VIRTUAL PRODUCTION TESTING OF LARGE INTEGRATED PRODUCTS
First Claim
1. A method of testing the ability of aircraft components to properly communicate with each other prior to being physically joined together, the method comprising:
- connecting a first central communication system section associated with a first aircraft component at a first geographic location to a first Ethernet link;
connecting a second central communication system section associated with a second aircraft component at a second geographic location remote from the first geographic location to a second Ethernet link; and
connecting the first and second Ethernet links to a dedicated Ethernet line such that signals from the first central communication system section are received by the second central communication system section.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communications system and method for testing components of an aircraft via Ethernet. The communications system may comprise one or more Ethernet links having software and hardware controls for timing, buffering, and messaging, and a dedicated Ethernet line. The Ethernet links may be configured to communicably link sections of a central communication system of the aircraft, each section being part of a separate aircraft component. The Ethernet links may also communicably link the sections with various databases over the Ethernet line. The databases may comprise loadable software, archived testing data, configuration data, and/or diagnostic data. Any of the central communication system sections and the databases may be located at geographically distant locations from each other, such as at separate production sites. The communications system may allow the aircraft components to test each other, or essentially for the aircraft to test itself prior to its components being physically joined together.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of testing the ability of aircraft components to properly communicate with each other prior to being physically joined together, the method comprising:
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connecting a first central communication system section associated with a first aircraft component at a first geographic location to a first Ethernet link; connecting a second central communication system section associated with a second aircraft component at a second geographic location remote from the first geographic location to a second Ethernet link; and connecting the first and second Ethernet links to a dedicated Ethernet line such that signals from the first central communication system section are received by the second central communication system section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of testing a first central communication system section of a first aircraft component at a first production site and a second central communication system section of a second aircraft component located at a second production site to determine if the first and second central communication system sections will properly communicate with each other once the first and second aircraft components are physically joined together, the method comprising:
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connecting the first central communication system section of the first aircraft component to a first Ethernet link; connecting the second central communication system section of the second aircraft component to a second Ethernet link; connecting the first and second Ethernet links to a dedicated Ethernet line such that signals from the first central communication system section are received by the second central communication system section and vice versa, wherein the signals relate to at least one of operation and monitoring of the aircraft components; and communicably connecting at least one database with the dedicated Ethernet line such that the at least one database sends data to at least one of the first and second central communication system sections. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A communications system configured for testing components of an aircraft via Ethernet, the communications system comprising:
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a first aircraft component having a first central communication system section; a second aircraft component having a second central communication system section and located at a geographically distant location from the first aircraft component; a first Ethernet link connected to the first central communication system section; a second Ethernet link connected to the second central communication system section, wherein the first and second Ethernet links are communicably connected with at least one dedicated Ethernet line configured to transmit data to and from the first central communication system section and the second central communication system section; and at least one database communicably connected to the at least one dedicated Ethernet line and configured to send date to at least one of the first central communication system section and the second central communication system section. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification