# Presentation: 674892

## 4 June 2003

- SAE NTSB Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium   Panel 1   Aviation

## State of the Art Accident Recorder Technology - Aviation

**Presentation Topics**
**The “Dynamic” Black Box - From Inception to Today**
**Aviation Recorder Survivability Evolution**
**Aviation Recorder Media **
**New Aviation Recorder Specification**
**Combined Recorders**
**Combined Recorder Installations**
**Time Synchronization**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Survivability Evolution

**Technical Standard Orders (TSO’s) for Flight Data Recorders (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) have evolved:**
**C-51, C-51a, C-84, C-123, C-124, C-123a & C-124a, C-XXX**
**1958****	****	****	****	****	****	****	****	**** 2003**

**Crash Testing has Evolved to 3 Sequences **
** ****Impact, Fire, Sea Water Immersion**
**1) Impact, Penetration, Crush,   High Temp Fire, Fluid Immersion**
**2) Impact, Penetration, Crush,   Low Temp Fire, Fluid Immersion**
**3) Impact, Penetration, Crush,   Deep Sea Pressure, Sea Water Immersion**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Survivability Evolution

**Survivability Levels have Increased**** **
**Impact: 100g ******** 1000 g ******** 1700g ******** 3400g**
**Penetration: None ******** 500 Lbs  10 Foot Drop  1/4 inch pin**
**Static Crush: None ******** 5000 Lbs for 5 minutes each axis & diagonals**
**1100oC Fire Test increased from 30 to 60 minutes duration**
**Flame coverage increased from 50% to 100%**
**Added Low Temperature Fire of 10 hours @ 260oC**
**Seawater Immersion: Increased from 36 hours ******** 30 days**
**Added Hydrostatic Pressure: equivalent to depth of 20,000 feet**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Survivability Evolution

**Survivability Levels have Increased (continued)**** **
**Fluids Immersion: None ******** 48 hours: Fuels, Hydraulic, Oil, TFF 8 hours: Fire Extinguishing Agents**
**Underwater Location Beacon (ULB) attachment integrity**
**Added impact testing of the most damage vulnerable direction to the ULB mount (could differ from most vulnerable direction of the crash survivable armor)**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Media

**Aviation Recorder Media Evolution**
**Wire/Foil ******** Magnetic Tape ******** Solid State Devices**
**Solid State Media Advantages**
**Reliability Increases with Solid State memory**
**Low Maintenance**
**Significant increase in storage capacity**
**Magnetic tape not allowed (in future Spec)**
**Segregation of data types in memory devices**
**Combined audio no longer acceptable (in future Spec)**
**merged crew channels for data older than 30 minutes**
** ****Increase in data parameters ****from 5 to 88 plus**
**Provides potential for Image recording**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## New Aviation Accident Recorder Specification

**EUROCAE Working Group 50 Drafted ED-112 the Minimum Operational Performance Specification (MOPS) ****for Crash Protected Airborne Recorder Systems **
**Released March 2003**
**New TSO  ****C-XXX impending**
**Replaces EUROCAE ED-55 and ED-56A specifications**
**Harmonization of Airborne Recorders**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Specification EUROCAE  Working Group 50

**	****WG 50 members are a composite of those involved with all aspects of Flight Recorders**** **
**Aircraft Manufacturers**
**Airlines**
**Pilots Unions: ALPA, IFALPA**
**Investigative: NTSB, TSB, FRPC Canada, BEA, AAIB, BFU, Military Safety Center**
**Government Regulatory: FAA, CAA, JAA, ICAO**
**ARINC, EUROCAE, Eurocontrol**
**Recorder and Equipment Manufacturers**
**FDR, CVR, FDAU, Camera, Data Link, RIPS**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Specification MOPS ED-112

**Why ED-112?**
**Added **_**New Areas**_** for Flight Recorders****:**
**Automatically Deployable Recorders**
**Combined Recorders**
**Recorder Independent Power Supplies**
**Image Recording**
**ambient conditions in the cockpit; crew activity; instruments and control panels**
**CNS/ATM**
**flight path of the aircraft is authorised, directed or controlled, and relayed over a digital data link rather than by voice communication**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Image Recording

_**Fundamental Need for Accident Investigation Image Recording**_**:**
- 	**Augment existing flight and audio data by capturing images of the cockpit to better understand the cockpit environment, flight crew interactions and the overall human/machine interface.**
** **
**Cockpit environment**
**Non-verbal crew communications**
**Crew workload**
**Instrument display selections and status**
**Crash Protected**

**New recorder to be known as the Airborne Image Recorder (AIR)**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Combined Recorders

**NTSB Safety Recommendation A-99-17:**
** ****	****Recommends two combined recorders capable of 2 hours audio, 25 hours flight data and 2 hours Controller-Pilot Data Link (CPDL). One near cockpit and the other far aft.**
**ED-112 Combined Recorder:**
**A single flight recorder that combines the functions of two or more accident recording functions in a single crash protected box.**
**Requires failure reporting for each particular function **
**Maintain functional segregation for two or more types of recordings (data link data may be combined with crew audio data)**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder  Combined Recorder Installations

**Two redundant, multi-function recorders installed in the forward and tail sections provides operational as well as accident investigation benefits**
**Increases the recovery probability of all information types (Audio, data, Image CNS/ATM)**
**Aft location: Maximizes impact survivability**
**Forward location: Maintain wiring integrity, crew co-location and RIPS integrity**
**Possible Minimum Equipment List (MEL) time extensions **
**Provides common parts, test equipment, and technical training**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Combined Recorders

**Recording medium Segregation and Partitioning**
**Prevents Loss of Recording Functions from a Single Memory Device**

- Cockpit Area Mic
- Memory
- Media

- FDR
- Memory
- Media

- Image Recorder
- Memory
- Media

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## Aviation Accident Recorder Time Synchronisation 

**Synchronise with any other required recordings to within one (1.0) second**
**Recommended that the recordings are capable of being synchronised in time with any other required recording to within 0.25 seconds**
**Although synchronisation of 250 ms was technically achievable, it would require major modifications to aircraft, including wiring changes to and from critical systems**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## State of the Art Accident Recorder Technology - Aviation

**Summary and Conclusions**

** “****Dynamic” Black Box**
** ****Survivability requirements changed**
** ****Recording media changes**
** ****Specifications evolved**
** ****Added new data types and recorder types**
**	****	****	**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.

## State of the Art Accident Recorder Technology - Aviation

**Thank You**
**SAE/NTSB TOPTEC **

**Jim Elliott**
**Smiths Aerospace**
**+1 616 241 7789**
**jim.elliott@smiths-aerospace.com**

- Vehicle Recorder TOPTEC Symposium 2003

- SMITHS AEROSPACE, INC.