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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 3311.PDF
INDUSTRY Airbus ponders its A3XX systems role... IAN SHEPPARD/LONDON AIRBUS INDUSTRIE is con sidering passing responsibility for the integration of avionics on the proposed A3XX to a specialist, allowing companies outside the consortium to bid for the work. Speaking at the 1997 ERA Avionics Conference in London on 19 November, Michel Comes, director of systems at the Airbus Large Aircraft division, admitted that the "...debate exists within Airbus", with some arguingdiat the company should retain responsibil ity, as systems are so integral within the aircraft, while odiers say that outsourcing could be beneficial. This month, Airbus launched a multi-partner demonstrator pro gramme widi die aim of investigat ing the possibility, says Comes, who adds: "By the end of 1999, things will be clear...it's the first time an airframer has had such close contact with suppliers one or two years before die launch date". Airbus is working closely widi certification authorities to define a regulatory framework witJiin which to consider technology for the A3 XX. Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities is "...currendy nomi nating specialists in each area, and will announce a type certificate by the end of die year", says Comes. The Airbus approach to die A3XX is summed up by "tJiree key words - integrated, modular and open", says Comes. One of die main aims is to take a simpler approach than used in the Airbus A3 40, which has " 15 different stan dards and 130-150 different com puters", he says. This will be achieved by using "public stan dards for all components.. .no pro prietary standards, widi modulari ty for re-use of hardware and soft ware components to minimise development costs and reduce spares count". "We will develop the avionics for the first part of die next century on die A3XX," con cludes Comes. • ... as future avionics architecture is proven A GROUP OF major European xxavionics manufacturers has designed an avionics architecture for future aircraft which will vasdy reduce development and support costs and improve interoperability between aircraft and systems. The Industrial Avionics Work ing Group (IAWG) has completed a risk-reduction study into software techniques for integrated modular avionics (LMA) which has identified a diree-layer architecture: aircraft- dependent/hardware-indepen dent; aircraft- and hardware-inde pendent; and aircraft-indepen dent/hardware dependent, says British Aerospace technical project manager David Field. The work is part of the Allied Standards Avionics Architecture Council's (ASAAC) Phase I effort towards a standard agreement (which is known as a STANAG) on IMA. ASAAC partners are France, Germany and the UK, while the IAWG includes British Aerospace, GEC-Marconi and Smiths Industries. IMA requires new approaches to system management and system security, and introduces the con cept of system "blueprints", says Field, allowing some software to be shared rather than being perma- nendy allocated to a particular piece of hardware. Communication is also shared among many processors rather than having a relatively inefficient databus under standards such as Arinc 62 9 or Mil-Std 15 5 3 B, and is passive - each processor has its own private memory. A domain manager is also pre sent in "all processing sites", says Field, while a "rack manager, logi cally a single entity" provides an "overall topology", although it is present "on one site at a time". Airbus is also investigating what Michel Comes, director of systems at the Airbus Large Aircraft divi sion, describes as a "new concept in software - die use of different criti- cality levels on die same processor". The team claims to have taken an important step in proving its architecture, showing that the middle-layer software in its design does not depend on die underlying hardware layer. This will allow hardware modules to be replaced "at first-line maintenance", says Field. Airbus hopes diat such an archi tecture design will allow "total independence", because after a change, the system can be reconfigured simply by using an updated blueprint. Only functional applications such as flight control and stores management will be aircraft- dependent. Applications will be made potentially reusable by using a standard application-to-operat ing system layer-interface, while a module-to-operating system interface allows hardware to be interchanged. A large proportion of die system software used is dierefore not air craft-specific until the security access layer is added, allowing it to be reused and saving on costs, according to Field. • Soloy Dual Pac receives FAA STC THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has awarded Soloy a supplementary type certificate (STC) for its l,330shp (l,000kW) Dual Pac, which uses two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engines to drive a single propeller. A special condition specifies that the powerplant should continue to run if one side loses power, which Soloy has covered by incorporating dual-redundant load paths to the propeller. First application will be on the Soloy Pathfinder 21, a re-engined Cessna 208B Caravan, which is due to be certificated by the end of 1998. Dow-UT improves resin-transfer moulding process DOW-UNITED Technol ogies Composite Products (Dow-UT) has improved its advanced resin-transfer moulding (AdvRTM) process to enable pro duction of more complex carbon- fibre parts. The improved process uses shaped unidirectional-fibre pre forms to fill die gaps where two or more sections are moulded togedier. When using conventional RTM, these gaps would fill with resin as it is injected into die mould. This excessive resin build-up reduces the joint's strength, says Dow-UT. In the company's AdvRTM process, preshaped carbonfibre parts, called dry preforms, are assembled in a mould into which resin is then injected. In the improved process, gaps between sections are filled during dry assembly with triangular-section carbonfibre preforms. These are then injected with resin during the moulding process and become as strong as the rest of the component, according to Dow-UT. The improved AdvRTM process allows complex multi part components to be moulded in a single operation, says the company. The technique is already being utilised to produce composite parts for commercial jet engines, as well as for military- aircraft wings. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 December 1997 23
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