Bus Network Architecture- and Technology Optimisation for Avionic Systems

Abstract

Avionics platforms feature several different types of input- and output interfaces. Some are required due to system needs (i.e. to connect sensors and actuators) but some are part of the design of the avionics platform itself, like field buses and networks. While networks are well established, field buses often still use classic technology like ARINC 429. In this publication, a method is proposed that allows the avionics platform designer to compare field bus technologies, optimise the field bus networks and integrate this optimisation into an overall avionics platform optimisation. This is realised through modelling the architecture, network and signals in a formal way and formulating an combinatorial optimisation problem out of it. Off-the-shelf solvers are used to solve the resulting binary program using a Branch-and-Cut approach and obtain optimal field bus architectures for the constraints given.