Abstract:

Until recently, permanence was an underlying assumption of aerospace electronic equipment. The intent was to design electronic equipment once, and the design was assumed to be static, produceable and maintainable for the lifetime of the airframe, which was, and still is, often several decades. Furthermore, the aerospace-oriented culture that pervaded the avionics equipment industry, allowed each equipment design to be optimized independently, with little regard for commonality, modularity, re-use, scalability, or extendibility to other applications. Provisions for design and production changes were minimal or non-existent and suppliers focused on producing spares, rather than developing more competitive products. This situation was abetted by the lack of any significant competition and the long-term availability of military grade electronic components.

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