MIL-STD-1553 is a military standard published by the United States Department of Defense that defines the mechanical, electrical, and functional characteristics of a serial data bus.
The MIL-STD-1553 PXI Interface Modules provide monitor (MON), remote terminal (RT) (up to 32) or bus controller (BC) operation and support all types of MIL-STD-1533 messages. Options include models with single-function and multi-function channel operation.
MIL-STD-1553 data buses can maintain a history of bus activity in a sequential log file for storage and analysis. Advanced features include multi-terminal simulation with concurrent monitoring, variable transmit amplitude, zero-cross distortion, IRIG timing synchronization / generation, and protocol error transmission for message, interval and word errors.
Applications of the MIL-STD-1553 PXI Interface Module include testing, simulation, and operational uses of avionic data buses.
In recent years, MIL 1553 has expanded beyond the military’s aerospace platforms. It now encompasses applications of for combat vehicles, ships, satellites, missiles, the International Space Station Program, and advanced commercial avionic applications.
Historically the commercial avionics designers have preferred other data bus protocols for their systems but are now finding that MIL-STD-1553 fits the needs in newer systems.
The rugged and reliable standard, with a track record of over 30 years of in-service history, is invaluable when it comes to safety certification to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards, such as DO-254 and DO-178B.
Military missiles and smart bombs are evolving into more sophisticated, precise, and lethal with the advancement of microelectronics. These systems have benefited from using MIL-STD-1553 data buses, by using the data bus to download information from the aircraft just before launch and coordinate information flow during the flight of the weapon.
MIL-STD-1553 was first published as a U.S. Air Force standard in 1973, and first was used on the F-16 Falcon fighter aircraft. Other aircraft designs quickly followed, including the F/A-18 Hornet, AH-64 Apache, P-3C Orion, F-15 Eagle and F-20 Tigershark. It is now widely used by all branches of the U.S. military and by NASA.
Six change notices to the standard have been published since 1978. For example, change notice 2 in 1986 changed the title of the document from “Aircraft internal time division command/response multiplex data bus” to “Digital time division command/response multiplex data bus.”
MIL-STD-1553C is the last revision made in February 2018.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers MIL-1553 Training, a 2-day course that focuses on what MIL-STD-1553 is and how it works. Participants learn about MIL-STD-1553 systems, analysis and design, architecture, protocols, applications and cybersecurity.
Contact us for more information, questions, comments.