Multidrop Bus Architecture for Aircraft Engine Control Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current full authority digital engine control (FADEC) systems for gas turbine engines face limitations in communication throughput and time delays, particularly in scenarios with single point failures, due to the need for data relaying and rebroadcasting across multiple channels and buses.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a multidrop bus configuration that allows each channel to simultaneously broadcast data to all other channels on two independent buses, eliminating the need for data relaying and reducing time slots, while maintaining redundancy through data interweaving and prioritization of critical data sets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is broadcast sequentially across multiple channels using traditional bus configurations, then fault tolerance is maintained through redundancy, but communication throughput is limited and time delays increase
Solution Approach 1:
The data broadcast is segmented into two independent sets transmitted over separate buses simultaneously. Each channel transmits different portions of data through different communication paths, allowing parallel data flow that increases throughput while maintaining redundancy through the segmented transmission structure
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from sequential single-bus data transmission to parallel multi-dimensional transmission by utilizing two independent buses simultaneously. This adds a temporal and spatial dimension to data communication, allowing multiple data streams to flow concurrently through different communication channels, thereby increasing overall throughput
2Reliability
If data is relayed and rebroadcast across multiple channels to ensure redundancy, then fault tolerance is improved, but communication time delays increase
Solution Approach 1:
Data is prepared and transmitted in two independent sets in advance through separate buses, eliminating the need for sequential relaying and rebroadcasting. The preliminary segmentation of data into two transmission sets allows all channels to receive redundant information simultaneously without iterative relaying, thus reducing broadcast delay
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous parallel data transmission across two buses simultaneously, ensuring that useful communication action occurs continuously without interruption for relaying or rebroadcasting. This continuous parallel transmission eliminates idle time slots and reduces overall broadcast delay while maintaining redundancy
3Device complexity
If traditional single-bus FADEC communication is used, then system complexity is lower, but communication throughput and fault tolerance are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges two independent bus configurations into a unified communication architecture where both buses operate simultaneously. This merging of parallel communication paths increases throughput and fault tolerance while keeping individual bus structures simple, balancing complexity with performance
Data Source
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AI summary
The multiple aircraft engine control system having a corresponding engine controller 22, 24 associated with each one of the engines, each one of the engine controllers having at least two independent channels A, B, C, D, each one of the at least two independent channels having at least two communication buses, each one of the at least two communicating buses of each channel being connected to a respective one of the at least two communicating buses of each one of the other channels. The method can time-interweave originating data of the channels.