Virtual Avionics Emulation for Aircraft Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern aircraft face significant weight, space, and lifecycle costs due to the use of multiple redundant line replaceable units (LRUs) with different versions, which can lead to incompatibilities and increased operational costs, as well as challenges in development, testing, and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a virtualization system that emulates hardware devices, allowing for the creation of virtual devices to replace or augment physical LRUs, providing redundancy while minimizing weight and space, and enabling earlier discovery of design issues and reduced qualification costs through the use of low-cost, generic hardware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple redundant LRUs are installed to ensure system reliability, then reliability is improved, but weight and space consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple LRU instances are merged into a single physical platform through virtualization, where a single LRU hardware unit runs multiple virtual instances that collectively provide the redundancy previously requiring multiple physical units. This consolidation eliminates the weight penalty of carrying multiple redundant physical LRUs while maintaining the reliability benefits of redundancy through virtual instances.
Solution Approach 2:
Virtual copies of LRU instances are created and deployed on a single physical platform. These virtual instances are software-based representations that replicate the functionality of physical LRUs without requiring additional physical hardware, thereby providing redundancy without the associated weight increase.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different versions of the same LRU type are deployed across a fleet, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and lifecycle costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single LRU hardware platform is designed to universally support multiple LRU instances and versions through virtualization. The system can dynamically instantiate different LRU software versions on the same physical hardware, enabling a fleet to deploy diverse LRU types without requiring multiple specialized hardware variants, thus reducing device complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The LRU system transitions from static, hardware-bound versions to dynamic, software-based virtual instances. This allows LRU versions to be updated, modified, or replaced through software deployment rather than physical hardware changes, reducing the complexity of managing multiple versions across the fleet while maintaining the ability to adapt to different operational requirements.
3Reliability
If multiple redundant LRUs are installed, then reliability is improved, but operational costs increase due to weight and reduced range
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple redundant LRU functions are merged into a single physical platform through virtualization, eliminating the need to carry multiple physical LRU units. This weight reduction directly decreases fuel consumption and extends aircraft range while maintaining the reliability benefits of having multiple redundant LRU instances running as virtual software on the consolidated platform.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed to emulating special-purpose hardware devices using virtual hardware. A process in accordance with various implementations consistent with the present disclosure includes emulating hardware devices using virtual devices of a virtualization system configured to emulate the hardware devices. The process also includes installing in a physical system, instances of the virtualization system including the virtual devices. The process further includes emulating the hardware devices of the physical system using the virtual devices. Additionally, the process includes communicating with equipment of the physical system using the virtual devices.