Is Civil Aviation Interconnectivity Driven by Performance or Affordability?
By Tom Dlugolecki, Bishop & Associates Inc.

Technology can be used for good or bad purposes. Civil aviation platforms have been used as a weapon against the U.S., as we are remembering on the 10^th anniversary of 9/11. Many of us connector industry members have contributed to today’s successful integrated-system technology that strives to ensure safe travel around the globe. Our technical societies bind us to do all within our power to design and guarantee that these technologies are used for good and benefit society. But can civil aircraft designs afford the technologies needed to eliminate the risk of terror threats?

What if only registered United or American pilots could have accessed 9/11 aircraft instrumentation? Common biometric technologies can enable that capability easily today. What if there were so many inherent system obstacles to taking control of an aircraft that terrorists would not consider it an option? Depriving access to the instrument of destruction, in this case, the aircraft, can be the most effective last perimeter or total fail-safe defense solution. These system technologies are complex and require component technologies that are flexible, adaptable, extensible, robust, and affordable. These terms do not resonate with us until we examine key technologies and their derivative products.

Commercial aviation has borrowed much technology from military-aerospace because of the high-performance, high-reliability component and system requirements placed on components operating in high-performance and high-reliability environments. Greater financial pressures in the civil aviation markets have often led to affordability concerns that counter performance concerns. For example, Mil-DTL-38999 circular connectors have been replaced by other, more affordable, circular-mil connectors or commercial circular connectors. In some cases, the reverse has occurred, such as the Mil-DTL-83527 rack-and-panel connector, where the military has increased performance requirements for the commercial ARINC 600 connectors and cable assemblies. Of course, the changes driven by affordability have not been nearly as drastic in these military/commercial aviation markets as they have for other connector markets, such as telecom or computing.

Also, the requirements and capability of meeting these requirements for signal integrity, reliability, and performance have improved significantly with higher volumes of manufacture and the overall effects of Moore’s Law. For example, on the ground, where U.S. marines often use ruggedized computers, there has been significant replacement of those ruggedized computers with semi-rugged or even normal personal computers. These changes were precipitated by an increase in ruggedized computer requirements that could not be met during the early-accelerated ramp up for Iraqi Freedom. When commercial computers were used instead of ruggedized computers in USMC Mobile Command and Control Centers, they were found to be reliable enough to meet their needs.

One might expect that there may be similar transitions in civil aviation requirements. As information availability becomes greater and more robust, signal integrity from connectors and cable assemblies that are able to carry higher frequencies and less losses will be more of the norm. These needs will put performance pressures on the affordability needs of our customers to provide higher-cost coax, triax, filter, fiber, and other connections and cable assemblies. Eliminating Level 1 connections from chip-to-chip carriers by designing away the need, or making the connection itself “on the chip,” satisfies some of this need. Some would argue that we are pushing the limits of Moore’s Law, already, and should find solutions off the integrated circuit.

So what are some of the problems that can be resolved “off chip” through solutions that the connector industry can provide? Can those solutions meet performance requirements and still be affordable? Can those solutions be both cost and performance alternatives? There are many alternative technologies that can be mixed and/or matched to provide useful interconnect capabilities. Any technology designed to be a hardware solution in the system can be applied external to the system in a connection application. Often the physical space available to apply these technologies enables them to be more easily developed off chip, as in the case of fiber, coax, filter, etc. Sometimes the interconnect industry leads the rest of the electronic hardware industry.

In the rapidly becoming “cramped” space of the aircraft platform, signal integrity is more and more at risk. Noise from radiating “appliances/platforms,” whether they are embedded aircraft systems or mobile passenger systems can potentially cause electro-magnetic radiation noise/interference. Electro-magnetic shielding is applied profusely on military aircraft to help provide defense against jamming by the enemy or noise from friendly forces; limited protection from electro-magnetic pulses; or a ground for draining off noise and increasing signal integrity. These enhancements to a Faraday cage require huge physical space and enable off-chip exploration to continue in this area. Rest assured that future cyber threats involve our enemies penetrating our electronic systems and taking control, or preventing control, of the entire aircraft platform (hostage taking or sabotage of an entire aircraft).

You begin to see the cost-benefit rationales behind using these “expensive” technologies in commercial environments. Cost analysts will determine if the expense of a TSA organization at our airports can be reduced if these technology enhancements for protection are installed on the aircraft itself. Performance is defined by the ability to perform/accomplish the functional purpose of the equipment. Cyber security is required to execute and perform. This could be one area of potential growth for connector manufacturers. Imagine the business case behind an individual aircraft that could be totally secured and access allowed only to those authorized. Savings and efficiencies in protection could be significantly increased. This is but one example of the argument for increasing development of civil aviation interconnect technologies.

Bishop Comments:

1. Interconnect technologies are relatively untapped for new applications in cyber security on civil aircraft.

2. Existing military-aerospace technologies could be transitioned for dual use and enjoy a greater economy of scale with corresponding benefits to the customer.

3. Both performance and cost-savings motives could drive the research and development in a public-private partnership.

Tom Dlugolecki Market Segment Director — Commercial Aviation, Bishop & Associates Inc. Tom Dlugolecki joined Bishop & Associates in 2011, and brings a military and corporate career lifetime of aerospace and defense business and technical knowledge. His understanding of hardware/software design, development, manufacture, and integration of complex technological system/network products and services gives him insights into the future of the electronic interconnectivity industry. His primary focus is civil aerospace. He can be reached at tdlugolecki@bishopinc.com