Avionic data bus bandwidth

Citation

(2005), "Avionic data bus bandwidth", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 77 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2005.12777caf.010

Avionic data bus bandwidth

Avionic data bus bandwidth

Keywords: Military aircraft

Data Device Corporation (DDC) reports that it has conducted research which shows that, theoretically, the bandwidth of the MIL-STD-1553 data bus, which is widely used in military aircraft avionic systems, could be increased significantly. Currently MIL- STD-1553 operates at 1MB/s but DDC's work shows that the theoretical capacity within a legacy system could be increased to 200MB/s. The conclusion is significant in so far as avionic legacy system bandwidth upgrades could be achieved very cost effectively.

DDC is a leading supplier of the MIL-STD-1553 interface circuits that are used in the networks of most of the western world's military aircraft. Whilst the MIL-STD-1553 1MB/s data rate is adequate for current avionics use, there are many emerging applications that require a far higher bandwidth. The challenge facing the industry is to find methods of supplementing the current data bus standard with higher bandwidth communication channels over the existing wiring.

For the research DDC constructed test networks representing real-life avionic systems ranging from a simple network with two couplers and 200 feet (61m) of cable to a complex network with 300 feet of cable (92m) and 32 stubs. DDC believes that the characteristics of a most MIL-STD- implementations lie between these two extremes.

The conclusion of the research was that the additional usable bandwidth is largely dependent on the number of couplers, the characteristics of the coupling transformers and the length of the bus and stubs.

The paper summarizing the research is available from DDC upon request: by e-mail: info@ ddc-web.com or Tel: +1 631 567 5600 ext. 7257