What is avionics? electronic equipment on board aircraft. Development stages of onboard equipment Aircraft electronic equipment

26.11.2020

The term "avionics" is borrowed from the English language and is not popular even among aviation specialists in our country. This term is used to designate all electronic systems - from the most complex to the simplest, installed on board an aircraft.

Modern aviation technology requires a high-quality and highly professional approach to maintenance and repair. After all, the comfort and safety of passengers and aircraft crew, as well as the correct organization of the continuity of aircraft flights, depend on the flawless operation of the equipment.

In domestic aviation, the following classification of equipment on board an aircraft is adopted:

aircraft equipment;
Avionics - equipment that emits or receives radio waves during operation;
aeronautical equipment - contains electronic components that use electric current and do not use radio waves.

A bit of history

In the seventies of the last century, the term "avionics" first entered the lexicon of Western experts. The development of electronics has reached a sufficiently high level to use its achievements in the aviation industry.

The first on-board computers and electronic control and management systems turned out to be irreplaceable assistants in the organization of aircraft flights.

New technologies were introduced more actively in military aviation. And very quickly the development of this direction led to the fact that combat aircraft became a kind of platform for various sensors and electronic systems.

Today, about 80 percent of military aircraft manufacturing costs are avionics. But even in civil aviation, the cost of electronic equipment is a significant part of the estimated cost of aircraft production.

Communication system - potential vulnerabilities were found in this component and aviation industry specialists are busy eliminating them.
The state-of-the-art navigation system assists the pilot in guiding the aircraft along a given route and in maneuvering during an approach.
Equipment for recording flight parameters. Flight recorders allow you to analyze the correctness of the crew's actions, the flight conditions and the peculiarities of the functioning of the equipment on board the aircraft.

This list is far from complete, but it gives a general idea and concept of the meaning invested in the concept of "avionics".

Combat aircraft control systems. Impact force:

F-35 fighter avionics

Major G. Antonov

In the United States, a full-scale development of a promising tactical fighter under the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program, which received the official designation F-35, is underway. Its main goal is to create a new combat aircraft with high tactical and technical characteristics and a single design for the Air Force, Navy aviation and the United States Marine Corps. It will become the main aircraft of tactical aviation and will replace the current tactical fighters (F-16 Fighting Falcon, F / A-18 Hornet) and attack aircraft (A-10 Thunderbolt and AV-8B Harrier) in service. 2 ").
When developing on-board radio electronic equipment (avionics) of the aircraft, specialists used the results of advanced research in the field of optoelectronic (OE) and radar equipment, individual electronic warfare (EW) equipment, as well as computers and software. These vehicles have a high degree of sensor integration with the ability to exchange intelligence and information about the electronic environment, which will allow each pilot to navigate the situation throughout the theater of operations. In addition, to reduce the pilot's workload, a fundamentally new interface was installed with the possibility of voice control of the aircraft.
At the initial design stage, it was planned that the fighter would not have active reconnaissance assets and the pilot would receive information from special reconnaissance aircraft, satellites and other sources. This measure would reduce the cost of its equipment, however, in connection with the development of the element base, it was calculated that the maintenance of individual reconnaissance aircraft would be more expensive and less effective than equipping fighters with reconnaissance equipment. In addition, a large number of aircraft with sensitive sensors linked by high-speed data lines will provide complete information superiority over the battlefield.
The fourth generation radar station and the electronic warfare complex of the F-35 aircraft (Fig. 2) are combined into a multifunctional integrated system (MIS). The station will be equipped with an active phased array (AFAR) based on the APG-77 station antenna. This will make it possible to use it for radar and electronic reconnaissance, electronic warfare and communications.
AFAR consists of 1,000-1,200 transceiver modules (TPM) connected by high-speed processors. Different PPMs in the antenna aperture may have different tasks. Due to the fact that the diameter of the antenna is limited by the size of the fuselage, the total number of APMs is reduced by one third (compared to the APG-77 APAR), which leads to a decrease in the target detection range to 165 km. The station should operate in the frequency range 8-12.5 GHz (according to some sources, 6-18 GHz).

Such broadband will be ensured by varying the size and shape of the PPM emitters and will simultaneously form two radiation patterns (at different frequencies), ensuring the operation of the radar in the following modes:
- detection and tracking of air and ground targets;
- passive direction finding of ground-based radars;
- transmission of correction signals to the air-to-air missile system;
- synthesizing the radar aperture;
- selection of moving ground targets (including low-speed ones);
- ultra-high resolution (up to 0.3-0.9 m);
- monopulse terrain mapping;
- data exchange with other aircraft. In addition, the fact that the radar can operate in a wide range of wavelengths with random restructuring of the pulse repetition rate in the packet increases its noise immunity. Depending on the selected operating mode, its carrier frequency will change: a lower frequency will be used in the aperture synthesis mode, and a higher frequency will be used to detect air targets at a long range. The radome of the antenna must be radio transparent in a wide wavelength range.
The antenna beam is capable of scanning space, moving from one point to another at a speed of several million times per second, so each target will be illuminated up to 15 times per second. The service life of the antenna is about 8,000 hours.
The main methods of jamming used in the radar are: disruption of tracking in range, speed and adaptive cross-polarization interference.
In addition to the radar, the MIS includes a complex of electronic warfare equipment, the main developer of which is the firm "BAe systems". It will be designed based on the electronic warfare equipment of the F-22 tactical fighter. All equipment is planned to be placed under the skin of the aircraft. To accurately determine the direction of arrival of the signal and the distance to the source in the irradiation warning system, a correlation interferometer is used, the input of which will receive data from the antennas and radar located on the wings. Additionally, the electronic warfare equipment will include a device for ejecting dipole reflectors and specially designed multispectral infrared (IR) traps. The fighter pilot will be able to receive information from other aircraft through the tactical data link, which will give him an overview of the situation throughout the theater of operations. The expected MTBF of the complex is 440 hours.
To obtain information in the visible and infrared frequency ranges, an integrated OE system will be placed on board the aircraft, which includes a Distributed Aperture System (DAS) and an optoelectronic sighting subsystem (OEPS).
It is planned to install the OEPP in the nose under the aircraft fuselage. It is supposed to use the Sniper-XR system developed for the F-16 aircraft as its prototype. Placing the subsystem on the fighter will allow the crew to independently search, detect, recognize and automatically track tactical ground targets in a passive mode at a range of 15-20 km at any time of the day, as well as search and track air targets. The laser will make it possible to aim guided high-precision weapons, including the latest J-series, and hit important land and sea targets (communication centers, transport hubs, deep command posts, warehouses, surface ships, etc.) with high accuracy (Fig. 3 ).
The OEPP includes a forward-looking infrared camera operating in the wavelength range of 8-12 microns, a television camera on charge-coupled devices, a laser rangefinder-target designator and a laser-marker. The display, located in the cockpit, can display information from television and IR systems in real time.
The main features of this subsystem are the use of the latest algorithms for detecting and recognizing ground objects from the obtained two-dimensional image and stabilization of the optoelectronic unit based on advanced technologies, which made it possible to increase the accuracy of the system by more than 3 times compared to similar ones.
To prevent damage to the OEPP sensors (stationary and with a wide aperture), a sapphire crystal will be installed, which has high strength and is transparent to the visible and IR wavelength ranges, but does not transmit radar signals. The maximum range of the laser is 40-50 km. Angles of vision: narrow 0.5 x 0.5 °, medium 1 * G. wide 4 ■ 4 \u003d. The planned MTBF is about 700 hours.
The DAS subsystem includes six infrared sensors that provide an overview of the space in all directions. Information from them can be projected onto a helmet-mounted sighting system, which will enable the pilot to see the situation in the infrared spectrum under the aircraft, and in addition, it will be used as an auxiliary navigation aid. It is assumed that the installation on a fighter of this subsystem with a distributed aperture will reduce 30 percent. cost and halve the total weight of IR sensors.
One of the most important places in the avionics of the F-35 aircraft is the SSNO. It performs the tasks of aircraft identification, navigation, closed multi-channel multi-band voice communication, inter-aircraft communication.
data and synchronization of displays of several aircraft. The received signal is processed within the system, and high-level information is supplied to its output. It is planned that the SSNO will operate (emit and receive) more than 35 different waveforms in the frequency range 30 MHz - ^ 0 GHz. The system includes the following main modules: a broadband module that performs analog-to-digital conversion and signal processing; a two-channel transceiver that receives and digitizes ultra-wideband signals and outputs amplifier power control signals; power supply equipment; SSNO processors that perform signal, data and secret communication processing; interface blocks.
All the necessary information from the sensors, after being processed in the integrated central processing unit (ICP), will be sent to the display in the cockpit via a fiber-optic data line (2 Gbps). One of the main requirements for cockpit equipment is the possibility of its inexpensive and fast modernization through the use of advanced information processing systems, graphics processors and multifunctional displays. The display system should find wide application of the element base of commercial production.
It is planned to use two new technologies in the information display system installed in the cockpit: Big Picture and Virtual Cockpit. Elements of these technologies were clearly demonstrated on the current layout of the F-35 aircraft cockpit.
Although the F-35 currently uses two side-by-side Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD) displays with a field size of 20.3 x 25.4 cm, work is underway to replace them with one common display with with a field size of 20.3 x 50.8 cm. This monitor will occupy the entire upper part of the dashboard and should serve as an indicator of general situational information. It will reflect the tactical situation (the current coordinates of the aircraft, routes, their intermediate points, the location of the enemy's combat assets and their troops). The information on the display must come from a radar or optoelectronic system, which will allow target designation in any weather conditions.
LCD monitors have more than 256 colors and high resolution (1,280 x 1,024 ppi).
Speaking about the technical capabilities of the information display system, the following features should be noted:
- rejection of the indication on the windshield and the complete transfer of this function to the helmet-mounted target designation system and display information on the protective shield of the pilot's helmet;
- voice control of individual functions of the information display system and the aircraft armament control system (with ordinary speech instructions, the pilot can switch the operating modes of various equipment and give commands to use weapons);
- the use of expert systems that provide analysis of current information and the development of instructions for the pilot on appropriate actions. Due to the operational planning of the flight mission, the survival of the aircraft during its combat use increases to a greater extent than through the use of special design solutions and means of increasing survivability. The situation information displayed on the widescreen display contains data on the current position of the aircraft on the route and the location of enemy combat assets (air defense systems and aircraft in the air), obtained by summarizing information from various (including external) information sources. The computer plotting the sectors of the enemy's means of destruction on a moving map of the terrain makes it easier for the pilot to maneuver. It also displays the areas of use of their own weapons.
In 2000, one of the newest components of the F-35 aircraft was demonstrated for the first time, the so-called "onboard intelligence", implemented using special software. This was done by demonstrating the information and control field of the aircraft cockpit not in a static form, but in a virtual reality mode, which almost completely reproduces the control of an aviation combat complex during its use.
The Airborne Intelligence System was developed as part of a comprehensive computing and airborne systems program recently led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). An important part of it was the development of the Pilot Assistant system.
ka ". Based on a balanced combination of conventional control algorithms and artificial intelligence technology, this system should provide information support in the following situations:
- combat conditions are significantly different from those predicted;
- an unforeseen threat forces you to reconsider the original task;
- as a result of the failure of onboard subsystems, deterioration of characteristics or damage received in battle, it is necessary to make changes to the combat mission;
- the pilot is overloaded with uncorrelated data.
The system is designed to perform the following functions: determining the state of onboard systems; assessment of the situation; planning and defining tactics for performing a combat mission; ensuring the interaction of the pilot with the aviation complex.
An important element of the F-35 flight control system is the autopilot. Its capabilities are enhanced by integration with an expert collision warning and obstacle avoidance system. Using the terrain database, the autopilot determines the minimum height above the surface from which a stable and clear target image can be obtained in aperture synthesis mode, and ensures a safe flight.
In the development of the fighter, great importance was given to the onboard computer, the key element of which is the PPI. The latter will receive information from various sensors located on the aircraft, with subsequent processing and analysis of possible decision-making options. In parallel with the PPI, the data is processed in the search planning modules (MPP), attack and fly-over of the places of unwanted collision with the enemy.
The MPP is designed for more effective detection of ground targets based on the criteria for their selection on the terrain. For example, according to the data from the sensors, a column of tanks will be distinguished, based on the terrain, road network, relative position and speed of vehicles. The system will also be able to query (interactively on the display or using a speech synthesizer and analyzer) from the squadron commander about the number of aircraft in the group and, after receiving a response, display the optimal search location for a tank column for each aircraft, highlighting the most likely locations on the map.
After capturing a target (or a group of targets), the attack planning module will provide the pilot with information on the optimal maneuver, taking into account the threats, and, if necessary, will send a request to the crews of other aircraft to provide support and cover the aircraft.
The onboard computer with the ICP of the F-35 fighter is located in two blocks with 23 and 8 slots. It allows you to combine the control of individual tasks and weapons, as well as perform a special signal processing function. The performance of the PPI will be at the level of 40.8 billion ops / s, the signal processor - 75.6 billion with floating point, and the processor for processing and image formation - 225.6 billion addition / multiplication operations. The design of the computer includes 22 modules of seven different types:
- four universal processor modules;
- two input / output modules for a universal processor;
- two signal processing modules;
- five input / output modules of the signal processor;
- two image processing modules;
- two switches;
- five power supply units.
In addition, the PPI has connectors for installing removable modules and an additional power supply unit. It uses standard 128-bit civilian Microprocessors "Motorola G4" Power PC.
All modules for data processing use an operating system (OS) operating in real time, by Green Hills Software Integrity and an OS by Mercury Computer Systems for signal processing.
The PPI modules are connected through two switches with 32 ports each by connecting them to a high-performance serial bus of the IEEE 1394B standard at a speed of 400 Mbit / s, which ensures communication between the PPI and SSNO with the aircraft control system (ACS), which performs the functions of monitoring and efficient use of fuel, electrical, hydraulic and other aircraft systems. The SUPA computer includes two processors of the same type as the universal PPI module. The open architecture and the use of civilian components significantly reduce the cost of equipment and its subsequent modernization. In May 2003, the first SULA computer was assembled, and its final version is planned to be received by the end of 2005.
The processing of incoming signals at the initial stage (lower level) will be carried out directly in the information collection systems, and most of the high-level processes - in the ICP computer. For example, the radar will be able to generate a signal shape and convert it from analog to digital, but information about the range to the target and the results of beam scanning will be transmitted to the PPI computer, from the output of which the processed results will be sent to the display located in the cockpit or to the helmet-mounted system target designation.
The volume of software PPI of the F-35 fighter will be 5 million command lines, which is 2 times more than that of the F-22. This is due to the placement of more complex equipment on it, as well as the ability to work with a large number of modes.
On the new aircraft, pilots will be able to upload pre-flight missions and copy information (including recorded in video format) to a portable handheld device with a capacity of several hundred Gigabytes from Smif Aerospace, which will also install a large memory capacity and a file server on the aircraft.
In late October 2001, the US Department of Defense announced that it had signed a $ 19 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to develop and test the F-35. By the end of 2002, the design phase of the fighter and the discussion of the project was completed, followed by its evaluation until mid-2003. The total number of fully equipped aircraft (in accordance with the contract) will be 14 units. Five F-35A aircraft with conventional take-off / landing (for the Air Force), five ship-based F-35Cs (for the Navy) and four F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (for the Marine Corps). In addition, the DoD will receive eight flightless aircraft for a series of static tests, one F-35C for shock testing and one frame for assessing changes in radar reflection. The first flight of the F-35A fighter is scheduled for October 2005, the F-35B - at the beginning of 2006, and the F-35C - nine months later.
The flight test program for some items of equipment included two stages. The first one took place on an aircraft of the VAS 1-11 laboratory, on board of which an AFAR and OE sighting demonstration system, as well as sensors of a system with a distributed aperture
round. The second phase consisted of integrating Lockheed-Martin sensors with software. Based on the results of the tests, which lasted six months, a proof test was carried out to accompany the F / A-18 aircraft, which served as a target.
In addition to the main contractor, the following companies are involved in the development of avionics for the F-35 fighter: Kaiser Electronics and Elbit - helmet-mounted target designation system, Bell Aerospace - SSNO and its antennas (one frequency range 2-4 GHz, two - 0 , 3-1 GHz, 2 antennas of radio altimeters and 3 - frequency ranges 1-2 GHz for each aircraft), "Harris" - cockpit equipment, image processing software and digital map formation, fiber-optic lines, high-speed communication lines and elements SSNO, "Honeywell" - radio altimeter, inertial navigation system and NAVSTAR KRNS, "Raytheon" - 24-channel noise-resistant KRNS receiver.
Full-scale development of the F-35 tactical fighter is estimated at
$ 23.8 billion. The first production vehicles are expected to enter service in 2010. In total, it is planned to purchase about 2,600 vehicles for the US Armed Forces. The UK, a full-fledged member of the program, provides 10% funding and plans to purchase about 150 F-35 fighters. In addition, at the moment, a number of other states have shown interest in the new aircraft (Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Australia). The volume of export deliveries of F-35 fighters may exceed 2,000 aircraft. The cost of one aircraft will be $ 40-50 million (depending on the option).
A promising tactical fighter F-35 developed under the JSF program. The pilot of this aircraft will be able to effectively control and use the entire avionics complex, deciding on the optimal trajectory to reach the target and the use of weapons, as well as monitor the implementation of the combat mission based on information received from onboard sensors and external sources.

Avionics

U235 wrote: On the part of avionics: in terms of the level of novelty in this part, the Superjet can only be compared with the Tu-4, when our industry at once reached a new level of on-board electronics.

The first innovation is a single onboard digital bus interface. This technology makes it possible, instead of thick bundles of numerous signal wires, to transmit all control commands to multiple actuators throughout the aircraft along one wire (for reliability, 2-4 such buses are laid), which allows to obtain a noticeable gain in weight and to simplify the problem of electrical interference in signal circuits. On the latest military aircraft (the Rafale fighter, for example), such tires are generally made on optical fiber and, as a result, they are not afraid of short circuits, and there is no electromagnetic interference there even in a nuclear explosion.

The second innovation is an intelligent and deeply integrated with all aircraft systems digital control system. Such a control system, introduced for the first time in full on passenger aircraft by Airbus and Thales, makes it possible to implement many functions previously unavailable on domestic aircraft:

1. Fast and convenient flight mode switching. So, for example, a go-around is done by pressing one button, after which the corresponding program is turned on and the system itself increases the thrust of the engines, sets the flaps and switches the MFI indication to the appropriate modes, displaying the escape pattern on them. Where earlier pilots had to run their fingers around the cockpit, manually switching systems, now they need to press one or two buttons setting the desired mode or program and the system will do the rest of the routine switching by itself.

2. Protection from dangerous modes and assistance to the pilot. Modern intelligent digital EDSU makes it possible to hammer in them restrictions that do not allow reaching dangerous flight modes and programs for leaving these modes. If there is a danger of a stall, the aircraft will lower its nose and increase the engine thrust; if the permissible speed is exceeded, the aircraft will raise its nose, extinguishing the speed. When certain speeds are exceeded, the system itself can retract the flaps and landing gear if the pilots forget to do so. In the Superjet, for example, there is software protection against touching the tail of the runway during takeoff or landing: the plane itself is not allowed to hit the runway with its tail.

3. Fly-by-wire technology, which allows for simple and logical control of the aircraft and minimizes the individual characteristics of the aircraft type. By deflecting the stick, the pilot sets the roll rate of the aircraft or the corresponding pitch control function. This makes it easy to retrain pilots for other aircraft produced by this campaign, because they all react exactly the same to the same deflection of the handle. Therefore, for example, retraining pilots from A320 to a huge A380 can take a couple of weeks. thanks to this technology, they are very similar in management

We have never done all this in full before, and Thales has huge practical experience in this area, they all tested it on the 320 family, which is actively flying around the world.

So far, the hardware is foreign, but we were allowed to make software for it, and with the opportunity to learn and adopt the experience of specialists from Thales, what does it mean in this area much more piece of iron.

Making electronics by itself is not so tricky. Everything is done on standard microcircuits and standard switching circuits. The main know-how there is algorithms and programs and that is what we learn to do ourselves. While on the finished western iron. Let's figure out how it works and learn how to write programs for such systems - we can then make a similar system ourselves from purchased parts. Microelectronics engineers will catch up - then the parts will be ours. Not all at once.

Boards and circuitry in digital technology are a secondary matter. In principle, you can easily purchase the necessary parts and assemble, for example, a CISCO router. Everything that it consists of, in principle, is on sale and the scheme to copy is also nothing tricky. But you won't get a working router like that. the main thing in it is the programs embedded in it, without which it is just useless trash. So it is with the onboard electronics of modern aircraft.

PS: The pilot no longer decides at what angle to deflect the control surface - but sets the angular speeds of rotation of the aircraft. And EDSU itself decides at what angle to deflect this very surface. And this is not an invention of Thales - it is a global trend. Get used to the fact that it is not the pilot who sits in the cockpit, but the robot operator.

Security, protection

The safety of this approach can be judged by the following logic: the likelihood that the pilot deliberately, risking damage to the landing gear, decided not to remove the landing gear at high speed is MUCH less than the probability that the pilot simply forgot about it. (As it happened recently with the Tu-154 UTair, when they reached 8000 with the landing gear extended and began to fall, and the dispatcher saved them)

As a result, on average, flight safety will increase, even if in some very, very rare situation it can lead to an accident.

Simply "warning" about a dangerous situation is not always effective. It happens that the pilot is not always adequate, inattentive, in a stupor, etc. Although, of course, everything should be done to inform the pilot and the intervention of the automatics should only be after that (if time permits)

U235: Yes, that's how it works. First, the automation warns the pilot, and if he does not react, it takes the plane out of the dangerous mode by itself. By the way, the same withdrawal of an airplane from a stall or overspeed is analogous to the behavior of a conventional airplane. Ordinary aircraft in the same way lower their nose when the speed decreases, or raise it in case of acceleration. It's just that this behavior is optimized as much as possible from the point of view of flight safety with the help of electronics. After all, a real plane can be late with lowering its nose during a stall, or, on the contrary, fall on its tail, like the Tu-154, and an airplane with control like "Airbus philosophy" will do it in time and will not allow a stall.

Everything is new in the Superjet. And the very principle of construction and interaction of the avionics complex, and many of its components separately. Well, we did not have aircraft with fully digital integrated avionics before. Maximum - there were several computers in the frame of analog electronics.

For example, 204 and 154M. There is no highly intelligent digital EDSU and avionics integrated into a single system. EDSU on both of these aircraft are analog, while what is on the Tu-154, and EDSU in the full sense can not be called. This is an SPG.

There is nothing like the 320s, where all avionics work in one bundle as a single organism. And there are no digital bus interfaces, and all control of aircraft systems goes through the bundles of weak-signal cables.

Not to mention level 380 and 787 avionics (same generation as SSJ, with AFDX)

Russia had no practical experience in building avionics of this level of automation and integration. Now there is, thanks to SSJ. If without Thales they would have swung to such a level, now they would have at the output a "unparalleled" raw and buggy product that would not fly for another year or two or four and then God knows how many glitches would be caught from there. God forbid that in test flights, and not as a result of the investigation of air crashes. And during this time the market would have been missed.

AFDX

About the AFDX standard (except for the superjet, it is used so far only on the A380 and B787).

It is not pure TCP / IP, it is based on UDP but it is not exactly UDP either. The original UDP there is serious enough, as they say, "modified with a file" for the requirements of aviation. And judging by the fact that until now not a single plane has fallen due to a plug in the tire, the control and error correction tools built into the protocol work quite successfully.

AFDX is NOT ethernet, or rather not pure ethernet. The whole vegetable garden was fenced with this AFDX precisely in order to provide both determinism and guaranteed data delivery with a delay no more critical for the worst conditions.

This is the latest technology, much better than older standards like ARINC 429 or even more mechanical drives.

ARINC 429 was developed over 30 years ago and is still widely used in the industry (in the west).

based on a bus, with one transmitter and up to 20 receivers. Data - 32-bit, transmitted over twisted pair. Two transmission rates - 100 kbps and a low speed of 12.5 kbps. Each transmitter requires direct communication with its receivers (point-to-point), which requires a significant amount of transmitting wires, which adds a lot of weight.

Boeing tried to implement a new standard, ARINC 629, on its 777 model. The 629's difference is that the transmission speed was increased to 2 Mbps, and the number of receivers was increased to 120. However, the system required non-standard and expensive hardware, so the format was not took root.

ARINC 664 is the next step in the evolution of the "aircraft LAN". The speed has increased 1000 times, up to 100 megabits / sec. It is based on IEEE 802.3 Ethernet and uses standard, cheap and well-debugged components, dramatically reducing development costs and time.
AFDX builds on this standard, formally titled "Part 7 of the ARINC 664 specification". It was developed by Airbus for the A380, but Boeing decided to use it in the new 787 Dreamliner.

AFDX solves reliability issues and guarantees network bandwidth and reliable packet delivery. AFDX is a star network topology, up to 24 systems are connected to a router (switch), where each of them can be connected to other routers on the network. This shape of the net significantly reduces the amount of wiring, reduces weight and simplifies the construction of the aircraft.
AFDX provides Quality of Service (QoS) and two-way bandwidth redundancy.

AFDX is superior to ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553 and other architectures in that it is based on standard UDP and routers. Thanks to this, the cost of the systems is reduced; their testing and debugging as a whole is radically simplified; the amount of wiring required is reduced; the weight of the aircraft is reduced; simplifies diagnostics and finding faulty components. All this increases the reliability of the aircraft as a whole, reduces repair and maintenance costs, increases flight readiness and, of course, airline revenues.

For example, in the older ARINC 429, the twisted pair had to go to each device. Separate bus for each communication path. If 5 systems want to receive some kind of signal, 5 wires are needed. New device? New wiring ... Lots of wires.

AFDX has signals connected to a switch. It doesn't matter how many systems want to receive information from some device - all the same, this device is connected to the switch with only one wire (well, for reliability, there are still several of them)

The 429 transmitter can only have 20 devices receiving the signal. In AFDX, this is practically unlimited.

In AFDX, you can monitor network traffic, emulate it, analyze and optimize it to your heart's content. There is a huge amount of software and libraries. Wires can also be fiber optic. Thanks to this system, a failed device will itself "say" about its failure - a dream for repairmen.

In general, all this is the very cutting edge of technology.

UDP is used there exactly that standard. But the original IEEE 802.3 has been refined by introducing a "virtual channel" borrowed from ATM.
And if the U235 is the U235 from the Airbase, the great "engineer" - "signalman", confusing the protocols of the channel, network and transport layers, then all his outpourings should be divided by 16 :-)

In early summer, Irkut Corporation rolled out the MC-21, Russia's first medium-haul passenger aircraft. We have already talked about how the new liner's composite wing was designed and manufactured. Now the correspondent of N + 1 visited the United Aircraft Corporation Integration Center, where functional software for the onboard equipment of a passenger aircraft is being developed and work is being carried out to integrate electronic systems and test them.

Avionics refers to all electronic systems operating on board a passenger aircraft. For a long time, various on-board electronic systems on liners were independent elements, had their own controls and indicators and, by and large, did not obey anyone. With each other, they exchanged data over special interface lines. On many modern airliners, released ten years ago, this is exactly the case: for example, the device for automatically removing the aircraft from the stall and spin modes works independently and only informs the pilots about its functioning with an illuminated indicator.

Several years ago, world aircraft manufacturers began to implement the concept of a complex of integrated onboard equipment based on integrated modular avionics (IKBO IMA). Within the framework of this concept, absolutely all peripheral electronic systems were subordinated to the on-board computer. This means that peripheral electronic systems have become simpler, since they have lost their own computer systems - now they are controlled by the main computer of the aircraft. At the same time, the systems themselves are designed according to a modular principle with an open architecture, that is, they can be replaced with new, more powerful ones, and the data transmitted by them is well documented and can be used by third-party equipment manufacturers.

A modern airplane is a large flying computer with its own operating system. Under the control of this system, many programs operate, each of which is responsible for the operation of certain equipment - opening doors, displaying indications, receiving data from external sensors, and controlling on-board electronic equipment. All these programs run on a central computer - a computer - and communicate with each other using program code inside the operating system. The hardware of the computer itself is duplicated, and if one unit fails, its place is taken by the second, and the entire system as a whole continues to work.

In general, the IKBO IMA concept both simplified and complicated the development of the onboard equipment of the aircraft. On the one hand, the transfer of all control functions to the central computer made it possible to simplify the design of peripheral systems, reduce the total weight of the equipment, speed up its operation and data exchange, and free up more space on board the aircraft. At the same time, the open architecture made it possible to choose from a variety of sensors and peripheral systems on the market, rather than specific types recommended for installation by a specific equipment manufacturer. This allows you to accurately configure the functionality of the system and make up a set of equipment based on your own financial capabilities.

On the other hand, developing avionics software has become more difficult. Yes, with every computer purchased today, the manufacturer supplies a software package for writing software, a kind of developer's tools. In order for the new set of onboard equipment to be allowed to fly on a production aircraft, it must be tested and certified. In the IKBO IMA concept, individual tests are passed by the equipment itself, software, each individual program - and all this in a complex. Earlier, when developing an on-board electronic system, one manufacturer created hardware and tested it, another - a program and tested it, and then the hardware and software were combined and certified.

At the start of the MC-21 project in the early 2000s, the onboard electronic systems of the airliner were planned to be developed and produced in Russia. But later it became clear that it would be extremely difficult, time-consuming and expensive to implement the IMA IKBO concept completely in Russia and practically from scratch. Therefore, the developers of the aircraft followed the proven path, which has long been chosen by large foreign aircraft manufacturers, from the Canadian Bombardier and the Brazilian Embraer to the American Boeing and European Aribus. We are talking about ordering finished equipment and modifying it to fit your own requirements and needs. This approach significantly saves time and costs.

It also greatly simplifies the certification of new aircraft in accordance with international standards. According to Yevgeny Lunev, head of the aircraft navigation systems department at UAC - Integration Center, the purchase of ready-made equipment with developer tools that have already passed preliminary certification tests simplifies the subsequent certification of these systems with the written software. Because even the developer's software tools supplied by the manufacturer allow you to visually write the logic of the program and set algorithms through a convenient graphical interface. This keeps manual programming to a minimum.

The basis of the MC-21 avionics is the systems of the French company Thales and the American companies Honeywell and Rockwell Collins. In particular, Thales is supplying computers that will run Russian software. Six such computers will be installed on one plane, which will work synchronously to implement duplication of functionality without interruptions. Honeywell supplies navigation boxes, which include satellite navigation, and Rockwell Collins supplies communication and data exchange systems. The combination of all supplied units into a single complex is provided by UAC - Integration Center, with the Russian company acting as a systems integrator.

Ceiling console MS-21 at the stand

Vasily Sychev

When the first Russian airliner Sukhoi Superjet 100 was being developed since Soviet times, Russian developers participated in the creation of a complex of its onboard equipment, which also consists of foreign-made blocks. At the same time, the French company Thales was fully responsible for the integration of software (the share of Russian code in it makes up a significant part) and all systems of onboard equipment. Now this state of affairs has changed. Today the company "UAC - Integration Center" is integrating the MS-21 avionics and is already partially engaged in the creation of onboard equipment complexes for many other Russian aircraft, including transport ones.

The integration of electronic systems into a single complex is carried out through a network interface, in its topology in many respects similar to the most ordinary Ethernet. The difference lies in the fact that the "broadcast" of onboard equipment into the network is strictly regulated both in terms of the amount of transmitted data, and in terms of the start time and duration of transmission. If, due to a failure, any of the subsystems starts transmitting data outside its schedule, they will not be taken into account and will not lead to incorrect operation of other equipment. Each element of the network receives the right to transmit depending on the criticality of the transmitted messages and the priority assigned to this element. All data exchange channels are duplicated.

“The onboard equipment uses a centralized control system. That is, if you need to unload any data from a certain block or carry out a software update on it, you do not need to [get into] somewhere in the technical compartment. You can do all this from the cockpit through a special panel, ”Lunev said. At the same time, in the event of a large-scale software update or upgrade, a technician can extract the old block and insert a new one in a few simple steps. They are made in a standard size, have a standard interface for connection and power supply and fixing systems.

It is clear that a modern network must also take into account the possibility of an attack by intruders, and several important steps have also been taken in this direction. The software, for example, implements analogues of computer firewalls that control network packets. In addition, the separation of networks of different levels is implemented. That is, the equipment responsible for aircraft control, navigation, and flight safety is “decoupled” from the “user” systems on board the aircraft - entertainment centers, telephony and Wi-Fi. Computing systems MC-21 will control the incoming data channel in order to avoid hacking from the outside.

Tatiana Pavlova / "UAC-Integration Center"

The MC-21 onboard equipment will perform over a hundred different functions. This should allow to reduce the workload on the crew during the flight, while reducing the composition of this crew. If on old aircraft the crew consisted of three, four, and sometimes five people, then pilots lead modern liners together. Airborne equipment, for example, before takeoff, automatically receives all important data from the control center, including the amount of fuel refueled, load and flight plan. Based on these data, all flight parameters are calculated.

MC-21 will be connected to the "aviation Internet", a single network over which aircraft can receive and transmit important data. This concept has already been implemented on the SSJ-100. “Mexican airline Interjet, the foreign operator of the Superjet, is actively using this data exchange. That is, even upon approaching the airport, the plane already receives all the data on the next flight and makes the necessary calculations. Thanks to this, the Mexicans managed to reduce the downtime of the aircraft between disembarkation and landing of passengers to 30 minutes, ”Lunev explained. Typically, aircraft idle time at airports between flights is 40-50 minutes.

The use of the "aviation Internet" also allows the on-board equipment of the aircraft to automatically send diagnostic information to the control room. For example, if one of the electronic units or some peripheral system fails in flight, the central system will send a report on this incident and then technicians on the ground will be able to quickly prepare for the upcoming repair. For example, prepare failed units for replacement. And this repair, thanks to modularity, will be fast - took out the faulty unit, put in a working one, and that's it, flew away. This approach can also significantly reduce aircraft downtime.

It should be said that many innovations here are dictated by the peculiarities of civil passenger aviation. Aircraft are expensive transport, so airlines are extremely interested in the fact that the newly purchased liner will pay off as soon as possible and start making profit as soon as possible. One of the ways to achieve this is to reduce the downtime of the liner between flights - the tighter the schedule, the more the plane will carry passengers, the more money the company will earn. It's simple. And automatic flight calculation and sending of diagnostic information, and even a central maintenance console in the cockpit can reduce the time the aircraft spends on the ground.

The MS-21 will also have a spatial navigation system that will allow the board to fly in the tight airspace of airports. The fact is that in modern large airports that receive and send many flights, the air corridors are very narrow. To make flights safer, some calculations and control have been transferred to automation. It looks like this: the plane receives input for the approach from the controller, calculates the flight path and sends it back to the controller. When other aircraft do the same, the dispatcher has the opportunity to fit a large number of aircraft in one airspace, to speed up the departure and landing of liners.

The Russian airliner will also receive automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) equipment. It is an air traffic surveillance system. In its basic design, it is a GPS-receiver that determines the location of the aircraft and its flight parameters, as well as a set of transceivers. The latter broadcast data about the aircraft to a network of ground stations, which are already transmitting them to dispatch services and other aircraft. In addition, ADS-B receives weather information along the flight route. It is believed that the massive transition of aviation to the use of ADS-B systems will improve flight safety, since it will greatly simplify air traffic control and give pilots a more complete picture of the air situation.

Tatiana Pavlova / "UAC-Integration Center"

But the automation of aircraft control processes is only part of the story. You can also simplify aircraft control with the help of interface elements. There will be no analog instruments on the MC-21 instrument panel. All information from all systems will be displayed on four full-color LCD displays, two for each pilot. These displays are manufactured in Ulyanovsk and were developed by the Ulyanovsk Instrument Design Bureau. In addition, a fifth touchscreen display will be placed between the pilots on the center console. Critical messages will be displayed on it, through which pilots will be able to control part of the aircraft's systems.

The aircraft onboard systems give out colossal amounts of information at every second of flight. What information will be displayed on the displays can be determined by the pilots themselves, choosing only the data that is relevant for a particular flight. By the way, the graphical display of data - from digital information to the normal indicator - was also developed in the "UAC - Integration Center". Pilots will be able to control the information displayed and the flight task using special trackballs, analogs of a computer mouse. Now, instead of tapping out the desired commands on the keyboard, pilots can make the desired settings with a few finger movements.

Search modeling stand

Tatiana Pavlova / "UAC-Integration Center"

Pilots will be able to control the aircraft in flight using joysticks with feedback. This digital replacement for the traditional helm features sticks located to the left of the left pilot and right of the right pilot. They should also make life much easier for the pilot - unlike the steering wheel, the joystick does not obstruct the dashboard and does not take up much space, giving pilots a aboutgreater freedom of movement.

Testing of software, interfaces and controls in the "UAC - Integration Center" is carried out at a special stand for search modeling. This stand, repeating the MC-21 cockpit in terms of controls and screens, is connected to the central computing core of the aircraft and is, conditionally, a flight simulator. All indications that are displayed on the stand screens are simulated by special programs. Such a stand allows you to check the operation of avionics, the correctness and convenience of data display, the ease of control of the aircraft, the interaction of all elements of the cockpit with each other and software.

The company has a whole system of stands on which individual programs are developed and debugged, the interaction of various elements of the graphical interface on the screens and the correct display of information, the complex of electronic equipment is checked and the joint work of programs and the operating system is tested. Work at the stands allows at the early stages of development to catch possible errors and shortcomings, as well as at the final stage to prepare the documentation necessary for the subsequent certification of the complex of onboard equipment.

The development of the Russian liner is already at its final stage. Ahead - tests that will allow "combing" the aircraft, eliminating possible flaws or inaccuracies. The MC-21 is expected to make its first flight in late 2016 - early 2017. The first production aircraft is planned to be delivered to the customer in 2018.

Tatiana Pavlova / "UAC-Integration Center"

Vasily Sychev

Avionics (from aviation and electronics) - the totality of all electronic systems developed for use in aviation. At a basic level, these are systems communications, navigation, display and control various devices - from complex (for example, radar) to the simplest (for example, searchlight of a police helicopter).

History

The term “avionics” appeared in the early 1970s, when the emergence of integrated microelectronic technologies and the creation on their basis of compact onboard high-performance computers, as well as fundamentally new automated control and monitoring systems.

Initially, the military was the main consumer of aviation electronics. Combat aircraft have evolved into flying platforms for sensors and electronic systems. Avionics now accounts for the majority of aircraft manufacturing costs. For example, for the F-15E and F-14 fighters, the share of avionics costs is 80% of the total cost of the aircraft. At present, electronic systems are widely used in civil aviation, for example, flight control systems (FCS) and flight navigation systems (FPK).