System for Scheduling Tasks to Control the Execution of Warning Procedures on an Aircraft

Abstract

The invention relates to onboard failure warning management systems on aircraft, or flight warning systems (FWS). Traditionally, the logic of these systems refers to procedures to be executed by the crew in response to warnings. Modifications, however minor, to the procedures involve a new development that can be installed on the airplane computer only as part of a costly maintenance procedure, given notably the need to carry out exhaustive tests on the application. The invention introduces the concept of tasks defined by a set of variables, notably the warning and the procedure in which the task is executed, its category, its priority level and its status. Thus, the computer programs can be organized in modules that call the tasks to be executed, the parameters of said tasks being defined in a configuration table that can be updated as the procedures change during simple operation maintenance procedures.

1 . A method of developing and maintaining a system for managing warnings onboard an aircraft, comprising at least one step for defining a list of tasks to be executed characterized by variables selected from the group (warning, procedure, category, priority, status) and a step for programming in high-level language at least a portion of the runtime logic of said tasks. 
     
     
         2 . The method of developing and maintaining a system for managing warnings onboard an aircraft as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising a step for converting the program in high-level language into operative language and a step for loading at least a portion of the output from the conversion step in a configuration table of said system onboard the aircraft. 
     
     
         3 . The method of developing and maintaining a system for managing warnings onboard an aircraft as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the loading step is performed at the time of an aircraft operation maintenance procedure. 
     
     
         4 . A method of developing and maintaining a system for managing warnings onboard an aircraft, comprising:
 defining a list of tasks to be executed by a flight warning system characterized by variables comprising at least one of a warning, a procedure, a category, a priority, and a status; and   programming in a high-level language at least a portion of a runtime logic of the list of tasks for a program for the flight warning system.   
     
     
         5 . The method of developing and maintaining a system for managing warnings onboard an aircraft as claimed in  claim 4 , further comprising:
 converting the program in high-level language into an operative language for the flight warning system; and   loading at least a portion of an output from the converting step in a configuration table of said system onboard the aircraft.   
     
     
         6 . The method of developing and maintaining a system for managing warnings onboard an aircraft as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein the loading step is performed at a time of an aircraft operation maintenance procedure.