Role of Standards with Integrated Control

The recent interest in integrated control for aircraft electronic systems has been paralleled with increased interest in standardization by the military. Computer architecture, high order programming languages and data transfer via multiplexing have all been defined in standards. What is the effect of standardization on the application of integrated control technology? Will it help or hinder design applications? Is standardization being applied at the correct level? What is the correct level for standardization? The purpose of this short paper is to raise questions in the hope that the ensuing discutssions can help put focus on some of the critical issues. Some of the major concerns are discussed, then a brief analysis of several issues is presented in the areas of interface standardization, flight and engine control integration, reliability, architecture standardization, software standardization, followed by a summary.