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Spinoff story
Time-Triggered Ethernet Slims Down Critical Data Systems
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
Ethernet traditionally could not be used for critical systems because it couldn’t guarantee when or whether signals would reach their destinations. TTTech, whose U.S. headquarters is in Andover, Massachusetts, developed a more reliable system, called Time-Triggered Ethernet, which it honed under a Johnson Space Center subcontract to build avionics for the Orion capsule. The technology, which allows for far simpler data handling on fewer computers, is now applied to launch vehicles, planes, wind turbines, and driver assistance and self-driving cars.