Engineering Case Studies
Engineering Success Story
E3 AWACS Omega Navigation Unit
The Royal Saudi Air Force has a fleet of E3-AWACS designed with 2 navigation systems that must both be working for the aircraft to be flight-worthy — an Inertial Navigation Unit and an Omega Navigation Unit. These units utilized very low frequency radio waves from transmitters around the world to triangulate position. The Omega navigation system was no longer used, but the unit communicates with the INU and both must be functioning to work. The Air Force was faced with an AOG situation due to non-functioning Omega Navigation Units, and the OEM no longer supported the unit. Artemis received manuals from the Air Force, but 8 of the 24 necessary schematics — the critical computer portions — were missing. This navigation unit utilized a “magnetic memory core” that erases every time it’s read and has to be rewritten to store software. There was no way to reprogram them because the original programs were stored on tape reels and the programmers were no longer available. Artemis received 10 units, some with working software and some with corrupted software.
The Artemis team first reverse engineered all of the missing schematics. We then developed the theory of operations for the computer section of the unit, as well as a method to read the existing memory program from the unit using the “Write-Only” port and pattern generating software to read the data, built a programmer and used it to reprogram the corrupted cores. As a result, Artemis designed, built, and owns the only ONS Memory core programmer in the entire world. Better still, we were able to automate the process to reduce the engineering, repair and return from 6 months to just 30 days.
Engineering and Manufacturing Success Story
DDU Bargraph Displays
Artemis Electronic was initially engaged to update and manufacture the circuit card assemblies for DDU bargraph displays. The original design incorporated obsolete components, was fragile and difficult to install, and required a significant amount of power. Once we were manufacturing the cards, BAE Systems approached us to see if we wanted to make the entire unit. We realized that Bar Graphs posed a DMSMS issue because the OEM wasn’t making them anymore. The Artemis team then developed a new display board with the same form, fit, and function but utilizing modern SMT components and LEDs rather than plasma displays, making them more energy efficient and easier to install. The new technology, currently approved for FMS, will be good for 20+ years.
Engineering and Manufacturing Success Story
DDU In-Line tester
The existing design for this DDU in-line tester incorporated legacy components in a non-ruggedized casing, and frequently gave false negatives. The Artemis team built a new in-line tester, redesigning the circuit cards with a ruggedized casing and circuit card assembly, and a new wire harness using modern components.
Engineering Success Story
T-39 Trainer RCU/LCU
As part of contract with the US NAVY/L-3, we received 78 RCU/LCUs that were considered BER by the OEM.
The Artemis team reverse engineered the parts to find that the power supply circuit failure originated from faulty DC-to-DC converters. The converters were restored to their functional capacity, and 77 of the 78 units sent to Artemis were restored from BER to functioning units again.
Engineering Success Story
OH-58 Fuel Probes
We were presented with an AOG situation of OH-58 due to non-functioning fuel probes. DLA had designated them as non-repairable, and the OEM had been given a 2-year lead time, but was unwilling to produce any new probes. Several of the fuel probes were sent to Artemis, where we found that the probes’ quantity transmitters were not functioning. To complicate matters, no schematics were available to properly assess the probes.
The Artemis team went to work, creating new, updated schematics for the quantity transmitters. We designed and built test sets, then repaired the faulty quantity transmitters so that fuel probes were fully functional.