Software house Wind River is proposing global standardisation on an Arinc 653-standard integrated avionics hardware and software architecture for unmanned air vehicles to improve reliability.
Wind River senior programme manager for aerospace and defence Alex Wilson says that, although extensive UAV development programmes are under way internationally, there is no standardisation framework to support common approaches to certification and air traffic integration.
The existing co-operative approach to developing the Arinc 653 standard for the civil air transport market provides a base from which UAV variants could be evolved without needing to reinvent a wide variety of aerospace standards. Wilson says UAV developers could also achieve significant weight and space savings in air vehicle design, as well as power savings and reliability improvements. Arinc 653 is intended to provide a common avionics data-processing system to handle a large array of aircraft functions, including communication links.
Wind River has been working with European UAV developers to explore the potential of an Arinc 653-standard approach, says Wilson. The company has also worked with Northrop Grumman on the potential integration of Arinc 653 systems on its X-47 unmanned combat air vehicle.
The progressive roll-out of a full Arinc 653-based system by the commercial aerospace sector, led by the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 programmes, will increase the level of industry exposure to the technology and improve opportunities for UAV suppliers, says Wilson.
Source: Flight International
