CONVERTING APACHE HELICOPTER INTER-MODULE COMMUNICATIONS from 1553 to PUBLISH/SUBSCRIBE

摘要

The Apache Longbow Helicopter is migrating from an avionics suite controlled by three pairs of Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) that communicate primarily by Mil-Std-1553B multiplex bus to an avionics suite controlled by two multi-processor LRUs with a publish/subscribe inter-module communications system. Commercial middleware offers full-featured, standards-based publish/subscribe communications. However, there is a tradeoff between features and performance. Commercial middleware did not meet the performance requirements of the new avionics system. The Simple Efficient Data Distribution System (SEDDS) is an in-house developed, minimal-featured publish/subscribe system designed to handle a large volume of traffic with minimal processing overhead. This paper discusses the tradeoffs of developing a custom publish/subscribe as opposed to purchasing commercial publish/subscribe middleware, the basic design of the system, lessons learned during the conversion process, and methods used to reduce processing overhead.