Many operational safety and service availability issues that affect flight safety and aircraft availability result from cabling, wiring and hard to diagnose electrical issues often buried inside the complex infrastructure of an aircraft. These electrical issues are caused by a number of factors, including degradation due to aircraft age, environmental effects caused by flight, and physical damage by operators. Given the importance and mission critical nature of both military and commercial air travel, safety and reliability share top of mind share within the industry.
AIRCRAFT DOWNTIME COSTS THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN LOST REVENUE EVERY YEAR.
Internal aircraft wiring related issues are a major cause of such downtime and pose a hidden hazard in aircraft. Maintenance technicians spend considerable man hours repairing wiring problems, with the most time spent troubleshooting, isolating, and locating faults. Many of these wiring issues go unresolved, resulting in repeat inflight problems and false LRU removals, costing an even greater amount of time and money. In more extreme causes, faulting aircraft wiring has resulted in life losing tragedies that could have potentially been prevented.
INTEREST IN SSTDR STARTED WITH MILITARY AERONAUTICS TO ADDRESS THE COSTLY DILEMMA OF “NO FAULT FOUND”
LiveWire’s Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry or “SSTDR”is a unique technology that uses low amplitude signals, codes and innovative correlation techniques to look for impedance changes in energized cables at distances of up to 4 miles and with fault location accuracy of 98%. Interest in SSTDR started with military aeronautics to address problems with wiring and to address the costly dilemma of “no fault found” experienced when equipment in operation or flight experiences an electrical problem, yet back at home base no problem is detected. The same benefits seen by military customers is now being realized by commercial aircraft makers, Tier 1 suppliers and operators concerned with safety, security, reliability and the collection of data.
THE OPERATIONAL BENEFITS OF CONTINUOUS MONITORING
By embedding SSTDR into the core design of internal electrical systems, aircraft makers can provide user with the ability monitor their system. The operational benefits of continuous monitoring with precise fault location includes increased revenue through less downtime, reduced maintenance costs and enhanced safety for employees and customers. For many operators, the ability to characterize their systems’ baseline performance and monitor for changes holds significant potential.
RUGGED, RELIABLE, AND SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR FLIGHTLINE MAINTENANCE. ANY WIRE TYPE, ANY APPLICATION.
With LiveWire’s advanced SSTDR technology in handheld products, such as the Arc Chaser, aircraft maintenance technicians spend less time locating difficult faults, including hard-to-duplicate intermittent faults. LiveWire’s handhelds are simple to use – they connect quickly and easily via standard test leads and results are easily interpreted.
As simple to use as a multimeter
Monitors all faults, including intermittent faults
Shows results in graphical or text format
Saves reports, transferrable to PCs for storage and printing
Easily tests all wire types, any length
Quick wire test setup
Self calibrates
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack
Includes our new compliances (list UL, CSA compliances)
Our products have the best accuracy, stability and repeatability. They are stable enough to utilize aircraft frame ground as a return path in many cases (same methodology as multimeter resistance checks); less than 4% avg fault location accuracy error. Wire-to-wire (two adjacent wires) accuracy; less than 1% avg fault location accuracy error
We have the only handheld tools capable of monitoring wires for intermittent faults
Best user interface (extremely easy to use, very little training required by technician); Minimal test setup
Only handheld tools capable of accurately testing ALL wires, regardless of type, bundle size, or application
Our products are rugged and have a portable design. They have the same form/fit as existing multimeters used on flightline
Embedded Solutions
LiveWire’s sensor ‘engines’ in the form of fully engineered, credit-card sized printed circuit boards and multi-board stacks, as well as SSTDR chip-sets with corresponding reference designs for very high-volume applications.
LiveWire can work with most communications and control options.Update and reporting interfaces that can be used include serial, USB, JTAG, Ethernet and others. Board-level solutions can support several other communications protocols including, SPI, I2C and CAN.
Handheld Solutions
Fully housed sensor modules for permanent installation. Handheld products using LiveWire’s Spread Spectrum brand of TDR for maintenance, field testing and electrical contractor markets.
The Mantis™ LW-MM200 is the first live cable tester module that monitors energized cable run faults and electrical circuits around-the-clock.
Fault Trapper monitors live circuits for intermittent conditions to record time and distance to Opens, Shorts and Arc Faults.
Dual mode TDR for testing and monitoring energized and unenergized systems.
Reduce the Downtime of Your Aircraft
Aeronautics
Many operational safety and service availability issues that affect flight safety and aircraft availability result from cabling, wiring and hard to diagnose electrical issues often buried inside the complex infrastructure of an aircraft. These electrical issues are caused by a number of factors, including degradation due to aircraft age, environmental effects caused by flight, and physical damage by operators. Given the importance and mission critical nature of both military and commercial air travel, safety and reliability share top of mind share within the industry.
AIRCRAFT DOWNTIME COSTS THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN LOST REVENUE EVERY YEAR.
Internal aircraft wiring related issues are a major cause of such downtime and pose a hidden hazard in aircraft. Maintenance technicians spend considerable man hours repairing wiring problems, with the most time spent troubleshooting, isolating, and locating faults. Many of these wiring issues go unresolved, resulting in repeat inflight problems and false LRU removals, costing an even greater amount of time and money. In more extreme causes, faulting aircraft wiring has resulted in life losing tragedies that could have potentially been prevented.
INTEREST IN SSTDR STARTED WITH MILITARY AERONAUTICS TO ADDRESS THE COSTLY DILEMMA OF “NO FAULT FOUND”
LiveWire’s Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry or “SSTDR”is a unique technology that uses low amplitude signals, codes and innovative correlation techniques to look for impedance changes in energized cables at distances of up to 4 miles and with fault location accuracy of 98%. Interest in SSTDR started with military aeronautics to address problems with wiring and to address the costly dilemma of “no fault found” experienced when equipment in operation or flight experiences an electrical problem, yet back at home base no problem is detected. The same benefits seen by military customers is now being realized by commercial aircraft makers, Tier 1 suppliers and operators concerned with safety, security, reliability and the collection of data.
THE OPERATIONAL BENEFITS OF CONTINUOUS MONITORING
By embedding SSTDR into the core design of internal electrical systems, aircraft makers can provide user with the ability monitor their system. The operational benefits of continuous monitoring with precise fault location includes increased revenue through less downtime, reduced maintenance costs and enhanced safety for employees and customers. For many operators, the ability to characterize their systems’ baseline performance and monitor for changes holds significant potential.
RUGGED, RELIABLE, AND SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR FLIGHTLINE MAINTENANCE. ANY WIRE TYPE, ANY APPLICATION.
With LiveWire’s advanced SSTDR technology in handheld products, such as the Arc Chaser, aircraft maintenance technicians spend less time locating difficult faults, including hard-to-duplicate intermittent faults. LiveWire’s handhelds are simple to use – they connect quickly and easily via standard test leads and results are easily interpreted.
Embedded Solutions
LiveWire’s sensor ‘engines’ in the form of fully engineered, credit-card sized printed circuit boards and multi-board stacks, as well as SSTDR chip-sets with corresponding reference designs for very high-volume applications.
LiveWire can work with most communications and control options. Update and reporting interfaces that can be used include serial, USB, JTAG, Ethernet and others. Board-level solutions can support several other communications protocols including, SPI, I2C and CAN.
Handheld Solutions
Fully housed sensor modules for permanent installation. Handheld products using LiveWire’s Spread Spectrum brand of TDR for maintenance, field testing and electrical contractor markets.
The Mantis™ LW-MM200 is the first live cable tester module that monitors energized cable run faults and electrical circuits around-the-clock.
Fault Trapper monitors live circuits for intermittent conditions to record time and distance to Opens, Shorts and Arc Faults.
Dual mode TDR for testing and monitoring energized and unenergized systems.
3-In-1 DMM/TDR Cable Fault Finder
Fault Finding/Cable Length Measurement TDR