137 – Flight IMU/GPS Data Transmission using SBD (Short Burst Data) protocol of the Iridium Next satellite network for the analysis and real-time monitoring of Helicopters’ Health and Usage Monitoring System

The objective of the project is to transmit in real time the navigation and attitude data of a helicopter in flight to a ground station to perform flight data analysis for anomaly detection and fault prediction. It will also be used to replay (Playback) flights and allow an evaluation of flight quality but also pilot’s evaluation during their learning phases or just during phases of operations. The industrial device exists under the name UMS or HUMS (Usage Monitoring System or Health and Usage Monitoring System). The mode of transmission by Burst via the Iridium Next satellite network with 66 LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites was selected for its low latency time, its low cost but also for its global coverage. The trainee will have to encode the information of the inertial units (gyroscopes and accelerometers) and the GPS and transmit them via the SBD protocol to a ground platform installed on a station with fixed IP address. Once completed, the system will be flight tested and will serve as a development basis for a certified FDMS Flight Data Monitoring System and S-FDR (Streaming -Flight Data Recorder) type device.