Raytheon's new Distributed Flight Data Acquisition
Unit system relies on fiber optics and remote sensors to gather and record critical flight data on
passenger aircraft.
|
The Raytheon Company has successfully completed a key integration test for its next-generation, digital flight, data recording system. The company's new Distributed Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU) system relies on fiber optic technology and remote sensors to gather and record significant amounts of critical flight data on passenger aircraft. Use of the technology will allow airliners to meet new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations that call for digital flight data recorders to gather substantially more information than was previously required. The new regulation requires new aircraft to have flight data recorders capable of monitoring up to 57 flight parameters (88 parameters by mid-August 2002).
A "bench" test of the DFDAU was conducted at the company's facility in Wichita, KS. After successful ground and flight testing, Raytheon expects the system to be FAA certified by the end of the year when it will begin installing the DFDAU in its Beech 1900D, 19-passenger regional airliner.
The DFDAU system will provide detailed and accurate recording of pilot actions and aircraft responses during a flight by gathering information from multiple channel sensing and control modules that are interconnected by optical fiber rather than traditional shielded, twisted pair wiring. Because intelligence can be gathered from multiple sources distributed throughout the aircraft and shared via a single fiber optic cable, use of the system reduces the cumbersome wiring and offers improved signal fidelity that is immune to electromagnetic interference and transmission failures. In addition, the system can easily support more than one flight data recorder without redundant wiring. This benefit will provide substantial savings for airlines if additional flight data recorders are ever mandated for other locations on passenger aircraft.
Once in use on the Beech 1900D, the DFDAU system will use distributed processing to translate and route data received from more than 160 sources and interfaces located throughout the aircraft. The system will translate the data into an industry standard open protocol (SAE AS-5370) and then route that data to the 1900D's digital flight data recorder using a fault-tolerant fiber optic network. On the 1900D, the DFDAU system will consist of seven identical DFDAUs linked by fiber. Each DFDAU is capable of capturing physical parameters from up to 32 sources, such as altitude, gyros, navigation and flight instruments, autopilot, the Global Positioning System, traffic collision avoidance system, flight control surface position sensors, engine sensors, cockpit controls, position and force sensors as well as the deicing, warning, and other critical systems.
Frank Bokulich
