Avionics and electronics for military application must exist in a variety of extreme environments. The Avionics Integrity Program and MIL-STD 810D require the avionics designer to identify the significant environments in the initial phase of the design process, design to exist in the environment, and test to prove reliable operation in the environments. There are two classifications of environments: natural and induced. Natural environments consist of all the environments caused by climatic fluctuations. Induced environments, i.e. vibration and aerodynamic induced heating, are caused by the platform's (vehicle equipment is placed on) interaction with the natural environment. The natural environment is well defined for most deployment locations, but the induced environment varies for each application. Methods for developing induced environmental criteria for vibration and tests are presented.
