Multi-component Aircraft Engine Monitoring

Current aircraft engine monitoring systems based on stand-alone instrumentation require point-to-point wiring to transfer information from sensors to signal conditioners and data acquisition electronic boxes. This results in bulky, heavy instruments and cumbersome cabling harnesses and connectors. Furthermore, opportunities to add new sensors to existing engine designs are severely limited because of the difficulty in accommodating additional cabling and signal conditioning electronics in the limited available space. VIP Sensors proposes a multi-drop sensor architecture with smart digital output sensors interconnected to a network interface controller through a common TWO-WIRE DIGITAL TRANSDUCER BUS. The new system integrates all of the required measurement functions in a postage-stamp-size electronic module that can be placed inside a traditional transducer making it a “smart sensor” with digital output, or as a separate module that will interface any traditional analog transducer to the bi-directional digital bus. The two-wire sensor network bus based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology is capable of all of the functions found in a typical 8-wire network bus (e.g. RS-485), including carrying power to all sensor nodes, bidirectional full duplex communication between the network controller and multiple sensor nodes, and a clock signal for synchronizing the acquisition of sensor data. The two-wire bus offers a very flexible network measurement system with a significantly lower amount of interconnecting cables, simpler connectors, lower weight, improved reliability and simpler installation and use.