Analysis of Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry for Wire Fault Location
Abstract—Spread spectrum time domain reflectometry (SSTDR) and sequence time domain reflectometry have been demonstrated to be effective technologies for locating intermittent faults on aircraft wires carrying typical signals in flight. This paper examines the parameters that control the accuracy, latency, and signal to noise ratio for these methods. Both test methods are shown to be effective... [Read more]
Low-Power STDR CMOS Sensor for Locating Faults in Aging Aircraft Wiring
Abstract—A CMOS sensor used to locate intermittent faults on live aircraft wires is presented. A novel architecture was developed to implement the Sequence Time Domain Reflectometry method on a 0.5- m integrated circuit. The sensor locates short or open circuits on active wires with an accuracy of +/-1 ft when running at a clock speed of 100 MHz. A novel algorithm is proposed that utilizes the... [Read more]
Feasibility of Spread Spectrum Sensors for Location of Arcs on Live Wires
Abstract—Spread spectrum methods are an important emerging class of sensors that have the potential to locate small, intermittent faults on energized aircraft power circuit wires. Previous work has demonstrated the use of these methods for hard faults (open and short circuits). This paper extends that work to the location of typical intermittent faults that plague aircraft maintainers. Test ... [Read more]
Noise-Domain Reflectometry for Locating Wiring Faults
Abstract—Reflectometry is commonly used to determine the integrity of cables and wiring. This paper describes a new family of reflectometers, the noise-domain reflectometers (NDR), that uses existing data signals on wiring and does not need to generate any signals of their own. There are two types of NDR, type I (where incident and reflected signals are separated) and type II (where they... [Read more]
Spread Spectrum Sensors for Critical fault location on live wire networks
Summary—Aging wiring networks have been identified as an area of critical national and international concern. One of the particularly challenging problems is the location of intermittent faults that cannot be replicated on the ground. This paper describes the application of spread spectrum fault location and wire health monitoring methods whose unique low-interference potential and high-noise... [Read more]
