A US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16 is flight testing a development of the 1553 avionics databus that allows wideband data, such as streaming video, to be carried over existing aircraft wiring, reducing the cost of future upgrades by avoiding the expense of adding cabling for a high-capacity databus.
The F-16 test follows the first flight demonstration of Extended 1553 (E1553), developed for the USAF by Canadian company Edgewater Computer Systems, in December on a Douglas A-3 testbed operated by Raytheon.
E1553 provides 100Mb/s capacity over existing 1553 wiring, and Edgewater says it is already developing the next generation of chips that will provide 200Mb/s capacity within a year.
The technology is being tested in several laboratories and could find its way into upgrade programmes in the next year or two, the company believes.
Edgewater says that the UK is also interested in E1553 for potential upgrades to its AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin helicopters and Panavia Tornado strike aircraft.
In the Raytheon test, Edgewater says E1553 operated on the A-3's navigation bus, carrying streaming video and bi-directional bulk data transfers without affecting the performance of the legacy 1553 line-replaceable units communicating concurrently on the same bus.
The F-16 Block 30 test at Hill AFB in Utah is the first of a fully integrated system using flight-qualified hardware, with E1553 linking the common cockpit interface unit with the colour multipurpose display generator.
Source: Flight International
