Digital Input/Output (I/O) Bus for Simulators

During Phase I, Pinnacle Technology Inc. and Aviation Simulation Technology Inc. (AST) designed a distributed digital input/output (I/O) bus to replace the cumbersome discrete wire bundle used in all military and commercial flight simulators. After analysis of latency, compatibility with existing systems, power delivery potential, cable length constraints and bandwidth issues, Pinnacle/AST chose a UDP/IP based Ethernet network. For most simulator components, the IEEE 802.3af specification or Power Over Ethernet (POE) can be used to deliver power over the Ethernet cable. This will eliminate the unwieldy wire bundle and associated complicated interconnect wiring, replacing it with a tiered-star topology of Ethernet switches and high-speed digital cables. All Phase I tasks were successfully completed, and the system was shown to operate with a deterministic latency of less than 20 mS. The overall goal of this Phase II SBIR is to finalize the hardware and software subsystems developed during Phase I, improve modularity to allow the widest range of uses, address security issues, and to build and test a simulator that is designed entirely using the new bus architecture. This will include the delivery of power via Power over Ethernet.