Over the years, portability has become powerful. More than simply agreeing with this fact, we at ComAvia Systems Technologies have crossed the edge to understand this and come out with PATS – The Portable Avionics Test Solution. Ground Test Facilities how ever well made to duplicate the Aircraft environment have their own limitations. What if a system cleared in the lab fails to perform on integrating in the aircraft? Presently, it is bought back to the lab for further testing. And the overheads of doing so need not be emphasized. With portability becoming powerful, a portable solution is the answer. And PATS is the answer.

PATS is a combination of both hardware and software. The hardware consists of a Rugged Portable Computer (RPC) satisfying all MIL certifications of ruggedness namely MIL-STD-810E and MIL-STD-461. An essential component of the RPC is a PCMICIA based 1553 card capable of reflecting the avionics bus in all its capabilities. The software consists of four major components namely

1. Simulation Tool: This system has the capability to simulate any RT for all it’s capabilities both in the static and dynamic modes. The simulation can be based on user inputs from the front or a model running in the background.

2. Acquisition System: This system has the capability to acquire all the traffic on the bus, display it in real time and log it for post flight analysis. The display is based on the selected options of the user.

3. Analysis Package: This system has the capability to analyse the data that was logged during the acquisition phase based on the options selected by the user.

4. Configuration Manager: This system is central to both the simulation and acquisition systems. It contains all information about all the parameters, words, bytes and bits that defines the complete communication between any two RTs (LRUs) on the aircraft and is central to PATS.