Tailoring MIL-STD-461B for Naval Avionics Applications

Naval aviation electronics (Avionics) systems are specified and procured using MIL-STD-461 to set the fundamental EMI requirements. MIL-STD-461 permits and encourages ``tailoring' the EMI specifications for each equipment to the anticipated usage. In this paper, the Naval Avionics Center Staff Engineer for Electromagnetic Effects presents a typical tailored EMI specification as used within the Naval Air Systems Command to procure carrier based aircraft avionics. Included are the rationale for and the explanation of each modification and an estimate of the electromagnetic environment found aboard the US Navy Aircraft carriers.     

Open system concepts for modular avionics

Advanced communications, guidance and navigation systems play key roles in determining superiority of one combat aircraft over another. The use of advanced technology is essential to meeting the mission requirements of present as well as future aircraft. Modular avionics are being used in next generation aircraft, such as the Air Force F-22 fighter and the Army Comanche helicopter, as the means of achieving higher levels of performance, including reduced volume and improved adaptability, maintainability, and expandability. New system acquisitions such as Joint Strike Fighter will attempt to achieve these same performance levels but at dramatically reduced life cycle cost. Retrofit applications will also take on increasing roles in meeting this affordability need as the Department of Defense (DoD) struggles to maintain readiness in the face of the shrinking defense budget. The government is encouraging the use of open standards practices as a means of addressing the affordability issue. The Open Systems Joint Task Force (OS-JTF), formed in September 1994, is chartered to “sponsor and accelerate the adoption of open systems in weapons systems and subsystem electronics to reduce life-cycle costs and facilitate effective weapon system intra- and interoperability”. The purpose of this paper is to relate the concept of open systems to modular avionics. It discusses the key attributes of an open systems approach and identifies key technologies necessary for its success     

Multifunctional structures technology experiment on Deep Space 1Mission

Lockheed Martin Astronautics has developed the Multifunctional Structure (MFS) concept as a new system for spacecraft design that eliminates chassis, cables, connectors and folds the electronics into the walls of the spacecraft. Concurrent engineering will be essential to integrate the electronic, structure, and thermal design. Design methodologies are in work to manage all power, grounding and shielding concerns. The MFS approach offers significant savings in mass and volume and supports the “faster-better-cheaper” philosophy in new spacecraft programs. The technology will be demonstrated as an experiment on the New Millenium Program Deep Space 1 (DS 1) mission     

The J-MASS Marketplace: a new way for DoD to do business

It is current DoD policy to use commercial off-the-shelf software whenever it meets DoD requirements. The application of this policy to modeling and simulation has resulted in the concept of “The Joint Modeling and Simulation System (J-MASS) Marketplace.” J-MASS is designed as an Open Systems Architecture with the capability for the Simulation Support Environment (SSE) to be expanded by the addition of site specific software. In the “J-MASS Marketplace” industry will build commercial tools to work with J-MASS and individual organizations will license what they need for their particular site. The J-MASS SSE is a framework or backplane into which everything else plugs. A J-MASS product release would have the core capabilities, but the unique needs of various organizations would be satisfied by industry. This paper addresses how the J-MASS Marketplace could work and how compliance can be defined. It will outline opportunities for industry in both building software for the Marketplace and in defining the Marketplace concept     

飞机电子测试车实施原位检测的分析

近几年来,航空工程机务工作转移到以可靠性为中心的维修思想上,似科学维修代替传统的经验维修,使机务维护工作出现了新局面。用电子测试车实施机载电子设备原位检测是维护手段改革的重要成果,现将使用情况作一介绍。 一、使用飞机电子测试车的可靠 长期以来,飞机电子设备定检工作采用离位的方法,即依飞行时间将电子设备从飞     

1553 emulation over ATM (asynchronous transfer mode)-a hybridavionics communications architecture

The issue of meeting the higher communications requirements of future aircraft avionics systems in an incremental manner is addressed. A communications architecture is proposed which is based upon a switched network technology from the telecommunications area asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). However, the major step of migrating all existing avionics equipment into an ATM compliant form is avoided by the process of “emulating” a current avionics data bus such as MIL-STD-1553B over an ATM network. This allows current 1553 subsystems to co-exist with ATM compliant equipment on a single physical ATM network     

Introduction [A century of powered flight:1903-2003]

The term Avionics is used loosely to identify that electronic equipment necessary to fly an aircraft. The term is nearly 50 years old with origins in military electronics. With the increasing dependence of aviation on electronics the amount of equipment that falls into this category has skyrocketed. This issue is intended to commemorate the Wright Brothers' Centennial of Powered Flight. It emphasizes aviation-related electrical/electronic advances for the years 1903 to 1953. The following paragraphs highlight some of the major topics discussed in this special issue.     

Data link communication equipment approved by USAF for civil air traffic control

Operations within civil airspace will transition from traditional ground-based air traffic control (ATC) to air traffic management (ATM), a concept that requires aircrews and ground managers to share responsibility of aircraft separation assurance. Increased levels of information exchange will be necessary for this concept to work safely; therefore, air-ground communications will transition from voice to data link communications. The nature of data link communications procurement requires that avionics suppliers not only verify their products meet contractual performance requirements, but also demonstrate that their products are compatible with civil communication networks and ATC. In addition, the USAF needs to demonstrate that their crew-training program is adequate to maintain the required level of aircrew proficiency and equipment can be maintained for the required level of system performance, integrity, and interoperability with the civil environment. This paper outlines some of the certification issues facing the USAF with respect to the "Approval for Use" of data link equipment to be used for communication with ATC. It will also suggest a methodology for the avionics supplier and USAF to obtain the approvals required to ensure the installation of data link communications equipment on military aircraft will remain interoperable with civil ATC.     

Military Products From Commercial Lines

“Military Products From Commercial Lines” is a pilot program within the Air Force Manufacturing Technology Directorate's Industrial Base Pilots Office. TRW's Avionics and Surveillance Group (ASG) is leading the program. This pilot program will demonstrate commercial-military integration by producing F-22 military avionics modules on an automotive electronics production line operated by TRW's Automotive Electronics Group (AEG). To accomplish this requires a redesign of the modules so that they are producible using commercial automotive electronics processes. Dual use manufacturing also dictates establishing compatible business practices, manufacturing infrastructures and process technologies. Business practices that must be changed involve accounting procedures, contracting requirements, audit requirements and quality control. Manufacturing infrastructure improvements include incorporation of advanced concurrent engineering tools and process control software to allow economic production of small lot sizes. Process technology changes involve designing for production lines that are highly automated and compatibility with commercial practices     

Synthetic vision for enhancing poor visibility flight operations

Visibility is important for the pilot controlling an aircraft in flight conditions close to the ground, particularly when landing. Therefore, poor visibility yields a great restriction for aircraft operations. Restrictions exist for landing sites which are equipped with facilities providing a landing approach aid like ILS since a minimum is required for visibility. For landing sites providing no approach aids, restrictions are much more severe. This holds even if aircraft are equipped with modern instrumentation and navigation devices. The natural view of the pilot is dependent on various meteorological conditions like darkness, dust, fog, rain etc. The degradation in view caused by these conditions can be compensated for partially or even completely by technical means providing artificial vision cues. Such technical means may be based on radar or optical sensor information. Concepts which employ these techniques are known as “Synthetic Visual Systems” or “Enhanced Visual Systems,” . The present paper is concerned with computer generated vision as a further technique providing visual cues for the pilot. Computer generated vision may be used in combination with the aforementioned sensor based techniques. Thus, it is possible to compensate for limitations which sensor based visual systems have in providing sufficient visibility range or in generating a normal looking image. In addition, computer generated imagery has the potential providing additional information to the pilot for controlling the flight path or for warning purposes. This potential can yield improved and/or more information as compared with the natural view when looking out of the cockpit window     

民机典型前缘结构抗鸟撞分析研究

为保障飞行安全,CCAR25 部对民机结构抗鸟撞性能提出了严格的指令性要求,须对机翼前缘、平尾前缘和垂尾前缘等典型前缘结构进行鸟撞分析。鸟撞分析涉及到结构的动力学分析、鸟体的本构关系模拟、材料的高速非线性效应以及结构大变形等多方面因素的影响,相关的计算复杂,会耗费结构设计人员大量的精力和时间。通过采用经验公式和仿真分析方法对前缘结构抗鸟撞性能进行快速的分析,可达到对结构的抗鸟撞能力进行快速预估并从而指导设计的目的。     

Further results on adaptive filtering with embedded CFAR

Among the few known adaptive filtering algorithms which have an embedded (integrated) constant false alarm rate (CFAR) performance feature, the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) test algorithm has been found to be robust in non-Gaussian clutter. This paper examines the detection performance of the GLR algorithm in nonhomogeneous/nonstationary clutter environments which lead to nonidentical distribution of secondary (training) data. For two common types of nonhomogeneity, i.e., the so-called “signal contamination” and “clutter edge”, the asymptotic detection performance is derived and compared with simulations. These asymptotic results are relatively simple to use and they predict the GLR performance in nonhomogeneous environments quite well. The GLR performance loss due to the nonhomogeneity is also evaluated. It is found that the “generalized angle” between the desired and contaminating signal plays an important role in the study of the effects of signal contamination. It is also found that the performance degradation due to the clutter edge depends largely on the width of the clutter spectrum and target-clutter Doppler separation     

Ultra-reliable real-time control systems-future trends

Today's aircraft use ultra-reliable real-time controls for demanding functions such as Fly-By-Wire (FBW) flight control. Future aircraft, spacecraft and other vehicles will require greater use of these types of controls for functions that currently are allowed to fail, fail to degraded operation, or require human intervention in response to failure. Fully automated and autonomous functions will require ultra-reliable control. But ultra-reliable systems are very expensive to design and require large amounts of on-board equipment. This paper will discuss how the use of low-cost sensors with digital outputs, digitally commanded fault-tolerant actuation devices and interconnecting networks of low-cost data buses offer the promise of more affordable ultra-reliable systems. Specific technologies and concepts to be discussed include low-cost automotive and industrial data buses, “smart” actuation devices with integral fault masking capabilities, management of redundant sensors, and the fault detection and diagnosis of the data network. The advantages of integrating the control and distribution of electrical power with the control system will be illustrated. The design, installation, and upgrade flexibility benefits provided by an all-digital and shared network approach will be presented. The economic benefits of systems that can operate following failure and without immediate repair will be reviewed. The inherent ability of these redundant systems to provide effective built-in test and self-diagnostics capabilities will be described. The challenges associated with developing ultra-reliable software for these systems and the difficulties associated with exhaustive verification testing will be presented as will additional development hurdles that must be overcome     

Improved adaptive clutter cancellation through data-adaptivetraining

Adaptive array algorithms based on sample matrix inversion (SMI) require the availability of a secondary data set to “train” the adaptive filter. Numerous data-independent rules have been proposed for selecting this training data. However, such rules often perform poorly in inhomogeneous environments. We present data-adaptive methodologies for selecting the training data. The techniques, called “Power Selected Training” and “Power Selected Deemphasis”, use measurements of the interference environment to select training data. This work describes these algorithms and their performance on recorded radar data     

The case for like-sensor predetection fusion

There has been a great deal of theoretical study into decentralized detection networks composed of similar (often identical), independent sensors, and this has produced a number of satisfying theoretical results. At this point it is perhaps worth asking whether or not there is a great deal of point to such study-certainly two sensors can provide twice the illumination of one, but what does this really translate to in terms of performance? We take as our metric the ground area covered with a specified Neyman-Pearson detection performance. To be fair, the comparison will be of a multisensor network to a single-sensor system where both have the same aggregate transmitter power. The situations examined are by no means exhaustive but are, we believe, representative. Is there a case? The answer, as might be expected, is “sometimes.” When the statistical situation is well behaved there is very little benefit to a fused system; however, when the environment is hostile the gains can be significant. We see, depending on the situation, gains from colocation, gains from separation, optimal gains from operation at a “fusion range,” and sometimes no gains at all     

Electronic technologies that enables aerospace

This section highlights early electronics milestones that have made significant contributions to aerospace and defense. Today everyone thinks digital, whereas more than 50% of electronic advances since society founding 50 years ago were in the analog or continuous domain. It is too easy to forget that before the 1970s and 1980s analog systems had been the norm. Digital electronics emerged late in WWII, when the US Army contracted with the University of Pennsylvania to compute extensive artillery firing tables. The Cold War substantially accelerated advances in solid state electronics which led to the microelectronics that are so ubiquitous today. Defense and then aerospace programs were symbiotic with electronics in the development and mass production of transistors, integrated circuits, microelectronics, microprocessors, magnetic and then solid state memory. Small, reliable, low power and high performance electronics were the key to aerospace progress. The government backed virtually all these developments out of necessity. The power of computers has increased by over a million since 1972 and is still climbing. The initial enabling technology for advances in military electronics was the almost forgotten vacuum tube. The existence of electrons was first recognized as the “Edison Effect” in 1883. The seminal event in electronics was the audion invented by Lee De Forrest in 1906. The audion appeared just three years after the first Wright brother's flight and four years before the Army purchased their first Wright airplane. Up until the World War I (WWI) radio amateurs were the electronics pioneers, but the war created new demand for radio communications. Electronics expanded from communications into radar, navigation and control systems in World War II (WWII). Both wars brought about dramatic improvements in electronics, which resulted in a surplus of equipment and trained personnel to fuel postwar advances     

民用航空发动机滑油投入航线运行前工程鉴定试验研究

截止2019年年底,中国民航现有固定翼运输类机队规模约3 800架,发动机约7 600台,以航线统计的发动机平均滑耗0.23夸脱/小时进行估算,滑油年消耗量不少于5 200万夸脱,估值约7.9亿元人民币。现阶段,我国民用航空发动机滑油严重依赖进口,显然不利于航空工业的健康成长。因此加速国产滑油适航取证并投入航线运营的工作,不但能够解决我国民用客机长期对进口滑油的依赖,更具备广阔的市场前景和经济战略价值。随着民用航空设备和部件的国产化进程加速,国产滑油的技术指标已经达到同行业领先水平。由于国内现有民航飞机发动机均为国外制造,同时受限于现行国际通用的民用航空滑油取证体系,我国自主研制的滑油适航取证面临诸多困难。对民用航空发动机滑油投入航线运行前所需开展的鉴定试验进行研究,用于支持和推进我国自主研制的滑油油料尽快投入航线使用。     

Satellite communication-a continuing revolution

SATCOM technology has revolutionized communications over the last 40 years. Initial SATCOM systems provided trunk telephony through large, fixed stations; current systems offer many services to smaller, fixed and mobile terminals. Personal Communications Systems, when fully implemented, will allow individuals to communicate with “anyone, anywhere, anytime,” and thus transform the world into a truly global village. New systems (currently being planned) will offer innovative services, such as computer networking and multimedia to the expanding mass market at an affordable cost. The rate of SATCOM progress shows no sign of slowing, and this revolution is expected to continue well into the future     

飞机机载设备振动环境谱的数据处理与编制

飞机机载设备振动环境谱的数据处理与编制是飞机机载设备环境可靠性试验的重要组成部分,对保障飞机机载设备的安全性和可靠性具有十分重要的意义。以客运飞机为例,对基于Welch法和GJB最新标准的飞机机载设备振动环境谱数据处理与编制技术进行了研究,根据实测数据和相关资料统计,编制出了飞机机载设备综合环境试验剖面图。所建立的针对飞机机载设备振动环境谱数据处理方法与编制原理,满足了飞机机载设备振动环境谱的试验要求,为机载设备振动环境的可靠性评定奠定了基础。