SMT and Through-Hole PCB Assembly for Wireless Aircraft Communications Hardware
IMS built the circuit board assemblies behind a wireless communications system for Flyht Aerospace Solutions, a Canadian aviation technology company.
Here’s what that program involved.
“This was our first project in the aircraft space, and it was very satisfying to think we were making a product that helps keep travellers safe.”
A Calgary-based aviation technology company building safety hardware for commercial aircraft.
Flyht Aerospace Solutions designs communications technology for commercial aircraft. IMS Electronics met the Flyht team at a trade show, where a conversation turned into a trusted manufacturing relationship.
At the time, Flyht was scaling up production. The company had already built prototypes with other manufacturers and was looking for a partner that could take the product from prototype to repeatable production runs.
Hardware designed to make an aircraft’s black box data recoverable, on command or in an emergency.
The system IMS helped build was designed to transmit flight data recorder (black box) information wirelessly, over satellite or cellular networks, on command. In an emergency, it could also automatically broadcast an aircraft’s position.
When search teams don’t know an aircraft’s last position, the search area can span hundreds of square kilometres. Automatic position broadcasting is designed to close that gap.
Locating a downed aircraft has traditionally meant finding the wreckage first, sometimes across a wide search area, before investigators can access flight data recorder information. Systems like the one IMS helped build close that gap by transmitting data on command and automatically broadcasting an aircraft’s position the moment an emergency is detected.
For IMS, this was a chance to build hardware that plays a direct role in commercial aviation safety.
A three-board assembly set, combining surface-mount and through-hole technology.
IMS manufactured a complete board set for the program, including three separate circuit boards, combining SMT and through-hole assembly. Every board met IPC Class 3, the workmanship standard for electronics that can’t afford to fail in the field.
PCB Assembly
SMT and through-hole assembly across a three-board set, built to IPC Class 3.
Full Material Traceability
Every component tracked from receipt through to the work order it was issued to.
IPC Class 3 workmanship, with material traceability to the work order level.
Every board was built to IPC Class 3, the highest workmanship standard for electronics used in demanding, safety-critical applications. Flyht also needed full material traceability, with every component tracked back to where and when it was procured.
IMS hadn’t been asked for this level of material tracking before. Our team built a new process to record each part on receipt and trace it through to the WO it was built into.
At the time, that process was largely manual. IMS has since expanded its traceability capabilities, now tracking components to the individual board level rather than the work order alone.
The program was built under Flyht’s own aerospace certification, with IMS operating as its manufacturing subcontractor. IMS’s own AS9100 certification is on track for early 2027, extending that same rigour to future aerospace and defence programs.
Building a material traceability process for a program that had never required one.
The most technically demanding part of this program was traceability. Flyht needed to know exactly where every component on every board came from, at a level of detail IMS hadn’t been asked to track before.
The team developed a new method for recording material on receipt and tracing it through to the work order it was issued to, a process that’s since evolved into a more advanced, board-level tracking capability
Material Traceability, Built From Scratch
A new process, developed specifically for this program, to trace every component from receipt to the work order it was built into.
Low-Volume, High-Complexity Production
Production volumes stayed in the dozens of units per run, with the same IPC Class 3 rigour applied regardless of batch size.
IMS’s first aerospace program, and a foundation for the work it supports today.
Over the course of the program, IMS delivered the board assemblies that supported Flyht’s commercial rollout, manufactured under Flyht’s own aerospace certification. It was IMS’s first project in the aerospace sector, at a time when the company was just beginning to build its presence in the industry.
As Flyht scaled toward the requirements of tier-one aircraft manufacturers, its sourcing needs changed, and production eventually moved elsewhere. Flyht later returned to IMS for a re-quote before being acquired by a company with in-house manufacturing capabilities.
The experience IMS gained on this program, building safety-critical hardware to IPC Class 3 with full material traceability, carries directly into the defence and aerospace work IMS supports today.
1st
Aerospace program for the IMS team
3
Boards in the finished assembly set
IPC 3
Quality standard maintained throughout the program
2013–2015
Years IMS supported the program
