On-Board Wireless Data Acquisition System and Telemetry

Abstract

Most of today's aircraft used for the commercial transport of passengers or military aircraft still rely on simple technology such as cables, connectors and sensors to provide power, avionics data, control system, aircraft instrumentation etc. throughout the vehicle's life-cycle for flight monitoring and fault diagnosis. Despite a marked improvement in the quality and reliability of these components, they continue to be the main cause of failures due to corrosion, misuse, improper installation, etc, using-up endless man-hours to troubleshoot, repair and upgrade them. Wireless monitoring by telemetry of some of the critical systems has been in use for some time as a point to point data link designed to provide vital information, potentially improving the safety and efficiency of any flight. Aircraft manufacturers are now looking at the use of wireless networks to replace current data buses used for the transfer of data between avionics systems and their sensors as well as for the control of some of the surface actuators. Wireless networks used in this way could reduce the amount of cabling and its associated weight as well as simplify the re-routing of connections making upgradation less expensive and quicker, again a benefit to airlines. Despite many benefits there is a potentially serious security issue by means of an introduction of a backdoor into the system, meaning that before aircrafts become network-enabled, all the security issues must be identified in full and dealt with.