Testing avionics & aircraft equipment to RTCA DO-160G §16
An aircraft bus is not a clean supply, and RTCA DO-160G §16 is the document that says exactly how unclean it is allowed to get. You are testing avionics LRUs, ground power units, aircraft actuators and converters on 115/200 V 400 Hz AC, 28 VDC, 270 VDC, proving that the box keeps working when the aircraft bus misbehaves. The standard turns on category-based test matrix and momentary interruptions; it says nothing about semiconductor reliability or automotive voltage classes, which belong to a different qualification entirely. Reproducing it takes aC source 0–180 V L-N across 360–800 Hz with per-phase amplitude control, amplitude and frequency modulation engines, sub-millisecond slewing and controlled interrupt ramps. DC source to 80 V or 425 V depending on bus, with audio-frequency ripple injection.
What you are testing
- Device under test
- avionics LRUs, ground power units, aircraft actuators and converters
- Bus
- 115/200 V 400 Hz AC, 28 VDC, 270 VDC
- Who buys this
- airframe and avionics suppliers qualifying to a platform spec
What RTCA DO-160G §16 does not cover
- semiconductor reliability
- automotive voltage classes
If your programme needs those, they come from a different standard and often different hardware.
The limits this test has to reproduce
The 400 Hz bus is the whole game here, and the transient envelopes are what separate a source that can run this test from one that merely reaches the voltage.
| Parameter | Value | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| AC normal steady state | 100 V and 122 V, 30 min per point | 16.5.1.1 |
| Voltage modulation | envelope to 5.0 V at 115 V, 1–200 Hz | 16.5.1.2 |
| Momentary interruptions | 19 profiles, 2 ms–200 ms at 0 V, plus partial sags 15/35/50/65% | 16.5.1.4 |
| Normal surge | 160 V for 30 ms (A(CF)/A(NF)); sag 70 V for 30 ms | 16.5.1.5 |
| AC abnormal | 97 V and 134 V for 30 min; undervoltage 60 V and 10 V for 7 s | 16.5.2 |
| Abnormal surge | 180 V for 100 ms then 148 V for 1 s | 16.5.2 |
The clauses aviation programmes actually face, as published in RTCA DO-160G §16, revision G. See every limit in RTCA DO-160G §16. Certification work should be run against the published standard.
What decides the rig here
The requirements that separate a system that can run this programme from one that only meets the headline numbers.
Peak, not RMS, sizes the source
The transient envelope reaches well above nominal. A source rated only on steady-state RMS will clip the surge and the test is invalid before it starts.
Frequency has to move, not just sit
Variable-frequency platforms need programmable df/dt, and a fixed-400 Hz source cannot run those clauses at all.
The DC bus is a second test programme
28 V and 270 V clauses are a separate rig from the AC work. Programmes routinely budget for one and discover the other late.
Other standards this DUT usually faces
Further reading on RTCA DO-160G §16
Send us the clauses you have to satisfy
We will come back with the source and load capability that covers them — and tell you plainly if something in your spec needs hardware we would not supply.
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