Condor FSM Case Studies

Condor Safety Systems products were designed with recent headlines in mind. Below are some incidents where we believe iBotSense Nodes could have altered the outcome:

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China. The flight last made voice contact with air traffic control at 01:19 MYT, 8 March (17:19 UTC, 7 March) when it was over the South China Sea, less than an hour after takeoff. The aircraft disappeared from air traffic controllers' radar screens at 01:22 MYT. Malaysian military radar continued to track the aircraft as it deviated from its planned flight path and crossed the Malay Peninsula. It left the range of Malaysian military radar at 02:22 while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles (370 km) northwest of Penang in northwestern Malaysia. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations.


A multinational search effort began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the flight's signal was lost on secondary surveillance radar, and was soon extended to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea. Analysis of satellite communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat's satellite communications network concluded that the flight continued until at least 08:19 and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise location cannot be determined.  Australia took charge of the search effort on 17 March, when the search shifted to the southern Indian Ocean. On 24 March 2014, the Malaysian government noted that the final location determined by the satellite communication is far from any possible landing sites, and concluded that "flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean." The current phase of the search is a comprehensive search of the seafloor about 1,800 kilometres (970 nmi) southwest of Perth, Western Australia, which began in October 2014. Despite the largest and most expensive search in aviation history, nothing was found of the aircraft until 29 July 2015, when a piece of marine debris, later confirmed to be a flaperon from Flight 370, was found on RĂ©union Island. The bulk of the aircraft has still not been located, prompting many theories about its disappearance.  To date the cost for this effort has exceeded $200 million U.S. dollars, and has yet to bring closure to the familes of the victims.


The communications between Flight 370 and the satellite communication network operated by Inmarsat, which were relayed by the Inmarsat-3 F1 satellite, provide the only significant clues to the location of Flight 370 after disappearing from Malaysian military radar at 02:22 MYT. These communications have also been used to deduce possible in-flight events (see next section). The investigative team was challenged with reconstructing the flight path of Flight 370 from a limited set of transmissions with no explicit information about the aircraft's location, heading, or speed. Although the ACARS data link on Flight 370 stopped functioning between 01:07 and 02:03 MYT, the SDU remained operable. After last contact by primary radar west of Malaysia, the following events were recorded in the log of Inmarsat's ground station at Perth, Western Australia (all times are MYT/UTC+8)


To date the minimal data provided by ACARS has been the only thread investigators have been able to follow to retrace the steps of MA370. Had MA370 been equipped with a CondorFSM system, we believe the outcome woulkd have been far different.  As soon as MA370 deviated significantly from it's intended flight plan, an alarm would have been sent through the Iridium Satellite Network to ground personnel.  From that point on, at preprogrammed intervals, detailed information about the flight's location, attitude and course would have been sent as well and wopuld have continued until the unit was destroyed.  This data would not only have narrowed the search area of the final resting place of  MA370, but also provided first responders with information on the aircraft from the moment it was diverted, potentially allowing a successful intervention by the appropriate authorities.

Condor FSM Features

Condor FSM (Flight Safety Monitor) is the first of its kind, IoT enabled system for monitoring the safety of aircraft in flight.   Further details are provided below:

A380 Airbus in flight
 
  • Worldwide Coverage
  • Fully Self Contained
  • Tamper Proof
  • Fully Solid State
  • Low-Cost
  • Remote Configuration
  • No Maintenance
  • Self-Diagnosing
   
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Condor iFN Node Specs

Each Condor iFN unit is virtually tamperproof and can be mounted in any secure location within the body of a vehicle.  Further specifications are provided below:

Basic Condor iFN Node, outside and in
 
  • Processor - Arm7
  • GNSS Receiver-UBLOX
  • Dual IMUs - MPU9250 9DOF/LSM9DS1 9DOF
  • Barometer - MS5611
  • Satellite Modem - RockBlock Mk2
   
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Coming Soon!
Condor VSM

Condor VSM (Vehicle Safety Monitor) is the first of its kind, IoT enabled system for monitoring the safety of vehicles and cargo in transit.   Further details are provided below:

With Condor VSM tracking cargo has never been easier
 
  • Vehicle Safety Monitoring worldwide
  • Use for any land based vehicle
  • GSM 3G Connectivity
  • Streaming Video Feeds
  • Biometric feeds (for livestock)
  • RFID Enabled
   
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