ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to give some basic guidance regarding interfaces, especially pertaining to commercial aircraft, to capture the key aspects of interfaces, and to incorporate them into the design. Interfaces are important from two perspectives, first, a holistic perspective of a system, and secondly the system property of cohesion. Electrical power is one of the most common interfaces on the aircraft. Like electrical power, the hydraulic subsystem only has an interface with another element when the other element owns a component utilizing hydraulic power. Conditioned air passes across many boundaries: from the environmental control subsystem ducts into the cabin, from the cabin into the lavatories, from the cabin into cargo area, from the air ducts into avionics racks, for example. Signal interfaces, also called information interfaces, carry the vast amount of information that is transmitted over the aircraft and between the aircraft and the ground, satellites, and other aircraft.
