Since 1992, DragoonITCN, based in Dayton, Ohio, has been at the forefront of avionics and weapon systems testing, specializing in MIL STD 1553 bus interfaces. The company’s flagship product is common support equipment that combines several functions into a rugged, portable tester: CORVUS.

DragoonITCN’s CORVUS combines an advanced 1553 real-time bus monitor with a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) for cable impedance fault detection with a wire mapping capability for cable pin to pin continuity. CORVUS provides a distributed capability to test the 1553 stubs and couplers on an inactive bus. A mimic 1553 signal is transmitted from the stub and received at test ports along the network, making fault detections due to polarity, insertion, and opens/shorts. An optional Wi-Fi capability is included in the CORVUS kit, removable for site security concerns. CORVUS is also able to monitor activity on an active 1553 bus using the receive modules whereby signal attenuation and general bus health can be quickly assessed. Finally, the intermittent fault issue is addressed by stepping up the clock frequency on the mimic 1553 with the bus inactive. This effectively stresses the bus to show indications of potential intermittent issues.

As CORVUS is a multi-function tester, the integrated VNA is used for distance to fault measurements on cabling (1553 and RF) as well as VSWR and insertion/reflective loss. This capability extends to the 6.4GHz spectral region, suitable for UHF/VHF SATCOM, Starlink, GPS, and many communications LRUs. The ability to locate impedance mismatch locations is a powerful tool for determining subtle cable anomalies such as minimum bend radius violations and chaffing. DragoonITCN is developing a commercial variant of CORVUS that applies the bus monitor technology to ARINC 429 along with the VNA and wire mapping. Additionally, DragoonITCN is engaged with multiple companies in support of making the resulting test data ingestible to the databases associated with CBM+ and cyber resiliency programs.

DragoonITCN also produces the Countermeasures Sequential Timing Amplitude Tester (C-STAT), a fielded CMDS tester designed for intermittent level ALE-47 maintenance used in combat shield and Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) platforms. The C-STAT is a widely used tester at Air Force, Air National Guard, and AFSOC installations.

For more information about DragoonITCN, please visit https://www.dragoonitcn.com.