Advanced Research Integrated Avionic (ARIA) System for Fault-Tolerant Flight Research

This paper describes the development of an Advanced Research Integrated Avionics (ARIA) system for a research effort at West Virginia University (WVU) focusing on the design of fault-tolerant control systems toward improving aviation safety. The system seeks to improve upon WVU’s existing avionics system by incorporating more functionality, flexibility, and computational performance while imposing more stringent constraints with respect to size, weight, and power consumption. The system features nine independently controllable/”fault-able” channels making it ideal for use in test-beds for fault-tolerant flight controls research. Furthermore, the design incorporates a novel dual Remote Control (R/C) receiver configuration that aims to decrease potential failures due to R/C signal loss. The hardware architecture is comprised of a network of logic gates and multiplexers, an embedded microprocessor, a general purpose Single Board Computer (SBC), as well as, a complex sensor suite featuring a Global Positioning System / Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) navigation solution.