Improving Avionics Fiber Optic Network Reliability & Maintainability

Work is ongoing at NAVAIR to understand how avionics fiber optic BIT technology can help reduce military aviation platform fiber optic network life cycle and total ownership cost. Operational availability enhancements via comprehensive supportability programs combined with keen attentiveness to reliability and maintainability metrics are driving the avionics fiber optic BIT value proposition. Avionics fiber optic BIT technology is expected to reduce failure rate and mean time to repair by predicting link failure before link failure actually occurs, running post-maintenance stress screening upon aircraft start-up, improving fault isolation by reducing the troubleshooting ambiguity zone from three to one, and reducing the need for separate support equipment for system troubleshooting     

基于标准总线的航电系统测试与维护策略

随着航电系统越来越依赖于复杂的电子系统,以及电子产品的微型化,测试成为解决航电系统可靠性和维修性的关键。在分析基于标准测试总线的测试性技术的标准体系之后,介绍了将边界扫描技术应用于板级测试,系统级测试以及产品现场维护的测试性设计的一种方法。     

航电系统并行检测过程与检测设备解耦方法

航电系统在使用或升级改造过程中进行可靠性检测是必不可少的。特别是在当前批量航电系统大量投入使用的背景下，迫切需要能高效、快速、准确地对系统进行可靠性检测。由于航电系统安全性要求高，内置检测软件受限，需要外置检测设备通过航电系统指定接口进行检测，检测过程也不允许出现任何泄露等行为。检测设备与具体航电系统耦合，检测过程与具体检测设备耦合，难以实现批量航电系统并行检测。为此，通过引入逻辑检测设备，给出了一种航电系统并行检测分层框架，解决检测设备与被测系统耦合的问题，同时也保证了检测的安全性。通过逻辑检测设备、检测跳转机和被测主机上检测行为的描述，给出了一种面向通用航电系统并行检测的检测设备协同机制，解决检测过程与检测设备耦合的问题，从而支持多个航电系统并行检测。最后，实现了一个通用航电系统并行检测系统，并通过实际应用和实验对比验证所提方法的有效性。     

小型飞机先进综合座舱电子系统架构研究

以Garmin1000系统为例,从系统功能、基本架构、容错策略和通用性方面分析了小型飞机先进综合座舱电子系统架构的设计特点。先进综合座舱电子系统架构包括了设备级和系统级两个层面,在设备级阐述了航电设备集成化的发展趋势,在系统级采用了不同的容错策略,保证系统规模最小化时容错能力达到最大化。同时,网络应用增强了系统架构的通用性,支持多种系统规模的扩展。     

基于虚拟仪器的机载模块性能测试系统

针对传统机载设备侧重于功能测试的技术缺陷,提出了一种机载模块性能测试系统。阐述了测试系统的架构设计和基于LabVIEW的算法实现,使用虚拟仪器技术,实现了航空电子总线ARINC429模块中信号性能的自动测试和故障报告。实验结果表明,该系统能有效完成模块信号性能的自动测试与故障报告,提高了航空电子自动测试设备的通用性与可靠性,对未来两级维修体制下的航空电子设备ATE的发展具有一定的现实意义。     

Integrated Avionics: Watershed in Systems Development

For aeronautical weapon systems now entering development, avionics will equal or surpass airframe, propulsion, and weapons in establishing system effectiveness, both in terms of mission accomplishment and in terms of reliability, availability, supportability, and life cycle cost. Emerging technologies created the opportunity to satisfy demanding operational needs and to provide the means to upgrade systems against an evolving threat. This requires, however, basic changes in the skills, design methods, and constraints applied to avionics development. This paper highlights trends in avionics technology and systems and suggests some of the new ground rules which must be imposed to realize their full potential. Avionics considerations must be a central element of system development from the very outset, and the process of conceptual planning and program estimation must take the new realities of avionics into account.     

A methodology for addressing support equipment obsolescence

The rapid growth of technology over the last twenty years is providing vastly improved capabilities for both avionics and avionics test systems. Unfortunately, an environment of rapid technological growth breeds a corresponding environment of rapid technological obsolescence. Test systems developed fifteen years ago are becoming increasingly more difficult to support due to obsolescence issues and, additionally, such a test system does not reflect the current state-of-the-art for automatic test equipment. The ability of a test system to evolve is essential to providing cost-effective support systems for electronic systems. The F-15 Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS) Intermediate Support System (TISS) was developed under the Modular Automatic Test Equipment (MATE) guidelines to support the suite of F-15 electronic warfare LRUs. MATE imposed hardware architecture constraints, which were factors that contributed to its abandonment. However, the modular aspect of MATE has provided a system that can easily evolve with technological advancements. Modularity is the cornerstone of modern software systems and this is the aspect that has been exploited in the evolution of the TISS     

Containing military autotest cost growth through the use ofcommercial standard equipment architectures

The 1990s have been stressful for commercial airline industry: fierce competition has caused the demise of several carriers. The resulting drive to slash operating expenses has bolstered development of avionics industry standards for automated test equipment. Rockwell's Collins Air Transport Division (CATD) has begun to market compliant test gear that airline maintenance departments wishing to acquire modern high performance test systems without the development cost penalty have eagerly received. A similar situation now confronts the military. The various branches can no longer justify the maintenance of independent autotest architectures. This paper describes the CATD implementation of the commercial-standard architecture; shows how we have designed the system to avoid obsolescence; and indicates the considerations that are necessary for adapting it to military scenarios     

Analysis tools for the evaluation of maintenance software

Test packages written for built-in test (BIT) and mobile automatic test equipment (ATE) systems for the forward support of electronic and thermal imaging equipment used by the British Army are currently scrutinized and subjected to objective tests by test package evaluation and acceptance teams (TPEATs) before being accepted for field use. This is a time-consuming and costly exercise that can result in the rejection of unsuitable software. The result of such rejection on equipment logistics is for reaching, since the hardware will enter service without adequate maintenance support. In an attempt to address this problem a suite of programs aimed at assisting the verification and validation activities of the TPEAT at every stage of the software life cycle from requirements analysis through to testing and acceptance is being devised. The development of these tools is discussed     

航空电子设备研制的测试性设计考虑

测试性是航空电子设备基本设计特性,测试性设计的好坏直接决定了航空电子设备感知自身状态(正常、故障和降级)并自动隔离内部故障的能力。从全寿命周期费用探讨了民用飞机航空电子设备开展测试性设计的必要性,给出了民用飞机研制过程中航空电子设备通用测试性设计、机内测试设计和电路及元器件的测试性设计考虑。实践证明航空电子设备开展测试性设计能有效提高民用飞机的功能安全性和维修经济性。     

Avionics cost of ownership

The cost of ownership of avionics includes not only the development and acquisition cost, but also the yearly operating and support (O and S) (maintenance) cost of hardware, software, and support equipment. This paper presents an avionics cost of ownership methodology developed for USAF, its data sources, and business metrics computed for USAF decision makers as we move toward operating avionics as a business. The business model is used to determine which existing avionics are candidates for replacement with new technology and to prioritize the replacements. These avionics are often used on multiple aircraft types which necessitates analysis of the causes of the high cost of ownership on each type. Databases are used to document the processing functions, data flow, and constraints of the item being analyzed. These constraints include physical, environmental, electrical, and data interfaces. Databases containing alternatives are evaluated against standard mission scenarios for aircraft utilizing these high cost avionics to determine their impact on performance, O and S costs, and mission effectiveness. The results of the foregoing analyses steps are then used in life cycle cost analyses which consider different retrofit scenarios for each alternative for each aircraft type against the avionics being analyzed for replacement. The alternatives are prioritized and a risk analysis performed considering technical, schedule, and cost growth risks. The avionics cost of ownership methodology described in this paper processes data from USAF maintenance organizations. This has revealed the very large expenditures being made to support highly unreliable avionics. These methods can be applied to all military and commercial aircraft systems to determine not only the cost of ownership of existing systems, but also the cost of ownership of new systems when they are retrofit     

电子对抗仿真器的设计

用电子对抗系统仿真器代替真实的设备参与飞机航电系统综合试验, 是为了获得更好的动态效果, 减少测试的复杂性, 降低实际费用。本文在分析电子对抗系统功能的基础上, 提出了仿真器的基本设计方案及软件设计技术, 最后, 介绍了软件测试方法。     

改善电子系统故障诊断能力的神经网络虚警过滤器技术

分析了现代电子系统机内测试 (BIT)技术存在的虚警问题 ,提出运用神经网络虚警过滤器(NNFAF)技术来降低虚警、改进BIT能力 ;并介绍了NNFAF的原理和网络开发方法 ;最后分析了NN FAF技术的特点、应用及发展方向。     

一种评估航空电子系统作战效能的方法

航空电子系统在作战中起着至关重要的作用,航空电子系统的作战效能评估是一个复杂问题。分析了航空电子作战效能的影响因素,建立了相应的指标体系,研究了基于粗糙集理论和层次分析法（AHP）的指标权重确定方法。应用综合评价等级和对作战效能评价结果的对应关系确定航空电子系统作战效能。模型的建立考虑了先验知识的运用,实现定性与定量相结合,简便直观,对某型飞机航空电子系统作战效能评估效果良好。从而为航空电子系统作战效能评估提供了一种新的评价方法。     

Smart BIT: a plan for intelligent built-in test

A major factor influencing the readiness of today's highly electronics-driven weapons systems is the amount of time spent maintaining them. The attainment of a better understanding of the causes for intermittent and other ill-defined failure modes and development of a greater appreciation for the effect of both external and internal environmental factors on the fault behavior of electronic systems will help to improve the BIT (built-in test) performance. Smart BIT is the name applied to a program of research and development sponsored by Rome Air Development Center (RADC) to investigate, develop, and apply artificial-intelligence (AI) techniques to effect BIT improvement. An overview of that program, its contents and purposes is provided. Deficiencies in current BIT implementations and potential benefits of the Smart BIT program are presented. Components of this approach are discussed and supporting technology areas highlighted. The current plan for implementing this approach is given along with a scenario describing its potential form     

航空电子系统地面试验中测试系统的综合化、通用化设计

测试系统作为航空电子系统地面试验中的重要设备,为系统试验提供了自动化、数字化的科学手段和结果分析依据。以往的测试系统都是根据具体型号研制的设备,存在着利用率相对低、资源重复、资金浪费严重的情况。根据航空电子系统的构型和现有的技术条件,飞机航空电子系统综合验证试验研制通用的综合测试系统已成为必然。本文介绍了航空电子系统地面试验中测试系统的综合化、通用化设计方法。     

An Approach to Built-In Testing

The archiitecture and justification for an approach to built-in testing (BIT) in electronic circuits and systems is presented. The proposed system is capable of on-line fault detection and prediction up to the shop replaceable assembly (SRA) level and is designed to interface with external automatic test equipment (ATE) for off-line fault diagnosis within the SRA. The constituent parts of the BIT system have been extensively simulated and the approach appears to be suitable for hardware implementation both with respect to computational and economic considerations.     

基于AFDX的特种飞机任务电子系统总线应用研究

随着航空电子系统综合化程度的不断提高,对数据总线的通信能力提出了更高的要求,此需求对于具备较高信息收集能力的特种飞机任务电子系统来说尤为突出.本文提出了一种基于航空全双工交换式以太网(AFDX)的特种飞机任务电子系统构建思路,并对其进行了分析与验证.     

计算机图形系统发展简述

飞机座舱显示控制系统是航空电子系统的核心子系统,其技术基础之一是计算机图形学。本文简要介绍了计算机图形学的发展历史及其标准,重点分析了计算机图形系统从专业图形工作站到PC机到嵌入式设备的发展历程,可作为研究机载嵌入式图形系统的理论背景。     

A novel BIST scheme for circuit aging measurement of aerospace chips

The avionics working environment is bad, easy to accelerate aging of circuits. Circuit aging is one of the important factors that influence the reliability of avionics, so circuit aging testing is of great significance to improve the reliability of avionics. As continuing aging would degrade circuit performance, aging can be monitored through precise measurement of performance degradation. However, previous methods for predicting circuit performance have limited prediction accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel Built-In Self-Test (BIST) scheme for circuit aging measurement, which constructs self-oscillation loops employing parts of critical paths and activates oscillations by specific test patterns. An aging signature counter is then used to capture the oscillation frequency and in turn measure the aging state of the circuit. We propose to implement this measurement process by BIST. Experimental results show that the proposed in-field aging measurement is robust with respect to process variations and can achieve a precision of about 90%. The application of this scheme has a certain value to improve the reliability of avionics systems.