UNIT 1

INTRODUCTION TO AVIONICS

AVIONICS:

Avionics are the electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites, and spacecraft.
Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of
multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to perform
individual functions. These can be as simple as a searchlight for a police helicopter or as
complicated as the tactical system for an airborne early warning platform. The
term avionics is a compound of the words aviation and electronics.

HISTORY OF AVIONICS
The term "avionics" was coined by the journalist Philip J. Klass as a portmanteau of
"aviation electronics”. Many modern avionics have their origins in World War II wartime
developments. For example, autopilot systems that are commonplace today began as
specialized systems to help bomber planes fly steadily enough to hit precision targets
from high altitudes. Famously, radar was developed in the UK, and then given to the US
through the Tizard Mission. Modern avionics is a substantial portion of military aircraft
spending. Aircraft like the F-15E and the now retired F-14 have roughly 20 percent of
their budget spent on avionics. Most modern helicopters now have budget splits of 60/40
in favour of avionics.
The civilian market has also seen a growth in cost of avionics. Flight control systems (fly-
by-wire) and new navigation needs brought on by tighter airspaces, have pushed up
development costs. The major change has been the recent boom in consumer flying. As
more people begin to use planes as their primary method of transportation, more elaborate
methods of controlling aircraft safely in these high restrictive airspaces have been
invented.
MODERN AVIONICS
Avionics plays a heavy role in modernization initiatives like the Federal Aviation
Administration's (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation System project in the United
States and the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) initiative in Europe.
The Joint Planning and Development Office put forth a roadmap for avionics in six areas:

 Published Routes and Procedures – Improved navigation and routing

 Negotiated Trajectories – Adding data communications to create preferred routes

dynamically
 Delegated Separation – Enhanced situational awareness in the air and on the
ground

 LowVisibility/CeilingApproach/Departure – Allowing operations with weather

constraints with less ground infrastructure

 Surface Operations – To increase safety in approach and departure

 ATM Efficiencies – Improving the ATM process

AIRCRAFT AVIONICS
The cockpit of an aircraft is a typical location for avionic equipment, including control,
monitoring, communication, navigation, weather, and anti-collision systems. The majority
of aircraft power their avionics using 14- or 28-volt DC electrical systems; however,
larger, more sophisticated aircraft (such as airliners or military combat aircraft)
have AC systems operating at 400 Hz, 115 volts AC.[8] International standards for
avionics equipment are prepared by the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee
(AEEC) and published by ARINC.

NEED FOR AVIONICS IN CIVIL,MILITRARY AND SPACE

SYSTEMS:
Avionics are advanced electronics used in aircraft, spacecraft and satellites. These
systems perform various functions including communication, navigation, flight control,
display systems, flight management etc. There is a great need for advanced avionics in
civil, military and space systems.

Figure 1 – Instrument Panel Layout

Figure 2 – EFIS screen
The display is an 8”, high resolution VGA screen, with built-in features:

– Air data computer

– VOR and ILS LOC radio
– COM radio
– GPS receiver
– Glideslope receiver
– Solid-state attitude and heading reference system
– A/D converter

CIVIL AIRCRAFT

Some of the features which are afford by avionics system in civil aircrafts includes
 For better flight control, performing computations and increased control over
flight control surfaces.
 For navigation, provide information using sensors like Altitude and Head
Reference System (AHRS).
 Provide air data like altitude, atmospheric pressure, temperature, etc.
 Reduce crew workload.
  Increased safety for crew and passengers.
 Reduction in aircraft weight which can be translated into increased number of
passengers or long range.
 All weather operation
 Reduction in aircraft maintenance cost.
 Redundancy
 User friendly systems are used in display and engine information systems.
 Increases flight safety

MILITARY AIRCRAFT

The military provided a large and profitable market for the electronics industry. Since
1995 the military market has constituted less than 1 percent of the commercial integrated
circuit market. As a result, the military must rely increasingly on avionics system
upgrades and new designs.

For today’s armed forces, faced with new threats on exceptional theatres of operations, and
committed to very fast interventions with an obligation to make a success of the mission,
equipment availability is crucial. When joint task and inter-allied force exercises demand
versatility and speed of reconfiguration, connectivity becomes essential as well as the
protection of the systems against cyber-attacks.

In this context of deep and rapid transformations, avionics systems need to perform well with
high availability and integrity. Aircraft have to incorporate intuitive man-machine interfaces
capable of reducing the pilots’ workload and extremely reliable flight management systems,
with everything supported by powerful critical computers as well as communication,
navigation and surveillance systems adapted to meet the requirements of success and security.

Over recent years, we have concentrated our developments around the pilot’s workload, the
integrity of the exchanges, system security and the insertion of the military carriers in civil air
traffic. The optimization of acquisition and evolution cycles in order to constantly master the
adaptation of systems to the needs is also one of our principal concerns.

Some of the features of avionics in military aircrafts includes

 Avionics in fighter aircraft eliminates the need for a second crew member like
navigator, observer etc., which helps in reducing the training costs.
 A single seat fighter is lighter and costs less than an equivalent two seat version.
 Improved aircraft performance, control and better handling.
 Reduction in maintenance costs.
 Secure communication.
Decline in the military market share for integrated circuits.

SPACE SYSTEMS

The most difficult avionics design task is making equipment for operation in outer space.
The equipment must provide 100 percent reliability under harsh environmental conditions
and where repair usually is impossible. While some snicker when something goes wrong
on a space project, I remain amazed that anything works in that environment.

Critical in space is the absence of a protective atmosphere surrounding electronic

equipment. Left in an unprotected vacuum far from Earth, equipment is pounded by
radiation and prey to transient electromagnetic fields of enormous energy, as the space
platform passes through the effects of solar flares, which we see on Earth as distant
auroral activity.Gravity usually is missing in space vehicles, affecting many systems.
Also, there is the risk of impact by high-energy microscopic debris traveling at 25,000
miles per hour. Most lubricants cannot survive in this environment, which also stresses
many metals and plastics to the point of failure.

Avionics systems in space also are subjected to a wide range of radiation, including
infrared and visible light, ultraviolet (which, without atmospheric protection, is ionizing),
X-ray and gamma radiation, galactic cosmic rays (GCR–the general term for particles and
emissions from all external space sources, excluding the sun), and an ongoing stream of
protons from the sun. During solar flares and coronal mass ejections, the sun emits high-
energy protons that can be lethal to both astronauts and avionics systems.

It’s no accident that most Shuttle missions are close to the Earth, to provide as much
protection as possible from these different radiation events.

Some of the features in these space systems include

 Fly-by-wire communication system used for space vehicle’s attitude and

translation control.
 Sensors used in the spacecraft for obtaining data.
  Autopilot redundancy system.
 On-board computers used in satellites for processing the data.

TECHNOLOGIES USED IN SPACECRAFTS

 Redundant and single string spacecraft avionics for medium, small and
microsatellite buses

 Single-board computers

 Solid-state recorders

 Command and data handling

 Electrical power system

 Attitude control and propulsion

 Advanced payload management and processing

 Manufacturing systems

 Spacecraft avionics

APPLICATIONS OF AVIONICS IN SPACE SYSTEMS

 Hyperspectral imaging

 Synthetic aperature radar

 High-rate optical and RF (radio-frequency) communications

 Precision closed-loop control

 Advanced signal and image processing

FUTURE OF AVIONICS IN SPACE SYSTEMS

Moog has developed an extensible avionics suite called the Control Electronics Platform
(CEP) that allows customers to pick and choose electronics cards to solve their launch
vehicle application problems. This suite of cards is designed to provide solutions for
propulsion control, thrust vector control, stage control, and even guidance and navigation
control when paired with an appropriate inertial management unit (IMU). One enclosure
houses all of these cards on a unique backplane that provides minimal latency and rugged
interfaces to ensure operation during the toughest launch vehicle environments.

DIGITAL COMPUTER

Digital computer, any of a class of devices capable of solving problems by processing

information in discrete form. It operates on data, including magnitudes, letters, and
symbols, that are expressed in binary code—i.e., using only the two digits 0 and 1. By
counting, comparing, and manipulating these digits or their combinations according to a
set of instructions held in its memory, a digital computer can perform such tasks as to
control industrial processes and regulate the operations of machines; analyze and organize
vast amounts of business data; and simulate the behaviour of dynamic systems (e.g.,
global weather patterns and chemical reactions) in scientific research.

FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS

A typical digital computer system has four basic functional elements: (1) input-output
equipment, (2) main memory, (3) control unit, and (4) arithmetic-logic unit. Any of a
number of devices is used to enter data and program instructions into a computer and to
gain access to the results of the processing operation. Common input devices include
keyboards and optical scanners; output devices include printers and monitors. The
information received by a computer from its input unit is stored in the main memory or, if
not for immediate use, in an auxiliary storage device. The control unit selects and calls up
instructions from the memory in appropriate sequence and relays the proper commands to
the appropriate unit. It also synchronizes the varied operating speeds of the input and
output devices to that of the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) so as to ensure the proper
movement of data through the entire computer system. The ALU performs the arithmetic
and logic algorithms selected to process the incoming data at extremely high speeds—in
many cases in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). The main memory, control unit, and
ALU together make up the central processing unit (CPU) of most digital computer
systems, while the input-output devices and auxiliary storage units constitute
TYPES OF COMPUTER MEMORY
Memory is the most essential element of a computing system because without it computer
can’t perform simple tasks. Computer memory is of two basic type – Primary memory /
Volatile memory and Secondary memory / non-volatile memory. Random Access
Memory (RAM) is volatile memory and Read Only Memory (ROM) is non-volatile
memory.

1. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) –

 It is also called as read write memory or the main memory or the primary
memory.
 The programs and data that the CPU requires during execution of a program are
stored in this memory.
 It is a volatile memory as the data loses when the power is turned off.
 RAM is further classified into two types- SRAM (Static Random Access
Memory) and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).
 2. READ ONLY MEMORY (ROM) –

 Stores crucial information essential to operate the system, like the program
essential to boot the computer.
 It is not volatile.
 Always retains its data.
 Used in embedded systems or where the programming needs no change.
 Used in calculators and peripheral devices.
 ROM is further classified into 4 types- ROM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM.

Types of Read Only Memory (ROM) –

1. PROM (Programmable read-only memory) – It can be programmed by user. Once
programmed, the data and instructions in it cannot be changed.
2. EPROM (Erasable Programmable read only memory) – It can be reprogrammed.
To erase data from it, expose it to ultra violet light. To reprogram it, erase all the
previous data.
3. EEPROM (Electrically erasable programmable read only memory) – The data can
be erased by applying electric field, no need of ultra violet light. We can erase only
portions of the chip.