CTMA Project- Joint Intermittence Testing (JIT) Capability
The Military Services are currently challenged by detecting and isolating faults in aircraft wiring cables and avionics line replaceable units (LRU). These faults include opens and shorts, degraded and intermittent signals, and insulation degradation. The magnitude of the challenge is daunting with the DoD spending approximately $2 billion annually just removing and replacing LRUs that when tested, reveal no fault found (NFF). Several newer technologies address the identification and isolation of electrical faults in weapon systems, including intermittent faults. However, there is no defined requirement for detecting and isolating intermittent faults and no test validation process for assessing the capabilities of intermittent detection and isolation devices offered by industry.
The objective of this Logistic Initiative Fund (LIF) CTMA initiative is to leverage the Joint Service Wiring Action Group (JSWAG) to develop and publish a Joint Service Intermittence Testing requirement for appropriate electronic equipment. This initiative will also identify and validate test methods needed to ensure that intermittence test equipment can perform to joint specification parameters. As part of this initiative, a device will be developed to induce an intermittent fault which will interface with COTS diagnostic equipment. Once the intermittent fault simulation device is developed, two commercially available suppliers of test equipment will be used to validate the simulation device.