FWT-RM, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: AF151-060

Description

This SBIR Phase II proposal for a Common Embedded Vehicle Network Diagnostics Interface Hardware (CEVNDIH) for an IEEE-1394 based AS5643 network implementation is focused on IEEE-1394 PHY, Link and Open Host Controller (OHCI) optimizations, diagnostics and enhancements. The resulting implementation is designed; a) to create improvements to help maintenance personnel isolate subsystem, wiring, or connector faults, b) minimize the risk of having a complete total loss of network communication by optimizing bus re-initialization process (and simplifying the overall design), c) reduce the amount of troubleshooting time by providing the information needed to detect and isolate the root cause of a vehicle communication network failure, d) improve integration (size, weight, power, and cost advantages), e) provide an affordable network upgrade path for future tactical fighter vehicle management to incorporate advanced diagnostics, protocol improvements, and speed enhancements, f) maintain open system architecture and interoperability with commercially available IEEE-1394b hardware, and g) provide ability to isolate-and-detect network failures when they occur and prevent the propagation of bus resets from occurring due to normal bus operation. The implementation shall be tested to the appropriate standard and/or specification and test for interoperability with appropriate existing IEEE-1394 chip sets.