing unit 10, a storage memory 16, a communication interface 12, as well as a test interface 14. The data processing unit 10 is adapted to execute a program The processor unit 10 may typically be one or more processors. The storage memory 16 is adapted to store the maintenance program P as well as configuration data of this maintenance program P, and test results. The storage memory may consist of one or more hard disks, one or more SSDs permanently placed in the maintenance box 3027017 or in the form of a removable key, for example of the USB type. . The communication interface 12 is adapted to communicate with the ground equipment 2, and is connected to the data processing unit 10. The interface 12 may consist of a wireless interface, for example of the Wi-Fi type. As a variant, it is an interface 12 of the Bluetooth® type or a wired interface (Ethernet). The test interface 14 is connected to the data processing unit 10. This interface is also connected to an equipment E of the aircraft, this electronic equipment E being able to be subjected to administration actions by means of a maintenance process which will be detailed below. The interface 14 is adapted to communicate numerically with the electronic equipment E.

The maintenance program P comprises in particular a "web" server adapted to exchange data by means of the HTTP protocol with the terminal on the ground 2. Such a web server is typically implemented for the transmission of graphic data, typically web pages. , to a remote entity such as the ground terminal 2.

The maintenance program P may also include an FTP server, which is an efficient protocol for the exchange of large files. The maintenance program P is also configured to produce requests at the interface 14 for the purpose of administering an electronic equipment E of the aircraft A. The maintenance box 1 may be a stand-alone box specifically dedicated to the implementation maintenance functions. In a variant, the functions of the maintenance box 1 are incorporated in a computer at the driving perimeter of the aircraft A or are incorporated in an avionic system.

The administration functions can be embedded in the target electronic equipment itself (for example a control computer which one wishes to maintain), or on another equipment (for example a dedicated maintenance box, interfaced with target equipment). Subsequently, the second option will be considered: the maintenance box then designates electronic equipment embodying the administration functions.

Furthermore, the ground terminal 2 comprises a communication interface adapted to communicate with the interface 12 of the maintenance box 1 permanently embedded in the aircraft A. The interface of the ground terminal 2 and the interface 12 of the maintenance box 1 are wireless interfaces, for example of the Wi-Fi type.

The ground terminal 2 also includes a display screen 22 as well as input means 21 such as a mouse keyboard or a touch interface. The ground terminal 2 may for example be a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, etc., hardware configurations and various operating systems.

The ground terminal 2 also comprises a communication interface to a public network such as the Internet allowing access to a third party server 3 dedicated to updating the maintenance program P which is stored in the maintenance box 1. For example, the communication interface is the same as that used to communicate with the maintenance box 1. The ground terminal 2 also includes a data processing unit adapted to execute an HTTP client (ie a browser web), this HTTP client being configured to access the HTTP server when the latter is executed by the data processing unit 30 of the maintenance box 1.

The data processing unit may also be adapted to implement an FTP client configured to communicate with the FTP server of the maintenance box 1. The third update server 3 comprises means for storing a message. or multiple versions of the maintenance program, each program being identified by a unique version number. We will now describe a method of maintenance of the equipment E by means of the maintenance box 1 and the terminal to the ground 2, with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 2. The aircraft A, for example a helicopter, located on the ground and close to the ground terminal 2, the ground terminal 2 being manipulated by an operator responsible for administering the electronic equipment E on board the aircraft A. By "administering", for example, means accessing in 15 reading or writing to data stored in the equipment E, unload the data stored in E, trigger tests of the equipment E or equipment connected thereto. The operator establishes a connection by means of the ground terminal 2 to the maintenance box 1. More specifically, the ground terminal 2 transmits to the box 1 a logon request to the HTTP server embedded by the box 1 For example, this session can be secured by requesting authentication. The HTTP server, when executed by the data processing unit 10, issues an access authorization to the HTTP browser executed by the terminal on the ground 2 so that the operator using the terminal 2 can access to the functionalities proposed by the test command program P. The HTTP server transmits 102 to the terminal on the ground 2 graphic data. This graphic data is processed by a browser (web client) so as to display on the display screen 22 of the ground terminal 2 an IF test graphical interface.

3027017 9 This graphical interface IF displays for example data stored in the maintenance box or in the equipment E, available for reading and writing. It also displays a set of operator selectable tests to start testing of the equipment E. When the operator selects a test displayed via the IF GUI 103, a generic user command is issued by the terminal on the ground 2 to the maintenance box 1. It is emphasized here that this command is independent of the hardware or software configuration of the test equipment and is also independent of the hardware and software configuration of the ground terminal 2. This command is based on standard communication protocols between the terminal and the communication box. This generic user command is intended to trigger processing with the maintenance program P which is embedded on the maintenance box 1. The user command is received 104 by reception interface 12 which transfers this user command to the data processing unit 10 which executes the program P.

The program P generates 106 from this user command a test command specifically dedicated to the electronic equipment E. This command generation can be performed for example by reading configuration data associated with the equipment E and These are stored in the storage memory 16 beforehand. Thus, unlike the user command, the test command may be specific to the type of aircraft or to the equipment E being tested. The test command thus generated is then transmitted to the test interface 14. The test of the equipment E is then performed 108.

It should be noted that the implementation of the maintenance method according to the foregoing does not require the installation of any maintenance program on the ground terminal 2, a generic HTTP client being sufficient to communicate with the corresponding server executed by 5. the processing unit 10. Therefore, different types of terminal 2 can be used to test the equipment E or other electronic equipment of the aircraft A or included in other aircraft. The FTP client and the FTP server may be used when large enough files are to be transferred between the ground terminal 2 and the housing 1 or vice versa. For example, a particular administration command consists in "dumping" the memory of the equipment E, that is to say carrying out a download of a file representative of the contents of the memory and the internal registers of this equipment E. This test command is a read command. The dump file is transmitted from the box to the ground terminal via the FTP server. Another example of a test command is the update of the program implemented by the tested equipment E, by means of an executable file. This is a write test command. This executable file is for example downloaded from the ground terminal to the maintenance box by means of the FTP server. Other protocols than HTTP or FTP can be used for the communication of data between the ground terminal 2 and the embedded box 1, for example protocols based on the XML language.

Update of the on-board maintenance program The exposed method may include an update of the maintenance program P memorized by the storage memory 16 and executed by the processing unit 10.

An update attempt 101 is initiated by the program P at the first connection 100 of the ground terminal 2 to the maintenance box 1. On such a connection 100, the program P transmits to the ground terminal 2 a version number of this program P, this number being for example previously stored by the storage memory 16. On receipt of this version number, the terminal on the ground 2 issues an update request to the server 3 of update. day, this request 10 containing the version number of the program P. Upon receipt of said request, the update server 3 checks whether a new version P 'of the program P is available by inspecting the version number contained in the request. If a new version is available, the program P 'according to this new version is downloaded from the server 3 to the terminal 2, then from the ground terminal 2 to the maintenance box 1. The data processing unit 10 installs this new version. P version of the generator program in the memory 16. After its installation, the data processing unit 10 executes the version P 'of the generator program in place of the previous version P. It is therefore not necessary that the maintenance box has a permanent connection to the server 3. On the contrary, the update procedure 101 described is implemented only when this is potentially necessary (before carrying out a test). The modification of a program on board an aircraft is regulated by EASA, which can therefore be binding. A workaround is to declare the P program as "User Modifiable Software" in Maintenance Box 1.

Claims (10)

REVENDICATIONS1. A method of maintaining an electronic equipment (E) embedded in an aircraft (A), comprising the following steps implemented by a maintenance box (1) embedded in the aircraft (A): reception (104) of a user command issued by ground equipment (2), generation (106) of an electronic equipment management command (E) from the user command, the method being characterized by transmission (102), by an HTTP server executed by the maintenance box (1), of data allowing the display on a screen (22) of the ground terminal (2) of a graphical administration interface, the command a user being sent in response to the selection (103) of an administration action of the electronic equipment (E) displayed by the administration graphical interface. The method of claim 1, wherein the ground equipment (2) and the maintenance box (1) communicate over a wireless link. 3. Method according to one of claims 1 to 2, comprises a transmission of administration data between the ground equipment (2) and the equipment to be administered by means of an FTP server executed by the maintenance box. (1). 4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, comprising a step of attempting to update (101) the generator program (P), triggered during an initial connection of the terminal to the ground (2) to the housing 30 maintenance (1). 3027017 13 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the updating attempt (101) comprises the substeps of: transmission by the maintenance box (1) of a version number of the generator program (P) to the terminal at ground (2), transmission by the ground terminal (2) of an update request including the version number from a third-party update server, downloading a new version of the execution program from the third party server in the housing (1) via the ground terminal (2) in response to the request. A computer program product comprising program code instructions for executing the method steps according to one of claims 1 to 5, when this program is executed by a maintenance box (1) embedded in an aircraft. (AT). 7. Device (1) for the maintenance of electronic equipment (E) embedded in an aircraft (A) in the form of a maintenance box (1) adapted to be permanently embarked in the aircraft (A). ), the housing comprising: a communication interface with a ground terminal (2), a generator program (P) for electronic equipment administration commands (E) from user commands received by the interface receiver (104), the maintenance device (1) being characterized in that it comprises an HTTP server configured to transmit data for displaying on a screen (22) of the ground terminal (2) a administration graphical interface, the user command being issued in response to the selection (103) of an administration action displayed by the graphical administration interface. 3027017 14 The device of claim 7, wherein the communication interface is a wireless interface. The apparatus of one of claims 7 and 8, further comprising an FTP server configured to transmit test data between the ground equipment (2) and the equipment to be delivered (A). A maintenance system comprising a maintenance device (1) according to one of claims 7 to 9 and a ground terminal (2) comprising a communication interface with the maintenance device (1), a display screen and an HTTP client.