The term
black box is a
placeholder namePlaceholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names are either temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed...
used casually to refer to a collection of several different recording devices used in transportation: the
flight recorderA flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of an aircraft accident or incident. For this reason, flight recorders are required to be capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered in a severe aircraft...
s (
flight data recorderA flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
and
cockpit voice recorderA cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
) in aircraft, the
event recorderA Train event recorder is similar to the flight data recorder found on aircraft. It records data about the operation of train controls and performance in response to those controls and other train control systems.Data storage is provided by magnetic tape, battery-backed RAM and, most recently,...
in railway
locomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s, the
event data recorderAn event data recorder or EDR is a device installed in some automobiles to record information related to vehicle crashes or accidents. In modern diesel trucks, EDRs are triggered by electronically sensed problems in the engine , or a sudden change in wheel speed. One or more of these conditions...
in automobiles, message case in
shipSince the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
s, and other recording devices in various vehicles.
Origin
A message case was one of the earliest forms of a black box. A written message was placed into a buoyant heavy duty water-tight metal
canisterThe term canister comes from Latin or Greek . It means:* Originally, from Greek καννα , a basket of woven reeds...
and released into a body of water. On October 27, 1929 a damaged message case from the
SS MilwaukeeThe SS Milwaukee was a train ferry that served on Lake Michigan. It was launched in 1902 and sank with all hands off Milwaukee on 22 October 1929. 52 men were lost with the vessel. -On the Milwaukee run: 1908–1929:...
was found near Saugatuck, MI by crew member of a U.S. Coast Guard Station with a message from the ship's
purserThe purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early fourteenth century and existed as a Naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040 when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain...
detailing the condition of the ship before it sank.
Red Egg
The
black box term originated when after a meeting about the first commercial flight recorder named the "Red Egg" for its color and shape, someone commented: "This is a wonderful black box". Black box is a more humorous than accurate term and is almost never used within the flight safety industry. The recorders are generally not black in color, but usually bright orange (as pictured) as they are intended to be spotted and recovered after incidents, nor (contrary to an
alternative usageA black box is a device, object, or system whose inner workings are unknown; only the input, transfer, and output are known characteristics.The term black box can also refer to:-In science and technology:*Black box theory, a philosophical theory...
of the term 'black box') are their operations unknown.
Box-of-tricks
An alternative origin of the word is from
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
RAFThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
terminology. During the period 1940-1945 new electronic innovations, such as
OboeOboe was a British aerial blind bombing targeting system in World War II, based on radio transponder technology. Oboe accurately measured the distance to an aircraft, and gave the pilot guidance on whether or not they were flying along a pre-selected circular route. The route was only 35 yards...
,
GEEGee was the code name given to a radio navigation system used by the Royal Air Force during World War II.Different sources record the name as GEE or Gee. The naming supposedly comes from "Grid", so the lower case form is more correct, and is the form used in Drippy's publications. See Drippy 1946....
and
H2SH2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was developed in Britain in World War II for the Royal Air Force and was used in various RAF bomber aircraft from 1943 to the 1990s. It was designed to identify targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing...
, were added to aircraft (specifically bombers) on a regular basis. The prototypes were roughly covered in hand-made metal boxes, painted black to prevent reflections. After a time any piece of "new" electronics was referred to as the "box-of-tricks" or the "black-box". The expression made its way into post-war civil aviation and, ultimately, general usage.
See also
- Annex: Acronyms and abbreviations in avionics
- Flight recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of an aircraft accident or incident. For this reason, flight recorders are required to be capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered in a severe aircraft...
- Train event recorder
A Train event recorder is similar to the flight data recorder found on aircraft. It records data about the operation of train controls and performance in response to those controls and other train control systems.Data storage is provided by magnetic tape, battery-backed RAM and, most recently,...
- Voyage Data Recorder
thumb|A fixed Data Capsule of VDR mounted on a [[container ship]].Voyage Data Recorder, or VDR, is a data recording system designed for all vessels required to comply with the IMO's International Convention SOLAS Requirements in order to collect data from various sensors on board the vessel...
- Event data recorder
An event data recorder or EDR is a device installed in some automobiles to record information related to vehicle crashes or accidents. In modern diesel trucks, EDRs are triggered by electronically sensed problems in the engine , or a sudden change in wheel speed. One or more of these conditions...
- Data logger
A data logger is an electronic device that records data over time or in relation to location either with a built in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they are based on a digital processor...
- Korean Air Lines Flight 007
External links