Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021 - 23

ent parts, assuming fit and function variants
exist, can be prohibitive.
Another common scenario is that an
OEM may, over time, lack the expertise
and resources to perform a repair. It is
not uncommon for organizations
to
change focus over the years. An organization
that specialized in hardware manufacturing
could, for example, have
moved away from hardware to purely
providing data analysis services. This is
also the case if the organization has
been acquired and refocused or in
extreme cases, has gone out of business
altogether.
Similarly, one can look to other suppliers
to see if anyone else can repair the
item. It is possible the OEM has sold the
rights of the item to a third party. This
third party may provide a solution,
although all the same issues that apply to
the OEM may also apply to the third
party. Assuming the item can be fixed,
either by this or another third party,
then the limiting issue is most likely to
be the high cost, especially considering
there is a risk of something else failing
on a very old item.
Once repairs have been ruled out, it
may also be possible to buy secondhand
units. These may be sourced from re -
sellers that make it their business to
obtain stock from retired aircraft or participate
in last-time buys themselves.
This can be an ideal option, although
there is a risk these secondhand items
may encounter obsolescence problems
in the near term. It is also possible to
purchase secondhand aircraft directly
rather than use a reseller. This is perhaps
only economical if several different
parts are being sourced.
The final option is to source a modern
replacement. This has the advantage of
removing additional concerns over ob -
solescence and may even offer desirable
improvements like lower weight, smaller
size, increased data quality, and additional
functionality or features. One
example is a move from magnetic tape
to solid-state recording media that greatly
simplifies data transfer.
The biggest problem is that custom
avionics are expensive to design. For
newer aircraft, this is a cost that is usually
spread over a big production run. Un -
fortunately, this is rarely possible with
aging fleets, as the numbers required
are generally low. This can make this
approach prohibitively expensive unless
there is a COTS solution that caters to
low production runs.
COTS Solutions
The flight test instrumentation (FTI)
industry uses COTS extensively to rapidly
build custom data acquisition, processing,
and recording hardware. Hard -
ware originally designed for this purpose
is now commonly used in a variety of
other aerospace instrumentation applications
including space
operational
flight instrumentation, aircraft/system
monitoring, flight data acquisition,
remote interfacing, and data recording.
ENABLING TECHNOLOGY
EVERYWHERE
Scan here for more
Harwin's connector products are proven to perform in extreme
conditions, with shock, vibration and temperature range rigorously
tested.
Micro connectors start at 1.25mm pitch delivering 2A per contact,
up to 8.5mm and 60A - we cover a wide range of
applications for when SWAP matters most.
With our quality, service, support, and highly
reliable products, you can depend on Harwin.
Engineer to Engineer -
Harwin won't let you down.
Tech Briefs, September 2021
Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/79417-746
Cov
ToC
23
harwin.com
Connectors shown actual size
Connect with confidence
http://info.hotims.com/79417-746 http://www.abpi.net/ntbpdfclicks/l.php?202109TBNAV
Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021
