Advancing Radiation‑Tolerant Avionics

In November 2025, Airbus grounded approximately 6,000 A320-series aircraft during the busy Thanksgiving travel period, stranding passengers worldwide.

The recall came after a JetBlue A320 flying from Cancun, Mexico to New Jersey the month before experienced a flight control issue causing a sudden drop in altitude leading to an emergency landing in Florida. Tampa Fire Rescue reported 15 to 20 passengers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Airbus explicitly acknowledged that “intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to flight controls.” To mitigate the risk, the company required airlines to install software updates or replace affected units with less susceptible versions.

This incident highlights how solar radiation can directly disrupt modern aerospace systems. It also reinforces the need for designing and deploying radiation-tolerant electronics that can maintain safe operation in increasingly complex environments.

In this article we will look at:

• The current solar maximum
• Key radiation damage mechanisms
• Root cause of the Airbus recall
• Advanced simulation and measurement for radiation mitigation

Solar Cycle 25 at Maximum

Fig. 1. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the Sun from Sept. 10, 2025. Courtesy: NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

On Oct. 30, the day of the JetBlue incident, Earth experienced sustained G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm intervals.

Currently, Solar Cycle 25 is at its maximum. During a maximum, the Sun becomes more active causing increased sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), allowing radiation to penetrate deeper into the upper atmosphere. Stronger solar events can cause geomagnetic storms, affecting GPS, radio communications, power grids, and satellites. Increased solar activity often leads to brighter and more widespread auroras.

The current 11-year cycle began in December 2019 and is expected to continue until around 2030. The maximum is expected to last from 2024 to 2026.

Primary Radiation Damage Mechanisms

A solar maximum leads to more radiation in the environment, increasing the risk of a single-event effect (SEE). Airbus investigators determined a SEE corrupted the JetBlue fight’s flight-control data in the Elevator Aileron Computer.

 A SEE occurs when a single energetic particle strikes a microelectronic device and causes measurable change in state or performance. These effects can lead to system-level issues such as silent data corruption, mode changes, reboots, or permanent hardware damage. Table 1 outlines the main types of SEE.

Table 1. Comparison of single-event effects.

Other radiation effects are total ionizing dose (TID) and displacement damage (DDD). The type of radiation effects a system experiences depends on the specific mechanisms and locations of those interactions. These interactions can produce anything from subtle, system-level changes to clearly visible physical damage. Table 2 categorizes three major radiation types.

Table 2. Comparison of different radiation effects

Gaps That Made a SEE Possible

In the case of Airbus, a combination of radiation exposure and insufficient system-level mitigation is to blame.

All aircraft must undergo testing to earn certification, however, space-grade radiation hardening standards are not required. Traditional space grade radiation hardening would have mitigated the root cause of the system by analyzing SEES, shielding, and material and structural effects. It is selectively applied in commercial aircraft due to weight and cost.

Advanced Simulation for Reliable Performance

Radiation hardening, or rad-hard, is the practice of designing electronic components, systems, and materials, so they continue to operate accurately in high-radiation environments. It targets the three main radiation effects, SEE, TID, and DDD.

Radiation hardening simulation is the easiest way to:

• Predict how materials and electronics respond to radiation
• Estimate failure rates and lifetimes
• Optimize designs before fabrication
• Reduce costly physical testing cycles

Electro Magnetic Applications, Inc. (EMA) developed Ansys Charge Plus to compute radiation hardening simulation for both aircraft and spacecraft. Charge Plus goes beyond basic dose calculations by modeling charge accumulation, electric fields, and discharges, giving engineering direct insights into potential failures, not just radiation levels.

At its core, Charge Plus uses Monte Carlo particle transport to simulate how particles move and interact within materials, delivering accurate, repeatable results. The software then feeds this data into a time-domain FEM electromagnetic solver, which predicts how charge moves and where electric fields develop in 3D, seen in Figure 2. This process enables engineers to predict:

• Internal charge deposition from radiation
• Electric fields induced inside materials
• Discharge risk (ESD, dielectric breakdown)
• Secondary effects like EMI caused by radiation

Fig. 2. Radiation hardening workflow results in Ansys Charge Plus.

Additionally, Charge Plus combines Monte Carlo particle transport and GPU-accelerated ray tracing for fast dose and shielding estimates, Figure 3.

Fig. 3. Ray tracing results seen in Ansys Charge Plus.

This hybrid workflow makes Charge Plus an essential tool across the full design lifecycle, not just the final verification.

EMA has also developed Ansys EMC Plus. EMC Plus simulation can be used to certify aircraft for lightning, high-intensity radiated fields (HIRF), shielding effectiveness, and electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Real Testing for Real Radiation Effects

EMA combines simulation with real-world testing for effective analysis. EMA’s Space Environment and Radiation Effects (SERE) lab is designed to study how radiation interacts with real hardware, enabling direct measurement of charging, discharging, and arcing phenomena under controlled, space-relevant conditions. SERE (Figure 4) is completely customizable, allowing designers to test for whatever environment electronics will be operating in.

EMA also has lightning and HIRF testing capabilities available for aerospace certification.

Fig. 4. Space Environment and Radiation Effects (SERE) chamber at EMA’s Pittsfield, Mass. lab.

Rethinking Avionics for Modern Threats

The Airbus recall is now raising questions about radiation-aware avionics designs and system-level radiation effects. The bottom line is that radiation effects once considered in space only are now operationally relevant at aircraft cruising altitude.

Don’t wait for radiation effects to reveal themselves in flight. Partner with EMA to evaluate, simulate, and test how your aircraft systems respond to high-radiation environments, so you can identify vulnerabilities, validate mitigations, and fly with confidence. Contact EMA today to start your radiation readiness assessment.