Integrated CNI Avionics Meet Multi-Role Flexibility for Aircraft of the Next Decades

Efficient integration of the functions of communications, radio navigation and cooperative identification (CNI) will provide significant improvement in both combined and single function availability, while providing the flexibility to adapt to changing mission requirements. This improvement is achieved by providing increased levels of commonality and connectivity among the processing elements, maintained by the distribution of the terminal control and built-in-test. Advances in technology, such as RF-LSI, VHSIC and high power semiconductor development has led to accompanying advances in receiver, processor and transmitter design, respectively, that make realizable the processing modular elements necessary for the required architectures. Since the CNI waveform performance is dictated by interoperability, the power of these new technologies must be applied to flexible and “broadband” modules to process the waveforms. These architectures will be of modular structure utilizing time-sharing of common processing modules. These common modules are designed to perform specific levels or type of processing and are programmable to perform several functions upon command of a terminal controller. The architecture for an integrated CNI terminal will consist of a proper combination of types of processing modules, using internal high speed buses for inter-module communications, all under the direction of integrated terminal control. In addition to system flexibility, this modular architecture provides system savings in terms of size, weight and power. Thus, through integration of the functional CNI requirements the system designer will be able to trade off achievable systems savings with functional availability, while maintaining the performance and flexibility that is necessary to meet the tactical and strategic aircraft CNI requirements of the coming decades.