Switch comprising an observation port and communication system comprising such a switch

A switch for an avionics communication system transmitting digital data in the form of frames according to a data transmission protocol of the Ethernet type with predetermined routing, each frame comprising an identifier and an observation configuration field;

• the switch including:
• a plurality of input ports, each input port being able to receive frames coming from an end system or another switch;
• a plurality of output ports, each output port being able to transmit frames to an end system or another switch, at least one output port, called observation port, being connected to an observation module able to analyze the traffic of the frames passing through via the switch;
• a conveying component configured to convey each frame according to said transmission protocol between at least one input port and one or several output ports;
• each input and output port being associated with an identifier;
• the switch being configured to transmit, to the observation module via the observation port, only frames according to a first observation condition and a second observation condition, wherein the first observation condition is different from the second observation condition;
• and
• the compliance of a frame with the first observation condition being determined as a function of the observation configuration field of this frame and the compliance with the second observation condition being determined as a function of the identifier or of an input or output port associated with this frame,
• wherein the observation configuration field of each frame defines an observation access level of this frame, the compliance with the second observation condition being determined as a function of the observation access level,
• wherein the observation access level comprises one of a high access level in which the frame is transmitted to the observation module only when the avionics communication system is in at least one of a maintenance mode or based on certain user types or a low access level in which the frame is transmitted to the observation module to be observable by all users and/or all operating modes of the avionics communication system.