《Fault Location on Aircraft Wiring Using Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry》.docVIP

Fault Location on Aircraft Wiring Using Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry Paul Smith*, Member, IEEE, CynthiaFurse**, Senior Member, IEEE, Jacob Gunther, Member, IEEE ** Corresponding Author Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 50 S Campus Drive 3280 MEB University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 Phone: (801) 585 – 7234 Fax: (801) 581-5281 cfurse@ /~cfurse *LiveWire Test Labs, Inc. *** Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 4120 Old Main Hill Utah State University Logan, Utah 843224120 Abstract Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry (SSTDR) and Sequence Time Domain Reflectometry (STDR) are examined as potential solutions to the difficult problem of locating intermittend faults on aircraft wires carrying typical signals in flight. Both test methods are shown to be effective for wires carrying AC power signals, and SSTDR is shown to be particularly effective at testing wires carrying digital signals such as Mil-Std 1553 data. Results are demonstrated for both controlled and uncontrolled impedance cables. The low test signal levels and high noise immunity of these test methods make them well suited to test for intermittent wiring failures such as open circuits, short circuits, and arcs on cables in aircraft in flight. Keywords spread spectrum time domain reflectometry (SSTDR), sequence time domain reflectometry (STDR), aging wire detection, wire fault detection, arc detection, time domain reflectometry (TDR). I. Introduction For many years, wiring has been treated as a system that could be installed and expected to work for the life of an aircraft [1]. As aircraft age far beyond their original expected life span, this attitude is rapidly changing. Aircraft wiring problems have recently been identified as the likely cause of several tragic mishaps [2] and hundreds of thousands of lost mission hours [3]. Modern commercial aircraft typically have more than 100 km of wire [2]. Much of this wire is routed behind panels or wrapped