Implementing a MIL-STD-1553B bus link for a navigation trainer's control and radio panels
Challenge
A navigation trainer manufacturer needed its control display unit (CDU) and radio control panels to communicate over a genuine MIL-STD-1553B data bus - the same dual-redundant protocol used in real aircraft avionics - so trainees would work with an authentic bus architecture rather than a simplified stand-in, with firmware needed on both sides of the link: the CDU acting as bus controller, and each radio panel acting as a remote terminal.
Solution
We implemented both roles of the MIL-STD-1553B protocol from the ground up - bus controller (BC) firmware that schedules and issues message transfers across the bus, and remote terminal (RT) firmware that each panel uses to receive commands and return status and data words - built around Holt Integrated Circuits' HI-6131 transceiver/protocol IC and its HoltPortableLib software library. We validated the BC and RT firmware independently on Holt's EV-6131DC and EV-CM3 evaluation hardware before integrating it into the trainer's actual CDU and radio control panel hardware, with flow-charted message-handling logic on both sides to keep bus timing and error handling predictable as more remote terminals joined the bus.
Results
The result is a navigation trainer where the control display unit and every radio panel genuinely communicate over a MIL-STD-1553B bus - the same protocol trainees will encounter in the real aircraft systems the trainer prepares them for, not a simplified simulation of it. Captured bus traffic across BC-to-RT, RT-to-BC, and RT-to-RT message types confirmed the implementation against the protocol's actual message-type behavior, validated at the chip level before being integrated into the finished trainer hardware.
Kick-start your project
Get in touch with our team to discuss your business needs and see how we can help with a project like this one.