WHY CHANGE FROM PCM? CASE STUDY OF THE AIRBUS A380 ETHERNET BASED DATA ACQUISITION NETWORK

Abstract

The adaptation of ubiquitous Ethernet technology to airborne FTI systems is a relatively recent development, offering multiple advantages to FTI applications, including a high data throughput and ability to integrate COTS equipment with ease. For large-scale FTI applications – such as on the Airbus A380 - the use of traditional PCM based data acquisition systems results in enormously complex system architectures, with difficulties in system design, implementation, commissioning, test and maintenance. However, on the A380, the use of the Ethernet-based, IENA protocol alleviated these problems, in addition to offering several additional advantages. This paper explores the theoretical and practical implications of using Ethernet-based data acquisition in an FTI application, with direct comparison to an equivalent PCM based system.