Avionics

vionics is the name for an air­craft’s electronic equipment and electrical systems. Avionics have become so important in modern aviation that they can account for more than half the multimillion-dollar price of a modern aircraft.

Avionics Development

Until the 1940s, the most complicated electronic equipment carried by any air-

О Sensors constantly monitor for problems and are crucial to safety in spaceflight. These NASA astronauts and technicians are examining a sensor system installed on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2005. The system, a long boom with camera and lasers on the end, is used to inspect the Space Shuttle’s heat shield for damage while in space.

craft was probably a radio. Then radar was developed to detect aircraft a long distance away. Radar soon became small enough and light enough to be carried by aircraft. The amount of electronic equipment in aircraft increased rapidly. The word avionics has been used to describe an aircraft’s electronic systems since the 1970s.

At first, an aircraft’s avionics were a collection of separate electrical and electronic circuits, each with its own wiring. Today, all the various circuits and systems work together, connected to an information highway called a data – bus. The databus carries information around an aircraft’s avionics systems in the same way that a computer’s databus carries information between the key­board, processor, memory, monitor, and other parts.

A lot of work goes into making sure that the different pieces of avionics equipment will work together in an aircraft without inter­fering with each other. This process is called systems integration. A big project, such as a new airliner, often has hundreds of engineers working on systems integration.