Aerospace and Defense Review

Workforce Limitations Are Becoming a Hidden Problem of Bus Integration Avionics Projects

Market dynamics of COTS MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC equipment are frequently considered from perspectives of certification requirements and budget allocations. Workforce limitations involved in performing avionics integration projects often go unnoticed, although workforce constraints are gradually beginning to affect the purchasing process for customers.

Avionics bus integration initiatives related to aircraft refurbishment heavily rely on the availability of specialists familiar with legacy communication standards and test procedures. The shortage of such engineers is unlikely to get resolved soon. Quite a few current aerospace programs are being conducted under conditions of limited supply of skilled personnel for avionics bus integration.

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Such issues indirectly influence the decision-making process in selecting vendors. An engineering team working under tight deadlines will appreciate hardware providers who offer relatively easy-to-implement products and solutions. This happens because introduction of a new interface requires additional training and experience.

In this context, hardware providers offering consistent documentation and software can enjoy competitive advantages in dealing with potential customers. Such advantages are likely to be based on the increasing importance of product implementation simplicity among buyers constrained by internal engineering capacity.

The above-described problem grows in significance within mixed-system upgrade initiatives. Engineers participating in integration projects may need skills required both for handling old MIL-STD-1553 buses and new ARINC communication layers. Training a single engineer to work with different system architectures takes considerable time in cases of tight deployment schedules.

As a result, customer expectations towards suppliers start evolving. Potential buyers become more concerned about receiving vendor assistance in performing validation and troubleshooting tasks. The need for technical support is not connected to requests for major service agreements. Rather, it stems from limited availability of experienced personnel on the customer side.

Suppliers should consider changing their approach towards providing technical assistance and documentation. In order to ease the burden of customers' engineering teams facing staffing issues, hardware providers could offer clear guidelines on implementing their products. Additionally, stable and predictable firmware behavior and diagnostic tools would help minimize customer's difficulties.

Workforce problems also affect long-term sustainment plans. Operators of aging aircraft frequently rely on engineers having a background in legacy avionics systems. Retirement of such employees can make legacy information scarce, thus making maintenance solutions critical for preserving legacy knowledge and skills.

The above-described trend might have implications for the future of avionics buses market. Providers able to reduce implementation costs and challenges could become more competitive despite offering higher-priced products. Integration efficiency starts becoming dependent on customer labor constraints within the market environment.

Summing up, current procurement trends suggest that selection of avionics buses cannot be seen as a purely technical activity anymore. Labor problems at the side of customer's engineers play a significant role in determining product preferences. Potential customers seem to place increased importance on product-related implementation costs and difficulties.

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