Smiths Incorporates New Technology Efficiencies For V-22.FARNBOROUGH, U.K. -- Smiths Aerospace has been selected by The Boeing Company to supply Remote Interface Units (RIU RIU Regulatory Impact Unit (United Kingdom) RIU Remote Interface Unit RIU Radio Interface Unit RIU Refractive Index Unit RIU Remux Interface Unit RIU Radar/Remote Interface Unit RIU Riverine Interdiction Unit ) for the V-22 aircraft. The contract is valued at $6M for engineering units with additional potential sales of $30M over the next 20 years. The system will be designed and developed at the Smiths facility in Cheltenham with production beginning in 2008. Engineering units deliveries will take place in December 2007. The functional flexibility of Smiths Remote Interface units allows rapid design modifications to be made and easily introduced with minimal disruption and cost to the aircraft programme. The flexibility is important to the upcoming avionics avionics (ā'vēŏn`ĭks), electronic instruments used in air or space flight; also the design and production of such instruments. Early planes had few instruments, but as aviation and aircraft became more complex, so did instrumentation. upgrades anticipated for the V-22 program. The Interface Unit (IU) is located in the engine nacelle nacelle (nəsĕl`): see airplane. , the wing and the avionics bay on the V-22 aircraft and provides digitised sensor data over the MIL-STD-1553 bus. Smiths' participation in the program with Boeing and the U.S. Navy is part of the V-22 cost reduction initiative. It is anticipated that this solution will provide significant cost and weight savings. The Queen's Award for innovation was awarded to Smiths for the RIU product family this year. Smiths' content on the V-22 is valued at $140M for the life of the program including the following systems:
Rudder Actuator Servovalves Ramp Latch Actuator
RADS-RN Airframe Flexible Hoses Airframe Rigid
Tubular Assemblies
Airframe Rigid / Hybrid Tubular Assemblies Digital Data Set
RADS-AT Test Set RADS-AT Aircraft Adapter Shut-off/Isolation
Kit Valves
Utility Lighting Control Nacelle Blowers
About the RIU family: The Remote Interface Unit (RIU) product family is a range of units that offer incredible flexibility with the ability to digitise Verb 1. digitise - put into digital form, as for use in a computer; "he bought a device to digitize the data" digitalise, digitalize, digitize alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may real world signals like voltage, current, frequency and temperature, and effectively communicate this to a large number of aircraft systems over the central nervous system of a modern aircraft - its communication network. The RIU family supports the aerospace industry's transition to Integrated Modular Avionics Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) represent real-time computer network airborne systems. This network consist of a number of computing modules capable of supporting numerous applications of differing criticality levels. (IMA (Interactive Multimedia Association, Annapolis, MD) An earlier trade association founded in 1988 originally as the Interactive Video Industry Association. It provided an open process for adopting existing technologies and was involved in subjects such as networked services, scripting ) architectures - providing a standardised Adj. 1. standardised - brought into conformity with a standard; "standardized education" standardized standard - conforming to or constituting a standard of measurement or value; or of the usual or regularized or accepted kind; "windows of standard width"; unit that can interface to multiple types of aircraft sensors, and communicate with centralised Adj. 1. centralised - drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority; "centralized control of emergency relief efforts"; "centralized government" centralized computing resources. About Smiths: Smiths Aerospace, a part of Smiths Group, is a leading transatlantic aerospace systems and equipment company, with more than 11,000 employees and $2 billion revenues globally. The company holds key positions in the supply chains of all major military and civil aircraft and engine manufacturers and is a world-leader in digital, electrical power, mechanical systems, engine components and customer services. www.smiths-aerospace.com |
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