Abstract
The US Army Program Executive Office for Aviation (PEO AVN) is preparing for future avionics migration from legacy data distribution interfaces (MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429) to Ethernet-based communications. This transition offers benefits such as high bandwidth, increases reliability by minimizing packet loss or dropout, network synchronization, and increased security. Project Manager for the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (PM FLRAA) is addressing this transition by implementing Time Sensitive Networks (TSNs) based on the IEEE 802.1 standards. These standards support real-time, deterministic communication which is essential for flight critical systems.
However, this evolution presents several challenges. Notably, the current Test and Evaluation (T&E) infrastructure required to evaluate the effectiveness, flight safety, airworthiness, adherence to Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) objectives, cybersecurity, and integration with legacy mission equipment is lacking.
This paper presents a Modeling and Simulation (M&S) environment for T&E of TSN systems. Utilizing a simulated H-60M Cockpit with visual and flight control systems, we generate simulated vehicle state data and model Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) input/output (I/O) signals in legacy formats to study and address interface issues with TSN based communications. The environment facilitates the development of instrumentation and testing the integration of LRUs with both TSN-native and legacy interfaces over the TSN network. Additionally, the team is developing custom Ethernet network analyzer tools to assess key network performance metrics such as jitter, latency, bandwidth, and key network performance metrics across various scenarios. This approach enables PM FLRAA to conduct technical risk reduction on the digital backbone design and provides a comprehensive evaluation of TSN networks, validating architecture integration, MOSA compliance, and network performance, while optimizing TSN solutions for time-sensitive applications.
The team is conducting experiments utilizing an RTC developed Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) emulator to inundate the TSN network with critical data to assess the viability of legacy LRU integration, identify issues, and report results.