Cable Harness Design For Aerospace Platforms

Cable harness design for aerospace platforms has been, and continues to be, one of the most challenging and difficult areas for platform ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) integration. Multiple competing platform needs and requirements, all of which are diverse and are often mutually exclusive, drive cable harness design in often wildly oscillatory directions. Decisions on how cable harnesses are to be constructed must be hammered flat very early in the design process, and this leaves little room for debate or research to demonstrate one design is superior to another. Mass, volume, system complexity, change in process, component availability, manufacturing lead time, manufacturability, parallel hardware certification timelines, published documents and drawings impacted by engineering change orders, and of course cost and schedule, all compete in this fast changing and highly critical area. This presentation will attempt to highlight these competing areas to foment awareness.