Application of a civil Integrated Modular Architecture to military transport aircraft

An integrated modular architecture (IMA) is a modular open standard computing platform, as described in RTCA DO-297, which provides general processing capability for civil transport aircraft. Avionic systems employing an integrated modular architecture (IMA) are currently being deployed on new aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787. This paper lays out the applicability of the IMA approach to military aircraft such as tankers, bombers, surveillance aircraft and cargo aircraft. The IMA principles can be applied to both new aircraft designs and to existing aircraft that are going through an Aircraft Extension Program (AEP). The modular design of an IMA provides a number of advantages such as cost savings, shorter development time, and higher growth potential. It is scalable to meet the processing needs of the aircraft and is more flexible to implement. An IMA system can offer significant savings in weight, space, power, and cooling required over a comparable federated system. These advantages are particularly important as the military services begin to implement civil communication navigation and surveillance for air traffic management (CNS/ATM) and network centric warfare concepts such as real-time information in the cockpit (RTIC) using military data links. The use of open standards in the architecture of the IMA allows third parties to implement both hardware and software modules in the IMA architecture. The general processing modules (GPMs) may host multiple software applications using an ARINC 653 standard application partitioning to make best use of the high speed commercial processors available. The use of standard application processor interface (API) software creates an open software architecture that allows third parties to independently provide software applications also referred to as hosted functions which run within the partitioned operating environment on the GPMs. The intra module communication architecture, (between modules in the IMA) is also based on open standards like Ethernet, Personal Computer Interface (PCI) or VERSA Module Europe (VME), which are also freely available, allowing third-party, independent development of the IMA cabinet hardware modules. The remote interface units (RIUs) allow systems with other data networking interfaces to communicate with the IMA. RIUs can interface with ARINC 429, CANBUS, analog and discrete inputs and can be configured to meet specific aircraft requirements. RIUs can be extended to support military specific technologies such as MIL STD 1553 devices which are needed to support the special radios and data link equipment used by the military. Major applications that are typically implemented in the IMA architecture are communication, navigation and surveillance for air traffic management (CNS/ATM) and network centric warfare. CNS/ATM applications suitable for hosting in an IMA platform include the flight management, communication management and terrain and traffic advisories applications. In federated systems these applications are implemented as standalone systems in separate line replaceable units (LRUs). Significant cost savings and flexibility can be achieved by using an IMA approach. Network centric warfare applications can also benefit from an IMA approach. Military voice and data link radios can be managed using a function hosted in an IMA platform and controlled using multipurpose control display units (MCDUs), reducing the number of control panels necessary in the cockpit. Processing of the secure datalink messages can also be performed in the IMA, reducing the cost and LRU count on the aircraft. Information assurance issues such as data security remain an active topic in the industry, but can be addressed using separate data networks for secure and nonsecure data and data encryption for transmission and storage of secure data to deny unauthorized access.