Altium > Case Studies > Esterline: Streamlining Aerospace and Military System Design with IoT Integration

Esterline: Streamlining Aerospace and Military System Design with IoT Integration

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
Drones - Flight & Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Aerospace
Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Manufacturing Process Simulation
Virtual Prototyping & Product Testing

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Esterline Control Systems, Mason is a company that develops active and passive inceptors and control systems custom designed for a variety of standard configurations to satisfy specific customer requirements. Their products are used in iconic applications such as the Blackhawk helicopters, F-18 fighter, C-5 transport planes, and Gulfstream, Embraer, and Boeing aircraft. The company has been offering world-class aerospace components, manned, unmanned, and robotic control devices, and associated sub-systems since 1942. Known for thoroughly and elegantly engineered designs, ECS, Mason integrates human factors, DO-178B embedded software, multiple interfaces, power conservation designs, environmental ruggedness, weight savings, maintainability, and more into their products.

The Challenge

Esterline Control Systems, Mason (ECS, Mason) is a company that develops flight controllers and other products for aerospace and military applications. These products are typically produced in small lots, such as 200 helicopters or 300 airplanes, which makes a full-custom design approach unfeasible. Instead, engineers modify existing standard product configurations to meet the needs of each customer. This process involves extensive iteration on the design, with design data being passed among teams and tools to meet the application's constraints. However, the company's original electrical design suite, based on OrCAD workstations, was inefficient. Importing and exporting design files to simulation, 3D modeling, and other analysis tools required a manual process that was slow and error-prone. The lack of integrated simulation and program management tools also hampered design and discouraged the exploration of design alternatives.

The Solution

ECS, Mason adopted Altium Designer to streamline the schematic capture, simulation, and board design processes. This tool not only improved each of these processes individually but also provided larger productivity gains through the integration of all the tools in one design environment. The engineers found the centralized components libraries extensive and easy to extend, which saved time and reduced risks in projects. The integration with mechanical design was also found to be very helpful, with the mechanical capabilities being very good and the export process to SolidWorks working great. Altium Designer integrated seamlessly with all the analysis and product lifecycle management (PLM) applications, reducing the time and cost to produce new designs by as much as 50% and streamlining the process in other ways. The tool also made it easier to meet DO-254 documentation requirements and ensured designs were continuously in sync, improving communication among the company and its customers and helping to prevent human error within the projects.

Operational Impact

The adoption of Altium Designer has allowed ECS, Mason to meet the widely varying requirements of its customers with a relatively modest number of seats (six). The company is now able to design faster, which is a market differentiator for them. Faster design turns also encourage the engineers to experiment more and find innovative ways to meet their customer’s appetites for new and innovative features. The features and integration provided by Altium Designer have virtually eliminated 'toolset' induced errors. As a result, the company has been able to reduce risks by leveraging 'lessons learned', achieve higher end-product reliability, and generally shorten qualification processes. Overall, the use of Altium Designer has lowered costs for ECS, Mason.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced the time and cost to produce new designs by as much as 50%
Projects that would have taken eight weeks before are now a four-week proposition
Virtual elimination of 'toolset' induced errors