Abstract: The invention relates to a method and a device for locating a fault in a system. The system includes a set of elements. The elements are connected in a network. Each element is associated with an operational status and a probability of failure. The method according to an embodiment of the invention includes, for each of the elements having a status indicating a malfunction, denoted as a defective element, the creation, from the system topology, of an expression comprising terms corresponding to functional elements connected to said defective element. If several expressions have been created in the preceding step, then merge expressions having at least one term in common. For each expression, delete terms in the expression corresponding to elements having a “healthy” status. Calculate a minimal expression from the preceding expression. Calculate failure probabilities for selected members of the minimal expression based on failure probabilities of the corresponding elements.

Abstract: The invention relates to a maintenance system for a set of equipment of an aircraft, forming a physical network (106) configured by configuration files (101). The maintenance system according to the invention comprises a model M (104) of the set of equipment of the physical network, taking into account the topology of the physical network and the interactions between the various equipment items. This model M is constructed and updated in real time from data (including, for example, the configuration tables) concerning the physical network and the equipment items themselves.

Abstract: A method of preventive maintenance is disclosed for an aircraft. The aircraft includes components, including items of equipment of the aircraft and/or electronic modules and/or physical links. The lifetime information for the components is known. The aircraft also includes means for monitoring the components, a centralized maintenance system, and means for estimating the life time of the components. The aircraft carries out a set of functions, each being ensured by a chain of components. The method comprises several steps including, a first step of locating the degradations of the items of equipment, a second step making it possible to allocate the located degradations to the various functions of the aircraft, a third step of estimating the lifetime of the functions identified in the second step, and a fourth step of formulating the maintenance message constructed on the basis of the previous steps.

Abstract: A device for distributing information and its fault management process which improves the robustness of a network, such as in an aircraft, a boat, or a train. The device or process includes one or more splitters of which an upstream input output is linked to a first end of a chain including stations, at lower overdimensioning cost, and with dynamic management of a fault which renders it transparent or of very short duration. A second end of the chain is linked to a downstream input output of another splitter and a fault management procedure is implemented activating or otherwise one of the ends of a chain depending on the nature and the conditions of the fault. Preferably, addresses of the elements of the network can reflect its topology and facilitate the shunting of the addresses of the stations between splitters.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a CDMA communication network on board a carrier, the network connecting a plurality of equipment on board the carrier and grouped into domains, each piece of equipment comprising at least one partition, the partitions being able to intercommunicate via digital message exchanges conveyed on at least one shared medium, the shared medium possessing a bandwidth limiting the number of simultaneously exchangeable messages to NLimit. Access controllers provide an interface between equipment partitions and a shared medium. Each piece of equipment includes an access controller. Shared media are passive components and provide an interface between access controllers of equipment in a domain.

Abstract: Deterministic type packet-switching transmission networks are networks in which the different flows of information follow virtual paths defined in advance for which any change requires a reprogramming of the interconnection nodes. The advantage of determinism is that it makes it easier to estimate the maximum delay time that the packets may undergo during their journey in the network. However, it remains to be verified that the network is appropriately sized for the transmission of the different information flows, with the constraints of maximum delay times and of regularity imposed by the connected items of equipment. A method is proposed here for the sizing of the network. In this method, the verification of compliance with these constraints is based on the determining of the jitter components added by the different interconnection nodes of the network, at their different output ports.

Abstract: Deterministic type packet-switching transmission networks are networks in which the different flows of information follow virtual paths defined in advance for which any change requires a reprogramming of the interconnection nodes. The advantage of determinism is that it makes it easier to estimate the maximum delay time that the packets may undergo during their journey in the network. However, it remains to be verified that the network is appropriately sized for the transmission of the different information flows, with the constraints of maximum delay times and of regularity imposed by the connected items of equipment. A method is proposed here for the sizing of the network. In this method, the verification of compliance with these constraints is based on the determining of the jitter components added by the different interconnection nodes of the network, at their different output ports.

Abstract: For the transfer of digital data between plural terminals, the method according to the invention comprises the connection of each terminal to a switching device via a respective bus of the ARINC 629 type, the switching device selectively ensuring communication between said buses; the shaping of the digital data to be transmitted by a terminal into at least one message of predefined fixed length, in which the digital data are associated with a header comprising a code identifying the message; the transmission of said message by the terminal on the bus connecting it to the switching device; the reception of the message by the switching device; and the transmission of the message by the switching device onto each of the buses connected to the destination terminals determined by means of the message identification code.

Abstract: In order to have the functional modules of a local unit communicate with one another and with an external bus, the device embodying the invention comprises: at least one internal bus of the same type as the external bus per functional module, the latter being coupled to the internal busses so that each module is the sole transmitter on at least one of the internal busses and is a receiver on the other internal busses; an additional internal bus for each external bus of the same type as said internal busses, ensuring the dissemination to the functional modules of data transiting on the external bus; and a coupling module ensuring transfer towards the external bus of the data circulating on the internal busses and destined for another local unit connected to the external bus.

Abstract: The method embodying the invention uses a data transmission network between at least a server connected to data sources and a plurality of receiving and dialog peripherals for users. This network transmits the data in the form of a succession of digital data cells respectively associated with a virtual channel constituting a source/destination link for the data. In a first mode, each channel is associated with a respective previously compiled program whereas, in a second mode, a virtual channel is associated with each user, the latter being able to individually access and act on the different sources in order to compose the program he wishes to view. The invention applies notably to the distribution of data on board an aircraft.

Abstract: A method uses a synchronous bus which ensures the transfer of digital data between plural subscribers connected to the bus via respective couplers. This method comprises the attribution to the subscribers of transmission rights in cells of fixed duration distributed over the frames, the synchronizing of all the couplers, the composing by each coupler of a message comprising the data to be transmitted associated with a code identifying the message, the transmission of this message during a cell attributed to the subscriber, the reception by each coupler of the messages contained in the cells not attributed to it and the analysis of the identification codes of these messages, and if this identification code corresponds to that of the message expected, the transmission of the data in the message to the subscriber.