Reliability improvement of electronics standby display system of modern aircraft

Purpose – Through this analysis an attempt has been made to improve the reliability of an ESDS used in the cockpit. Design/methodology/approach – The process used for carrying out FMEA is specified by MIL‐STD‐1629A procedure for carrying out failure mode, effects and criticality analysis. Findings – In an increasing demand in avionics sector, particularly in modern defence and civil aircraft, safety and reliability are the prime concern to complete the mission successfully. This made technocrats to rethink over the safety of complete system by adding redundancy to the critical activities or what else not? The electronic stand by display system (ESDS), being an avionics unit and fitted in the cockpit for displaying very important navigation and engine parameters to pilot whenever main display unit fail to perform it primary functions. So even standby system need to have high reliability to serve the purpose by providing important flight parameters for the safe landing of pilot and crew. Failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) is one of the effective reliability assessment tool, which evaluate systematically and document the potential failure modes of a system or equipment and their causes. It helps in grading the severity of all potential failure modes and useful in carrying out the changes in early phase of design. The analysis starts with the potential failure of a smallest component at the final indenture and goes up to the initial indenture level. Originality/value – The paper adds insight into the reliability improvement of electronics standby display systems of modern aircraft.