Impressive Trends in Aerospace Electronics Design
As more and more emphasis is put on the space part of the aerospace industry, the demand for advanced electronics design also grows. From extreme temperatures to high pressures and extreme vibrations, the electronics design used to control space craft and commercial airliners alike require toughness and complex computing power at the same time. Since there are so many powerful design firms driving aerospace electronics design, new developments tend to emerge as trends rather than singular breakthroughs. Expect these trends to continue to shape aerospace electronics design over the next few years.
Tougher and Longer Lasting Connectors for Electronics Design
No matter how tough you make the actual aerospace electronics and sensors, they’re only as good as the connectors and cables connecting them. It’s taken quite a while for the electronics design of connectors in particular to catch up with the demands of traveling into space or moving at extremely high temperatures. The intense vibrations experienced by the electronics design installed on aircraft is even greater when you’re working on a craft designed to exit the atmosphere and re-enter it intact.
Using epoxy-based housings in electronics design is helping some of Europe’s biggest names in the aerospace electronics design sector create connectors and capacitors capable of handling extremely low temperature, very high demands for speed, high electrical current and ripple intensity, and more. Machining the connectors from single pieces of high conductivity metals like beryllium, adding more contact points, and adding gold plating to meet military standards are all electronics design improvements driving the development of space age connectors.
Complete Electronics Design Sensor Array for Monitoring Aircraft Health
Aircraft health monitoring systems have long been a dream of integrated electronics design to help pilots understand what’s going on with their plane and how to safely operate it despite malfunctions or damage. However, this kind of electronics design relies on hundreds or thousands of complex sensors all working in tandem with a central computer system capable of understanding the information and relying it to the pilots without overwhelming them. With the cost and risk of space flight even greater, the pressure for creating health monitoring systems that function in space is driving amazing advancements in sensor and central computing technology.
Advanced Thermal Features at the Cutting Edge of Electronics Design
Heat has long been a minor problem in aerospace electronics design, but designing crafts capable of leaving the atmosphere without burning up presents a whole new realm of heat concerns to electronics design. The thermal shielding of any electronics design component is often more important than any other single feature since it won’t function after melting or fusing. Some of the latest electronics design breakthroughs in thermal management include the automation of modeling complex parts, advanced cooling circulation systems that require less space, and the creation of advanced simulation tools that better model the real physics of leaving and re-entering the atmosphere.
Unmanned Demands Drive Aerospace Electronics Design
Moving to unmanned spacecraft, drones, and even commercial aircraft is inevitable as artificial intelligence improves and the need to risk human lives drops. But we’re not quite ready for fully unmanned aerospace vehicles just yet because the electronics design necessary for this level of control and communication are still catching up. It takes advancements in every part of electronics design, right down to the cables used to connect various parts, to create an aircraft or spacecraft capable of completely controlling it owns flight paths and functions. The advancements that emerge in order to make unmanned flight a reality will have positive repercussions on the entire aerospace electronics design industry as a whole.
No matter how you’re involved in the electronics design sector of the aerospace industry, European Subcontractors Network can help you. List yourself as a design subcontractor or find a partner to help bring your electronics design work to the next level if you’re a manufacturer.