Multifunctional
Information Distribution
System (MIDS)
Link-16
Project Presentation for Integration of MIDS Link-16 onto
an advanced F-16 Aircraft
EMIS 7305 Spring 2011
B. Hanson, C. Kalina, A. Rodriguez
Dr. Jerrell Stracener

MIDS is an advanced information distribution system

Integrates communication, navigation and identification
capabilities

Applications include airborne, land-based, and maritime tactical
operations

The system is in essence a high speed, anti-jam data link
between allied aircraft that allows transmission of multiple types
of messages which are critical for mission success.

Among other important features, these messages provide a visual
on target, hostile, enemy, and allied aircraft and also the location
of such which is displayed in each aircraft on a Multifunction
Display (MFD).
System Overview
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Two main
components will
be taken into
consideration
for purposes of
this project:
 MIDS Main
Terminal Line
Replaceable Unit
(LRU)
 Power Supply
(RPS)
System Overview
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011

The system consists of two real and one
“virtual” component.
◦ Remote Power Supply (RPS)
◦ Main MIDS LRU
◦ Back-up MIDS LRU, or the “virtual” MIDS LRU
The virtual LRU is simply the case where the
RPS fails; in which case the LRU would be
powered from the aircraft’s 28V DC.
 The LRU in this scenario would have a reduced
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) than the
LRU which operates from RPS.

System Overview
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011

Our study of integrating the Link-16 MIDS
onto an Advanced F-16 Aircraft consisted of:
◦ Analyzing:
 Reliability
 Maintainability
◦ Determining System’s Operational Effectiveness
◦ Defining requirements for:
 Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
 Reliability
 Maintainability
◦ Analysis was conducted in order to determine
whether or not the MIDS meets the customers’
requirements.
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011

Three separate companies competed to win the
contract to supply the MIDS LRU and RPS.
◦ Armando Incorporated
◦ Brody Incorporated
◦ Chris Incorporated




Each company submitted data from the testing of
100 units of the LRU and RPS.
The data contained the MTTF and MTTR of each
component.
Separate companies could be chosen to supply the
RPS and LRU.
This gave more freedom in determining which
combination would give the optimal MTTF and
MTTR.
Competition
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011

Per the customer requirements, the Link-16 MIDS
shall be designed to have a Mean Time Between
Failure of equal to or greater than 1000 hours.

The MTBF, or MTTR, defines the inherent reliability
of the system, and the system shall be operated in
normal expected flight conditions.
Requirements
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011

A failure shall be defined as any of the
following conditions:
◦ Any measurable and unscheduled loss of, or
degradation in, the Terminal’s performance.
◦ Any failure that causes self-correcting or operatorresettable interruptions of the Terminal’s specified
performance to occur more often than once per six
hours.
◦ Any nonscheduled repair, adjustment, or related
action taken to verify the existence of a failure,
whether or not one can be verified, or taken to
correct anout-of-specification condition if this action
interrupts Terminal performance.
Requirements
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
◦ The MIDS LRU and RPS can be defined to be in a standby
configuration. Two LRUs are depicted below, with the
second LRU being considered a “Virtual” LRU. If the RPS
goes down, the MIDS LRU will run off the 28V DC power.
The MTTF is significantly less than when the LRU is not
running off the RPS.
Aircraft Power
3 Phase AC
RPS
LRU1
28 V DC
LRU2
Reliability
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
◦ The system is in a Standby Configuration overall
with the RPS and main LRU in series with one
another.
◦ For a system in series with one another the MTBF
is given by the following equation:
◦ A system in a Standby Configuration has a higher
reliability due to its redundancies. The MTBF of the
system is the individual sums of each element in
the system.
◦ Based on the block diagram in Figure 2 the MTBF
of the overall system is given by:
Reliability
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
◦ Each vendor’s data was used to find the MTBF and
MTTR of each element. The MTBF and MTTR were
found by finding the mean of each element using:
Reliability
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
◦ Table summarizes the results of finding the
MTBF of the system per the companies data.
Reliability Results - Table 1
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Reliability Results - Table 2
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Reliability Results - Table 2
Continued
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
 The
MIDS shall accommodate the
following level of maintenance by
specified maintenance personnel:
 Direct-support maintenance (platform
level)
 Intermediate-support maintenance:
 Indirect-support maintenance
Maintainability
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Direct-support maintenance (platform
level)
The MIDS LRU Main Terminal and
associated Remote Power Supply will
be maintained on-platform/on-site by
maintenance technicians.
 Failed LRUs will be detected and
verified by built-in test (BIT)
circuitry, replaced, and the repair will
be verified by BIT.

Maintainability:
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Intermediate-support maintenance

Intermediate-level repair will consist of, verifying LRU
faults; isolating LRU failures using Built-in-Test (BIT),
technical manuals and with commercial off the shelf
(COTS) test equipment or Government inventory
support equipment with Link 16 functionality and
unique interface hardware and software; repairing the
LRU; and verifying the repair using BIT, technical
manuals and with COTS equipment or Government
inventory support equipment with Link 16 functionality
and unique interface hardware and software.
Intermediate-level repair will be performed off-platform
by maintenance personnel.
Maintainability:
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Indirect-support maintenance:

Indirect-support (depot) maintenance
will consist of repairing the LRUs
beyond the capability of the
intermediate-level repair facility.
Maintainability:
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Analysis:


In order to determine if selected vendors
meet the requirements for Maintainability,
we first must perform a thorough analysis
of Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and Mean
Time to Failures (MTTF) for each vendor
under consideration.
The equation to find the MTTR of the
system is:
Maintainability:
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Maintainability:
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
Note: Table 3 continues in next slide
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
Maintainability:
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011

In summary, the following suppliers will be used in
order to meet the requirements of our customer:
◦ RPS: Brody Incorporated
◦ MIDS LRU: Chris Incorporated
After careful analysis, all vendors provided
components that achieved the requirement for the
system to have a MTBF of at least 1000 hours.
 Reliability is considered the number one priority for
our system and the companies chosen are based
reliability.
 Brody Incorporated will be chosen for the Remote
Power Supply (RPS) and Chris Incorporated will be
chosen for the MIDS Line Replaceable Unit (LRU)
based on the MTBF of 1171.9 hours.

Results
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011






Maintainability is an important characteristic of a system,
but it was considered second to reliability.
The maintainability requirement of no more than 30 hours
has not fully been achieved based off the LRU and RPS
chosen.
The MTTR of the chosen components came out to be 30.4
hours, just above the requirement of no more than 30
hours.
It is considered acceptable because of the higher reliability
to the system.
The next closest MTBF, within the MTTR requirement, came
from Brody’s RPS and Armando’s LRU.
The MTBF difference is 26 hours and the MTTR difference is
7 hours. Overall, it is better to go with Brody’s RPS and
Chris’s LRU to maximize the reliability of the system.
Results
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011
 All
other requirements within
maintainability and reliability are
achieved with the chosen
components.
 Barring any unforeseen
circumstances, these components
will be chosen to be placed on the
Advanced F-16 Aircraft.
Results
Hanson, Kalina, Rodriguez
EMIS 7305 – SPIRNG 2011