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NAWCAD Lakehurst Team Recognized for Innovative Avionics Diagnostic Testing System

  • Published
  • By Tom Worsdale
  • NAVAIR Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Members of the Naval Air Systems Command Integrated Diagnostics and Automated Test Systems team traveled to NAVAIR Headquarters in Patuxent River, Md. to receive the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Commander's and Innovation Award in the Technology Support category Dec. 2. The team was recognized for their work with "Smart Connector" technology.

Under the leadership of NAVAIR electrical engineer Dr. Russell Shannon, the Smart Connector team, which is composed of IDATS members Mike Brazinski, Andy Hernandez, and Ivan Touevski, developed an avionics diagnostics system which can isolate the faults in aircraft electrical equipment and specifically identify the "break" or problem without the need of removing and replacing all suspected failed items. These engineers from NAVAIR Lakehurst have been instrumental in expanding avionic diagnostic capability, and since their initial research in 2004, have stimulated dramatic improvements in the efficiency of avionic diagnostic and maintenance technology.

According to Avionics Systems Engineering Competency Manager Ruben A. Lebron Jr., who nominated the team for the award, "The Smart Connector Team's innovative additions to the Naval Aviation Maintenance Program have dramatically improved conditions and support for the war-fighter. They've created something that is extremely important to naval avionics."

Recently, the presence of advanced avionic diagnostic products has become increasingly vital to the Fleet, since approximately 72 percent of total Navy and Marine Corp maintenance actions are related to avionics. Prior to these developments the lack of advanced diagnostics capabilities was detrimental to the Fleet, as it created a number of false alarms and "cannot duplicate" conditions. These conditions were extremely wasteful in terms of funding, manpower, and time so in response the IDATS teams sought to combat these strains on valuable resources. Dr. Shannon's team began developing technologies that would isolate the specific faults in aircraft avionic electrical equipment without requiring the replacement of all suspect parts. The result was Smart Connector technology.

The Smart Connector is an original technology that allows the maintainer to break a potential ambiguity and identify a faulty box more quickly, thus enabling more efficient Fleet support, and a potential cost avoidance of several million dollars over the lifecycle of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminal Avionics Communication System. The device is inserted between two or more avionic boxes while on an aircraft, and connected to an external piece of test equipment, which can monitor and fault detect instances of a bad signal between boxes, as well as isolate the specific faulty component.

"The Smart Connector technology is very innovative," says Lebron. "The technology requires a lot of detail, and through their focus and hard work, the team has established the Smart Connector as an enabler to finding these failures."

The Smart Connector is so ground-breaking that the team was awarded a patent for the device. After completing the proof-of-concept phase in January 2008, the team demonstrated the device's ability to fully diagnose faulty or degraded boxes, or Weapons Replacement Assemblies, in November 2009.

Currently, Dr. Shannon and his team are continuing their evolution of Smart Connector technology, and hope to apply their developments to other areas of the war-fighter.

"This technology is not only helpful in one particular situation but in many. It is another tool in the arsenal to perform better diagnostics," says Lebron. "It is truly a one-of-a-kind idea."