Design space exploration of avionics architectures for Future Launcher Evolutions

Abstract

Designing and building avionics for aerospace is a complex task due to the wide range of technology options available, the architectural options of the vehicle and constraints like redundancy or segregation of devices and alike. The European Future Launcher Evolutions (FLE) that is currently under development targets an optimal avionics system design. The aim of the study is to provide improved avionics architectures for the telemetry chain avionics system of the FLE. Key driver for the investigation are the increasing costs and the required performance to meet increasing customer demands. To provide more payload and a wide range of missions with high reliability, a safe and cost-effective avionics architecture is desired. Such investigations can be supported using a model-based optimisation approach based on an existing avionics architecture optimisation framework. Different new technology bricks that can improve the avionics system of the FLE are investigated using the framework. The results provide the engineer with detailed insights into optimal avionics architectures and concrete figures to compare technology options and decide about the benefits at early design stages and continuously during development.