Instrument replacements and obsolescence issues of legacy test systems [for avionics]

Author

Somerville, John M.

Author_Institution

Commercial Avionics Syst., Boeing Co., Seattle, WA, USA

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

881

Lastpage

900

Abstract

Discusses Boeing solutions to obsolescence issues in legacy test systems and their replacement test systems used in production and return-to-service testing of complex avionics for commercial airplanes. The study reported combines test capability of two different legacy test systems into one new ATS design. In addition to obsolescence solutions, several analytical studies to reduce TPS (test program set) variability in legacy test systems are presented. Highlights of this ATS variability study identify the sources of variability and provide solutions, including detailed cam travel variability charts, metallurgical spectrum charts, and microphotographs. A trade study compared cost of replacement versus implementing some simple scheduled maintenance processes. This paper discusses challenges and solutions for these areas of common interest for legacy ATS

Keywords

aircraft maintenance; aircraft testing; automatic test equipment; avionics; production testing; ATS variability study; Boeing; cam travel variability charts; commercial airplanes; complex avionics; instrument replacements; legacy test systems; metallurgical spectrum charts; microphotographs; obsolescence issues; production testing; return-to-service testing; scheduled maintenance processes; test capability; test program set variability; Aerospace electronics; Aircraft; Airplanes; Automatic testing; Bandwidth; Costs; Instruments; Investments; Production systems; System testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

AUTOTESTCON Proceedings, 2001. IEEE Systems Readiness Technology Conference

Conference_Location

Valley Forge, PA

ISSN

1080-7225

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7094-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AUTEST.2001.949469

Filename

949469