For the second year running, Avionics Magazine and AEEC (the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee) will co-host a symposium to highlight topics that are likely to require standardization in the coming years. This event, which will be held Oct. 12, during the AEEC General Session in Montreal, supports the AEEC, as it determines the "what" and "when" with respect to identifying standards projects that will provide the most benefit to the industry.
The topic this year is "data driven navigation." This subject is timely, given the push in both Europe and the United States to develop new methods of air traffic management (ATM). The need to double or triple airspace capacity to accommodate growth over the next 20 years is of great concern. It is clear that closer coordination between the aircraft and the ATM system will be needed to manage the airspace. Furthermore, enhanced onboard navigation capabilities will need to be coordinated with ATM system capabilities to manage the increasing traffic volumes. The identification of standardized methods of communicating information about aircraft navigation–both aircraft capabilities and real-time updates of progress–will need to be documented.
Among the subjects for this year’s symposium are: RTCA SC-206 activities defining aeronautical information systems data formats needed to support navigation; requirements for future GNSS antennas and receivers; and how future flight management systems (FMS) may exploit information in database formats. We also will have presentations on automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) from airline, FAA and airframe manufacturer points of view.
AEEC Evolution
For more than half a century the AEEC has developed and published standards that have benefited commercial aviation. It has concentrated on form, fit and function Characteristics that afford the airlines "freedom of choice" when selecting avionics equipment. The buyer furnished equipment (BFE) concept permitted the airframe manufacturer to design the avionics bay with standard units for various functions. The airlines could then choose among function suppliers.
Each ARINC Characteristic contained language such as, "Unit interchangeability is required for this unit regardless of manufacturing source… ." Examples include ARINC 566A, 716 and 750 for VHF communications transceivers; ARINC 741, 761 and 781 for satellite communications transceivers; ARINC 755 for a multimode receiver combining ILS, MLS (microwave landing system) and GLS (GNSS landing system); and ARINC 542A, 747 and 767 for flight data recorders.
With the latest generation of transport aircraft, the business model has changed dramatically. BFE has given way to integrated avionics functions chosen by the airframe manufacturer. This trend has forced a rethinking of the purpose of ARINC standards, moving away from form and fit toward infrastructure and function. The best example is the fiber optics series of standards (i.e., ARINC 801-806), which takes the technology from basic definitions and design guidelines to training outlines. Software and information formatting standards, e.g., the ARINC 653 APEX operating system interface and the ARINC 424 and 816 navigation and airport databases, are other examples. The ARINC 664 series covers the use of Ethernet on board aircraft and opens the entire aircraft to take advantage of TCP and IP. Standards, such as ARINC 665, 666 and 615A, which cover software part identification, distribution and loading into the avionics, will be of paramount importance in this environment.
As the aircraft is connected to the Internet via broadband connections, there will be a need for appropriate security measures to protect this mobile network node. The subject is already a topic within various AEEC subcommittees, but no documents yet cover the standardization of security mechanisms. ARINC 811 presents a framework for an airline to begin making security evaluations for the aircraft, and the Data Link Systems Subcommittee is preparing a security mechanism for the ACARS (aircraft communications addressing and reporting system) air-ground link.
As the AEEC moves into its second half-century, it is evolving to meet the need for relevant standards.
Roy Oishi is co-chairman of AEEC, the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee.