A Common Solution to Custom Network Applications

Abstract

The deployment of networks has become ubiquitous in the avionics world, as they have opened the door to a rich suite of common and open hardware and software tools that provide greater functionality and interoperability. Unfortunately, a number of networked avionic and other related applications can be affected by vendor or application specific proprietary implementations. These “closed” implementations may reduce or eliminate the benefits of a standardized network, requiring the customization of the data acquisition system to allow it to properly operate with the other devices. This paper presents the approach that was recently employed for the development of a network interface module that can be quickly reconfigured to address the changing requirements of network applications, including monitoring of industry standard and proprietary networks, or providing the command and data interface to the data acquisition system itself. This reconfigurability of the module is shown in a review of four different specific applications.