L3Harris router may have caused a nearly five-hour disruption in the US aviation system
Preliminary data point to a router installed by contractor L3Harris that sent excess connection requests to other routers; more than 20 thousand flights were delayed or cancelled.
A disruption lasting nearly five hours in the US aviation system, together with the delay or cancellation of more than 20 thousand flights, may have been caused by a router installed by state contractor L3Harris, zamin.uz reports, citing Reuters. zamin.uz
zamin.uzzamin.uzOpen source ↗ According to preliminary data, the new device sent an excessive number of connection requests to other routers and overloaded the communication system. The incident took place on 13 November.
What happened on 13 November
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had to temporarily halt flights across the country for safety reasons. The problem was observed at 17 of the country's 22 air traffic control centers.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that L3Harris had been carrying out planned work to replace old copper communication lines with a fiber-optic system. The problems may be linked to routers installed at facilities in the states of Arkansas and Texas.
Router behavior and the open question of cause
Duffy explained that the new routers sent more than 1,000 connection requests to other devices every 4–5 seconds. zamin.uz
zamin.uzzamin.uzOpen source ↗ As a result, data exchange involving aircraft and radars became unstable at FAA centers.
It has not yet been established whether the failure was caused by a defect in the routers themselves or by an error made during their installation and maintenance. Duffy said that the investigation into the causes is continuing together with company representatives.
L3Harris said it takes the incident seriously and is assisting the FAA with the investigation. The company has completed more than 70 percent of the planned work to move the old copper communication system to a fiber-optic network.
The routers that were due to be replaced had been in use for about 25 years, and their update had been planned as early as 2006. zamin.uz
zamin.uzzamin.uzOpen source ↗ The FAA spends about 1 billion dollars a year to maintain outdated communication systems.
