A PRESENTATION ON

BLACK BOX
USED IN AIRCRAFTS

BY AKSHAY SHARMA
SEC- A, Branch-E.C.E

SO
WHAT IS BLACK BOX ?
The black box is a flight recorder
used to record specific aircraft
performance parameters .A black
box is comprised of two elements,
FLIGHT DATA RECORDER(FDR) and
COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER(CVR).

DAVID WARREN:
THE INVENTOR OF BLACK BOX

INVENTOR
Dr David Warren of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories
in Melbourne, Australia invented the "Black Box" flight data
recorder. He was the first person to conceive of the idea of
recording the flight crew's conversation on an airplane and
of protecting that recording in the event of a crash or fire.
The purpose of the Black Box was to help identify the
reasons for a plane crash, by recording any clues in the flight
crew's conversation. The Black Box was invented in 1953
and in production by 1957. The first ones were painted
bright red or orange to make them easier to find after a
crash. In 1960, Australia became the first country to make
flight recorders mandatory in aircraft.

Flight data recorder

The flight data recorder is designed to
record the operating data from the planes
systems. There are sensor that are wired
from various areas on the plane to the
flight-data acquisition unit, which is wired
to the FDR.when a switch is turned on or
off, that operation is recorded by the FDR.

PARAMETERS RECORDED BY MOST

FDRs:
Time
Pressure altitude
Airspeed
Vertical acceleration
Magnetic heading
Control-column position
Rubber-pedal position

Control-wheel position
Horizontal stabilizer
Fuel flow

FLIGHT DATA RECORDER

COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER

In almost every commercial aircraft ,
there are several microphones built
into the cockpit to track the
conversation of the flight crew . these
microphones are also designed to
track any ambient noise in the
cockpit , like any knocks or thuds.

There may be up to four

microphones in the planes cockpit ,

each connected to the cockpit
voice recorder(CVR).Any sounds
in the cockpit are picked up by
these microphones and sent to the
CVR , where the recordings are
digitized and stored.

There is also anther device in the cockpit ,

called the associated control unit , what

provides pre-amplification for audio going
to the CVR. the four position of four
microphones are:
Pilots headset
Co-pilots headset
Headset of a third crew member(if there is
a third crew member)
Near the center of the cockpit, where it can
pick up audio alerts and other sounds

Recording and storage

There are two technologies used for
recording and storage;
Magnetic tape
Solid-state technology

Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape was first introduced in the
1960s.magnetic tape works like any tape
recorder. The mliar tape is pulled across
an electromagnetic head, which leaves a bit
of data on the tape. black-box are no longer
making magnetic tape recorder as airlines
begin a full transition to solid: state
technology

Solid-state recorders
Solid-state recorder are considered much
more reliable than magnetic-tape
counterpart. Solid state uses stacked arrays
of memory chips, so they don'ts have
moving parts. without moving parts, there
are fewer maintenance issues and a
decreased chance of something breaking
during crash..

Data from both the CVR and FDR is

stacked in memory boards inside the

crash-survivable memory
unit(CSMU).To survive crash,CSMUs
are made in such way that they can
survive extreme heat and tons of
pressure.

CSMU

Testing a CSMU
There are several test that make up the crashsurvival sequence;
Crash impact
Pin drop static crush
Fire test
Deep-sea submersion
Fluid immersion
Salt-water submersion

OVER ALL WORKING

An airplane is equipped with sensors that gather data.

there are sensor that detect acceleration, airspeed,

altitude, flap setting, outside temperature, cabin
temperature and pressure, engine performance and
more. magnetic-tape recorders can track about 100
parameters, while solid-state recorder can track more
than 700 In large aircraft.
All the data collected by the airplane's sensor is sent

to the flight-data acquisition unit(FDAU) at the front of

the aircraft. this device often is found in the
electronic equipment bay under the cockpit.

The flight-data acquisition unit is the

middle manager of the entire data-recorder
process. it takes the information from the
sensor and sends it on to the black boxes,
both black boxes are powered by one of
two power generators that draw their
power from the planes engines. one
generator is a 28v dc power supplies, and
the other is a 115v,400(Hz)AC power
supply

HOW THEY ARE RETRIVED

Each recorder is equipped with a third essential black
box tool, the Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB). In
the event of an accident over water, the ULB will
assist in locating the black boxes. When the recorder
is immersed in water, a device called a pinger is
activated, transmitting an ultrasonic pulse that is
readily detectable by sonar and acoustical locating
equipment, according to the NTSB, which notes the
beacon can transmit from depths down to 14,000
feet. Once the beacon begins pinging, it does so
once per second for 30 days.

Following an accident, both recorders

are removed from the accident site
immediately and transported to the
computer labs at the NTSB
headquarters in Washington, D.C. for
processing. Special care is taken in
transporting these devices to avoid any
(additional) damage to the recording
medium. In cases of water accidents,
recorders are placed in a cooler of
water to keep them from drying out.

Using sophisticated computer and audio

equipment, the information stored on the
recorders is extracted and translated into
an understandable format, the NTSB says.
At this point, a team of experts is usually
brought in to interpret the stored
recordings.
It may take weeks to interpret just 30
minutes of words and sounds recorded by
the CVR. Despite the painstaking process,
today the black boxes have been
universally adopted as a means to
investigate accidents and prevent future

FUTURE OF BLACK BOX

As technology continues to develop it
is likely that Black Boxes, or flight
data recorders, will become more and
more sophisticated and more reliable,
giving Air Crash Investigators more to
go on when painstakingly trying to
piece together what caused a plane
crash.

Potentially, the humble MP3 player adored

by music fans the world over - could become
part of the flight data recording software. In
2007, US light aircraft manufacturer LoPresti
Speed Merchants announced that it planned to
fully integrate the device as flight data
recorder on all of its Fury piston aircraft. The
company believes that if suitable software was
used then MP3s would be capable of recording
over 500 hours of flight time data.

A SMASHED BLACK BOX

THANK YOU

SUBMITTED BY:
TO:
AKSHAY SHARMA
Pandey

SUBMITTED
Mr. Deepak Chandra