WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO — The Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) is working with industry partners to standardize data formats across the U.S Air Force fleet.
The effort, known as the SAE AS7140 Common Open Data Exchange (CODEX) standard, will create three aircraft data file formats and a universal aircraft data file decoder application programing interface (API) by early 2025.
Part of the work includes standardizing Health and Usage Monitoring Systems data for all modern and some legacy U.S. Air Force platforms, at three separate points in the data collection and distribution process.
It will include a standard file format for the binary (BIN) data created and stored onboard in Next Generation aircraft avionic system computer Line Replaceable Units (LRUs), called the LRU Format. Here, data will be collected from the aircraft and uploaded into a DoD Cloud.
A second file format called Ground-Station Format (CSV or JSON) defines data configuration once ‘decoded’ into a human readable form. The final file format, Cloud Format (PARQUET), will dictate how cloud data is stored and will feature a metadata rich and highly compressed state. The Cloud Format supports both legacy aircraft, and modern / Next Generation aircraft.
“This type of standard was referred to by Dr. Will Roper, a former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, as a ‘horizontal standard’ because it cuts across services, organizations, and processes,” said Carrin Ragland, RSO Program Manager and lead for the SAE AS7140 standard effort. “It will create a universal tool that can be leveraged across the DoD and allow for easier, faster, and consistent data use and communication between organizations.”
A significant partnership between the Air Force and Industry was required to make this universal standard possible. Air Force partners include the Air Force Safety Center, and Air Force Test Center, with numerous private sector partners contributing to the effort, including Airbus, Bell, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, EASA, GE Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace, IEEE, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Meggitt, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rolls Royce, SAE, and Sikorsky.
The SAE AS7140 standard represents a new data model to universally standardize avionic parameter, event, vibration monitoring, and rotor track and balance data formatting in a common avionic data file format. While the focus of the standard is initially targeted at existing and future rotorcraft HUMS avionic data (V-280), it also fully accommodates all fixed-wing aircraft data.
Additionally, this effort will develop a standard data decoder API, solving an age-old Air Force challenge of data accessibility and enabling significantly better source data access by original equipment manufacturers and DoD branches. As a result, this API will be able to Decode data from any Next-Gen LRU or aircraft.
All Air Force personnel working with aircraft unstructured data can benefit from this new standard, including Test Engineering, Cyber Engineering, Structural Integrity Programs, Mechanical Equipment and Subsystems Integrity Programs, Operations, and Maintenance units.
DoD organizations seeking more information or wishing to participate in this standard effort, can email [email protected].
About the RSO
The Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO), a Division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Combat Readiness Directorate, accelerates game-changing capabilities that sustain a modern Air Force. By exploiting new and emerging technologies, the RSO delivers sustainment and maintenance solutions at the speed of need to maximize warfighter readiness. Learn more at https://www.aflcmc.af.mil/RSO
RSO DoD Cloud graphic