Feasibility Study for Wireless Control on The Countermeasure Dispenser System

Abstract: Electrical wiring on board aircraft has raised serious weight and safety concerns in the aerospace industry. Wires are antenna. It may also cause interference to radio-based systems on the aircraft, or, in the case of military aircraft, create a "signature" that can be detected by enemy receivers. Wireless application in avionic system helps reducing the total weight and reconfigurable of the aircraft; hence, lower the fuel costs, installation cost and maintenance costs, as well as the “signature” of the aircraft. The focus of this thesis, therefore, is to study the feasibility of different wireless standards, namely Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ultra-wide band (UWB), on replacing the wired data connection in the EW countermeasure or chaff/flare dispenser systems. The study was constructed under the supervision of the department of Electronic Defense System, Saab AB in Järfalla, Stockholm. The discussion will be based on the resource availability, the reliability, the stability and the security of the wireless system relative to an avionic application; i.e., whether wireless links will negatively affect the overall reliability and safety of the aircrafts. Due to the theoretical studies and results from the simulation, we studied the feasibility issue and concluded that UWB is the most appropriate choice of wireless communication for non-critical aerospace applications, comparing with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. UWB links can have reasonable immunity to interferences, low interference to other on-board wireless systems, and good security performance.