Mil-Std-1553 -- Three Cheers!

How do you load up a military vehicle with instruments and complex electronic subsystems, ask them to talk to each other, to an onboard computer, and to operators, be “hard” in the face of EMI/RFI interference, be “fast” in response to data delivery requirements, be redundant and reliable even when damaged in combat situations...

...and save miles of wiring to boot?

The answer -- connect all these devices on a serial multiplex communications bus built to the requirements of Mil-Std-1553. That’s been the answer since about 1973, that is, two years before the last Apollo mission -- the Apollo-Suyuz docking event -- and almost 10 years before the advent of MS-DOS!

Raycom Electronics, an ETI subsidiary, manufactures QPL low power pulse transformers for Mil-Std-1553 applications. Hytronics, another ETI subsidiary, also builds versions of these transformers.

While Mil-Std-1553 hasn’t been the only answer for 40+ years, it may be the most ubiquitous and far reaching. It’s been designed into vehicles for space, air, and land -- both military and commercial. There’s a NATO version, a NASA version, and perhaps even a Russian version (a Wikipedia contributor explains it may be used on the Mig 35). We’re not sure if that’s true. But we know it’s used here (our thanks to http://www.milstd1553.com/applications/):

Military aircraft:
Airbus A-400M Turboprop Military Transport
Alenia C-27J Spartan Military Transport Aircraft
Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey Vertical and Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) Helicopter
Boeing AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter
Boeing B-1 Lancer Strategic Bomber
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Strategic Bomber
Boeing EA-18G Growler Electronic Warfare Aircraft
Boeing F/A-18 Hornet Multirole Fighter
Boeing F-15 Eagle Tactical Fighter
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Military Transport Aircraft
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker
Boeing RC-135 Reconnaissance Aircraft
Boeing X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS)
Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter
Dassault Mirage Jet Fighter
Dassault Rafale Multirole Fighter
Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon Multirole Fighter
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II Jet
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon Jet Fighter
Hawker Hunter Fighter
Lockheed AC-130 Ground Attack Fixed-Wing Gunship
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy Military Transport Aircraft
Lockheed C-130 Hercules Military Transport Aircraft
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Attack Aircraft
Lockheed P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft
Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor Stealth Air Superiority Fighter
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter
Lockheed Martin KC-103 Tanker
McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender Air-to-Air Tanker
Mitsubishi F-2 Multirole Fighter
Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber
Northrop Grumman E-2C/D Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning (AEW) Aircraft
Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft
Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
Panavia Tornado Multirole Fighter
Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk Multimission Maritime Helicopter
Sikorsky SJ-60K Seahawk Multimission Maritime Helicopter
Sikorsky UH/MH-60 Black Hawk Utility Helicopter

Commercial Aerospace:
Airbus A350-XWB Wide Body Jet Airliner

Weapon Systems:
AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-Ground Tactical Missile
AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM)
AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) Glide Bomb
AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM)
AIM-132 Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM)
AIM-9X Sidewinder Short Range Air-to-Air Missile
BGM-71 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire Command Data Link (TOW) Anti-Tank Missile
EKV Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
Extended Range Guided Munition
FIM-92 Stinger Personal Portable Infared Homing Surface-to-Air Missile
FMG-148 Javelin Anti-Tank Missile
M982 Excalibur Extended Range Guided Artillery Shell
Paveway Lase Guided Bombs
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow Short Range Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Missile Weapon System
RIM-67 Standard Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile
RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 Ship-Based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense
RIM-174 Standard Surface-to-Air Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM)
Tomahawk Long-Range, All Weather, Subsonic Cruise Missile
WCMD Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser
XAAM Medium Range Air-to-Air, Short Range Ship-to-Air Missile

Ground Vehicles:
BAE Bradley Fighting Vehicle
General Dynamics Abrams M1A2 Battle Tank
XM2001 Crusader Self-Propelled Howitzer

Space Applications:
The International Spaces Station
Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Satellite

As fiber optics and wireless come into play, one might expect a rapid decline in new Mil-Std-1553 applications. Firewire (IEEE 1394) and Thunderbolt, and other architectures offer faster data rates, more terminals, more everything -- except proven reliability in mission-critical applications.

It seems that this old-school bus, and the devices connecting to it -- keep learning new tricks. Congratulations Mil-Std-1553. Carry on. Three cheers!