Simulation and test system for at least one item of equipment on an AFDX network

• US 7,406,050 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2005
• Issued: 07/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus France
• Inventors: Calluaud, Jean-Marie, Cloury, Emmanuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Marcelo; Melvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAN, CLEMENCE S
• Application Number:
  US11/081,609
• Publication Number:
  US 20050220029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,230 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/4028 the transportation system being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for simulating at least one item of equipment missing on an AFDX network and for testing such a network comprising at least one real item of equipment, which uses non-specific computer means including:

• • a simulation layer (21) controlling at least one Ethernet controller (22),
  • at least one commercially available Ethernet switch (42) to switch data.

Claims

1. A system for simulating at least one item of equipment missing on an Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) network, said system comprising:

at least one Ethernet controller,

a simulation layer configured to control said at least one Ethernet controller, and

at least one Ethernet switch connected to said at least one Ethernet controller and configured to route a virtual link to an output port that is connected to an AFDX switch for said at least one item of equipment.

2. The system according to claim 1, comprising:

a processing device including Ethernet connections, means for sequencing sending of Ethernet frames configured to place Ethernet frames at a time to satisfy network requirements, and means for receiving Ethernet frames,

at least one Ethernet switch configured to make a connection between a 1 Gigabit link and a 100 Megabit link.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the processing device includes formatting means for formatting simulation data to obtain a frame, and deformatting means for receiving and formatting AFDX data.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of Ethernet switches, wherein each Ethernet switch:

complies with requirements of standard IEEE 802.3 that defines an Ethernet frame and a physical layer,

has one 1 GBit/s port and two 100 Mbits/s ports for smoothing,

has one 100 Mbits/s port for each item of equipment to be simulated,

routes messages from a destination MAC address,

manages a total number of “

multicast”

MAC addresses that corresponds to a number of virtual links,

prevents routing of a message if the message has already been routed once, and

can be remote configured by configuration of a static table.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said Ethernet switch is connected between a first data link having a first data transfer speed and a second data link having a second data transfer speed, wherein a ratio of said first data transfer speed to said second data transfer speed is at least 10, and wherein said first data link is connected between said Ethernet switch and said simulation layer, and said second data link is connected between said Ethernet switch and said AFDX switch for said at least one item of equipment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one item of equipment includes at least two items of equipment comprising a first item and a second item, wherein said Ethernet switch comprises at least two output ports including a first port and a second port, wherein said first item includes a first AFDX switch connected to said first port and said second item includes a second AFDX switch connected to said second port, and wherein said at least one Ethernet switch is configured to route a first virtual link to said first port and to route a second virtual link to said second port;

and wherein said Ethernet switch is configured to receive data at said first and second ports and to direct them to said Ethernet controller.

7. A system, for simulating at least one item of equipment missing on an Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) network, said system comprising:

at least one Ethernet controller,

a simulation layer configured to control said at least one Ethernet controller, and

at least one commercially available Ethernet switch,

wherein the Ethernet switch is configured to segregate different sub-networks and to route outgoing Ethernet frames to ports connected to the AFDX network and incoming Ethernet frames to a processing device.

8. An aircraft simulator using a simulation system for simulating at least one item of equipment missing on an Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) network, said system comprising at least one commercially available Ethernet controller, a simulation layer configured to control said at least one Ethernet controller, and at least one Ethernet switch, wherein said aircraft simulator includes:

a simulation workshop with the function of hosting avionics models or functions and communicating with other software sets through a data flow,

a data zone in which contents of avionics information in AFDX messages are available,

an input/output engine awakened by a timer and including formatting, deformatting and frame sequencing functions.