FAULTS IN ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT ON BOARD P LANES, DUE TO UPPER-ATMOSPHERE NEUTRONS (10 TO 20 KM)

Until now, the effects of the space environment on the electronics of the avionic systems had never been taken into account: given the regio ns of the earth environment deemed critical, the altitudes of the plan es were too low and the electronic components were not integrated beco me sensitive to the environment.The situation will change with the new generations of planes for which the altitudes become higher than 10 k m and on which are integrated submicronic components. This paper gives the present state of knowledge of the atmospheric environment and its effects on the components, the available models for events estimation and proposes some disposals to prevent atmospheric environment effect s on future planes.