1226. Weight Assessment of Electronic Boxes
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Paper
Abstract
Prediction and assessment of weights of electronic boxes on a new aircraft are enigmas for aerospace avionics designers and weight engineers. Confidence in box level weight is important for several reasons. Airframe designers must know the maximum weight of each electronic box to be able to provide adequate support structure. System engineers must be confident in the total system weight to evaluate system performance. In addition, cost and weight are often dependent such that an increase in weight will be accompanied by an increase in cost, and all too often the initial weights of electronic boxes are underestimated.
This paper does not provide a solution to this problem. It does not provide universal empirical weight relationships to performance parameters. Nor does it describe unique or clever circuit or packaging designs that result in phenomenal weight reductions. What it does is provide a statistical basis for evaluating weights of electronic boxes, at various times throughout program development, using simple parameters which are universally available. In other words, it provides substantiation for what has usually been’ a gut feel based on experience.’
Fortunately, the Offensive and Defensive System avionics developed for the B-1 bomber program do provide a sufficiently large data base to allow development of a statistical basis for evaluating electronic box weights. The data base includes six different functional groups of boxes and represents packaging designs of more than twenty major United States avionics suppliers.
In addition, system weight quality histories of the major segments of the Offensive System Group (OSG) avionics and Defensive System Group (DSG) avionics are provided to show the development of the quality of the system level weight estimate.
Nomenclature used on the B-1 Avionics program to refer to a distinct electronic box is the term Line Replaceable Unit (LRU). The term LRU is used throughout this paper to denote an electronic box or other distinct hardware entity.
