MAPLD 2005/140 1Loo On the Use of Reconfigurable Hardware in Sensor System Integration for Airliner Cabin Environment Research Sin Ming Loo FAA Center of Excellence for Airliner Cabin Environment Research Boise State University Boise, Idaho 83725

MAPLD 2005/140 2Loo Outline Airliner Cabin Environment Health Issues and Airliner CoE Airliner Cabin Environment Research Reconfigurable Sensor System Backbone Challenges Conclusions & On-going Work

MAPLD 2005/140 3Loo Cabin Environment Airline passengers encounter environmental factors that include Potential exposure to contaminants O 3, CO, CO 2 Pesticides Various organic chemicals Biological agents Close proximity Low humidity Reduced air pressure Health effects? Ticket to ride Spreading germs a mile high

MAPLD 2005/140 4Loo Health Issues and Airliner Many reported sickness after flying Including passengers and flight crew Is there a link? No data collected can conclusively says that there is a link Due to technique used to collect and interpret data NRC’s 2002 report - “The Airliner Cabin Environment and the Health of Passengers and Crew” Concludes that more systematic long-term airliner cabin monitoring and research are required

MAPLD 2005/140 5Loo So, why don’t I feel right after flying? Humidity 10% to 20% Temperature < 20  C Close proximity Sardine! Pressurization Cabin pressure at altitude up to 8000 ft (2,440 m) Partial oxygen level Stress of flying

MAPLD 2005/140 6Loo Operating Environment Taxiing  Takeoff  Cruise  Descent Temperature -55  C to 50  C Pressure 10.1 kPa to 101 kPa Altitude Sea level to 36,000 ft (typical cruising altitude) Extreme range of operating environments So, how am I being kept alive? Environmental Control System - provide a suitable indoor environment

MAPLD 2005/140 7Loo Environmental Control Systems Role Ventilate and pressurize the cabin Prevent rapid changes in cabin pressure Minimize concentrations of contaminants Typically, large commercial aircraft (>100 passengers) re-circulate about 50% of cabin air Re-circulated air passes through high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters Not mandated by FAA 85% of aircraft (>100 passengers) are equipped with HEPA filters

MAPLD 2005/140 8Loo Bleed Air Reference: United States General Accounting Office, Aviation Safety: More Research Needed to the Effects of Air Quality on Airliner Cabin Occupants, GAO-04-54, January 2005.

MAPLD 2005/140 9Loo Source of Contaminants At cruising altitude, the air is quite pure Source of contaminants You and I! Industrial and urban sources Air supply systems Leaking hydraulic fluid Spilled fuel Deicing fluid Intentional agent release

MAPLD 2005/140 10Loo CoE ACER FAA established the Center of Excellence for Airliner Cabin Environment Research ( in 2004 ACER consists of an eight-institution team: Auburn University Purdue University Harvard University Boise State University Kansas State University Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory The University of California Berkeley The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey ACER conducts a comprehensive and integrated program of research and development on the cabin environment

MAPLD 2005/140 11Loo Airliner Cabin & FPGA? Why does the FPGA have anything to do with airliner cabin environment research?

MAPLD 2005/140 12Loo ACER Needs a… Sensor backbone: Flexible Scalable Interfaceable to analog- and digital-based sensors Removable storage Wireless Solution Combination of FPGA and microcontroller

MAPLD 2005/140 13Loo Wireless Sensor Network Base stations with m remote stations Remote Station S0 Wireless S1 S2 S3 S4 Sn-3 Sn-2 Sn-1 RH Wireless RH/  C Indicator Interface SD Flash Base Station S0 Wireless S1 S2 S3 S4 Sn-3 Sn-2 Sn-1 RH Sensor Peripheral Board Remote station interface to n sensors Sensor peripheral unit Analog Digital

MAPLD 2005/140 14Loo Base Station Xilinx FPGA with Microblaze core b compatible Wireless Transceiver Secure digital flash memory Extra I/O for future interface Real-time clock Battery power Wireless RH/  C Indicator Interface SD Flash

MAPLD 2005/140 15Loo Remote Station Xilinx FPGA with Microblaze core b compatible wireless transceiver Lots of I/Os for sensors Real-time clock Battery power I 2 C S0 Wireless S1 S2 S3 S4 Sn-3 Sn-2 Sn-1 RH S0 Wireless S1 S2 S3 S4 Sn-3 Sn-2 Sn-1 RH 3” 4.5”

MAPLD 2005/140 16Loo Sensor Peripheral Board Low cost microcontroller is used to ease the task of interfacing to analog or digital sensor This board: Microcontroller Analog ports Digital ports Small prototype area

MAPLD 2005/140 17Loo Wireless Transceiver WiFi to be used for data collection by base station b, 2.4GHz Check out Wireless module Aerocomm AC5124C-10A

MAPLD 2005/140 18Loo Sensor Interface Prototype Sensors National Temperature Sensor Humirel Relative Humidity Sensor Motorola Pressure Sensor FIS Gas Sensor VOCs FIS Gas Sensor Carbon Monoxide FIS Ozone Sensor FIS Gas Sensor Combustion Gas

MAPLD 2005/140 19Loo Challenges Analog/digital sensor interface Data storage Raw data? Scalable number of sensors Minimize the electronic characterization (certification) required for in-cabin usage FCC and FAA standards Power consumption/interface

MAPLD 2005/140 20Loo Conclusions & On-going Work Provided an introduction to airliner cabin environment research Presented a design of an Ad-hoc wireless sensor network with backbone capable of interfacing with large numbers of sensors Analysis of the quality of wireless signals in the aircraft cabin

MAPLD 2005/140 21Loo Acknowledgement This work is funded by FAA Cooperative Agreement No. 04-C-ACE-BSU. Disclaimer Although the FAA has sponsored this project, it neither endorses nor rejects the findings of this research. The presentation of this information is in the interest of invoking technical community comment on the results and conclusions of the research.