Advanced Data-Transmission Scheme for a High-Performance Mission Computer

Abstract

In this paper, an advanced data-transmission scheme is proposed to enhance the performance of a mission computer based on the ARINC-429 avionic data bus standard. The amount of flight data transmitted to the mission computer has continually increased due to the adoption of composite missions, new avionic systems, and advanced functionalities. This makes it difficult to obtain a high-performance mission computer because the mission computer should consume a large portion of the fixed time interval in receiving flight data. To overcome this problem, we developed a new data format and transmission method based on detailed analysis of the characteristics of flight data and the data format of ARINC-429. The proposed scheme was verified by observing its performance on a VxWorks-based test platform. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme achieves a computational time gain of 14% and transmission rate gain of 34%, without increasing the size, weight, and power. In addition, the proposed scheme is useful for extending the life of the mission computer without changing existing hardware.