Proceedings of the Global Engineering, Science and Technology Conference 2012

28-29 December 2012, Dhaka, Bangladesh

AVIATION DATA TRANSMISSION-MOVING FROM
ELECTRONIC TO OPTICAL DOMAIN: REVIEW OF ARINC
429 & 629 STANDARDS

Wg Cdr Nikhil Verma IAF and Md Easir Arafat Papon

In earlier airborne data networks, analog signals were transmitted
from point to point with a copper wire pair for each signal.So, typical
installations would require 10s of wire pairs between ends to end. A
large weight & volume of aircraft space was towards data cabling.
Digital data transmission standards allowed for converting analog
data to digital, multiplexing and labeling with unique destination
addresses. Hence, with aviation data transmission protocols-like
ARINC 429 & its successor ARINC 629, the weight and volume of
on- board data cables and complexity of airborne networks has
reduced and speed of data transmission & bandwidth has
improved.This paper explains ARINC 429 transmission standard, its
specifications and word format. The need for high bandwidth moving
from electrical to optical domain has been felt. Hence, high speed
ARINC 629 was introduces. Key features, specifications and
characteristics of ARINC 629 are compared with 429. In the end, a
comparison between two transmission standards and relative
advantages of 629 over 429 are brought out. This paper is part of
studies on Avionics Optical Networks and Aircraft Maintenance at
Dept of Aeronautical Engg., MIST, Dhaka, from Jun 2011 to Oct
2012.

Field Of Research: Gradual Advancement in Aviation Data Transmission System.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Data transmission is the conveyance of information from source to destination. In
analog avionics data transmission system, at least one pair of wire is required for
each signal between the sources & destination. Hence, a typical point to point analog
airborne network would require 10s of pairs of wires. In digital data bus, analog
signals are converted into digital equivalents, assigned unique address labels,
multiplexed and transmitted down a single pair of wire which makes up a data bus,
which can either be serial or parallel. Integrated digital avionics data bus allows data
multiplexing, transmission/reception and communication of on-board avionics data in
modular avionics architecture. In vogue, data bus protocols are: ARINC 429, ARINC
629, MIL-STD 1553, MIL-STD 1773, Commercial Serial Digital Bus (CSDB) and
Avionics Serial Communication Bus (ASCB).




________________________________________________
Wg Cdr Nikhil Verma, Instructor, Class-A, Indian Air Force, On deputation to Department of
Aeronautical Engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. Email:
nikhilverma@iitkalumni.org
Md Easir Arafat Papon, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Military Institute of Science &
Technology, Bangladesh. Email: a.easir@gmail.com
2


2.0 ARINC 429

ARINC 429 or simply 429 is a Digital Information Transfer system (DITS) introduced
in 1977 by Aeronautical Radio Incorporated (ARINC)
[A] (Helfrick, 2010)
. It has been
installed on most commercial transport aircraft including; Airbus A310, Boeing 727,
737, 747, 757, and 767; and McDonnell Douglas MD-11
[B] (ARINC Protocol TUTORIAL, 2004)
. It
defines both the hardware and data formats required for bus transmission. Hardware
consists of a single transmitter or source connected up to 20 receivers or sinks on
single shielded twisted wire pair
[C] (Avionics Handbook, 2006)
. Data can be transmitted in
simplex mode; bi-directional transmission would require a parallel wire or a bus. The
devices, line replaceable units (LRUs), are most commonly configured in a Star
(Fig.1) or Bus-Drop (Fig.2) topology. This simple architecture, almost point-to-point
wiring, provides highly reliable data transfer
[D] (Spitzer, 2010), E] (Wikipedia, 2012)
.













Figure.1: Star Topology Figure.2: Bus-drop Topology



2.1 ARINC 429 CHARACTERISTICS
ARINC 429 is a self-clocking, asynchronizing data bus; hence messages can start at
any moment at the time line. And if there are no messages, the transmission line is
in null state and there is no voltage, which is a power saving advantage. A set of bits
or bytes comprising the smallest unit of addressable memory is called word. 429
transmitters might supply more than one data word. In this case receiver has to be
given the information about order of reading the words. 429 has two variants; a high
speed variant operating at 100 kbps and low speed variant at 13 kbps. There are
three logic states in the 429 system: logic-0, logic-1 and null. Logic-1 state is
between +6.5 V and 13.0 V, while logic-0 state is the same except for negative
voltage and when no pulse is transmitted, the bus is in the null state. If any of the two
lines of the twisted pair shorts to ground, transmitter voltage is cut in half which is an
Transmitting LRU
Receiving
LRU
Receiving
LRU
Receiving
LRU
Receiving
LRU
Receiving
LRU
Receiving
LRU
LRU
LRU
Rx Rx Rx
Rx
Rx Rx
Rx
Tx
Tx
Ti
3

unacceptable range for the receiver
[D] (Spitzer, 2010), [E] (Wikipedia, 2012), [F] (CSECS conference,
2010)
.

2.2 ARINC 429 WORD FORMAT AND DATA ENCODING

ARINC 429 transmitters are always transmitting, either data words or NULL state
[G]
(Wikipedia, 2012)
. Most ARINC 429 messages contain only one data word consisting of
Binary (BNR), Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) or alphanumeric data. 429 data words
are 32 bit long made up of five primary fields which are shown in Fig.3.

MSB LSB
32 31 30 29. 11 10 9 8--------1
P SSM MSB Data
LSB
SDI Label

Figure.3: ARINC 429 32 bit word

The MSB is always the parity bit for ARINC 429 which is normally set to odd except
for certain tests. That means that there must be an odd number of 1 bits in the 32-
bit word that is insured by either setting or clearing the parity bit. Bits 31 and 30
contain the Sign/Status Matrix (SSM) which contains hardware equipment condition,
operational mode, or validity of data content. Bits 29 through 11 contain the data,
which may be in a number of different formats while bits 10 and 9 provide a
Source/Destination Identifier (SDI). This is used for multiple receivers to identify the
receiver for which the data is destined. Bits 8 through 1 contain a label identifying the
data type and the parameters associated with it
[B] (ARINC Protocol TUTORIAL, 2004)
. ARINC
429's data encoding uses a Complementary Differential Bipolar Return-to-Zero
(BPRZ) transmission waveform, Fig. 4 refers. Pulse rise and fall times are controlled
by RC circuits built into ARINC 429 transmitters
[G] (wikipedia, 2012)
. This circuitry
minimizes overshoot ringing common with short rise times. Allowable rise and fall
times and other parameters for both high & low speed ARINC 429 are shown in
Table-1. It can be clearly seen that its not merely the data speed that distinguishes
between high & low speed 429 standards, but also the rise & fall time.The Bit rise &
fall time for low speed 429 are approximately 9 times slower than high speed 429.
Approximately the same is the rate to bit rate between the two catagories of ARINC
429.














10%
1 bit time
1
2

bit time Rx
90%Tx
Rise
Fall
Time
4



Figure.4: ARINC 429 Waveform Parameters
Bit Timing High Speed Low Speed
Bit Rate 100 kbps 1% 12 14.5 kbps 1%
1 bit time 10 sec 2.5% (1/Bit rate) sec 2.5%
bit time 5 sec 5% (1 bit time/2) 5%
Rise Time 1.5 sec 0.5 sec 10 sec 5 sec
Fall Time 1.5 sec 0.5 sec 10 sec 5 sec
Table.1: ARINC 429 waveform parameters
Every LRU transmitter has interface chips providing line drivers, receivers and logic
translation from three-level signals to logic zeros and ones. Most sophisticated chips
include registers and interface circuits for direct application to a microprocessor bus.
Introduction of 429 reduced the bulk & volume of wires in the aircraft. Tuning of
various LRU required only keying or programming the parameters from one source
to multiple receivers thus number of control panels is reduced.

3.0 ARINC 629
The need for high-bandwidth airborne avionics data links that are lightweight,
immune to electromagnetic interference and highly reliable are always felt. So, the
next stage of development is optical fiber data communication. Modern digital
avionics systems require a system capable of transporting microwave and millimeter-
wave RF signals that carry digital data on board an aircraft
[H] (Gardner, 1999)
. The high
bandwidth-to-weight ratio, performance and routing flexibility offered by the
combination of single mode optical fiber and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM)
are among the prime attractions justifying the optical network approach to on-board
avionics communications systems
[I] (IEEE, 2000 )
. The ARINC 629 is a new standard for
aviation industry for the transformation of digital data between avionics system
elements. It was first introduced in May 1995 and is currently used on the Boeing
777, Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft
[J] (629 data bus standard)
. The ARINC 629 civil aircraft
data bus standard has been developed as a successor to ARINC 429. It is used in
the MAC layer protocol
[O] (Gallon, Juanole)
. By the concept of bus cycle, this protocol
manages periodic and aperiodic traffic exchanges. Its unique feature is that there is
no need for a bus controller and bus access is determined by each terminal
[D] (Spitzer,
2010)
.

3.1 ARINC 629- SPECIFICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

ARINC 629 source transmits either broadcast or address specific message to all or
specific receiver or sinks. If the sinks equipment needs to reply, each will need to be
fitted with own transmitter and a specific physical bus for the same. The single pair of
wire works in full duplex mode. In 629 LRU may transmit and receive digital data
5

using a standard protocol. A linear topology bus is used here. The protocol is
described as Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
[K]
(CSECS conference, 2010),[N] (Gabillon, Gallon, 2006 )
. 629 is a dual redundant data bus architecture
where two buses are hot standby to each other. Each terminal can transmit 629 data
to and receive data from every other terminal on the data bus, which allows much
more freedom in the exchanging of data between units in the avionics system. The
629 data bus cable has an unshielded twisted pair of wires and can be up to 100
meters long. Remote terminals are autonomous, for timing synchronization each RT
has independent transmitter and receiver PROM for sequencing the time.

















To identify the labels of messages, PROM is available in each RT. This feature is not
available in 429, where all these activities are done by master controller (MC). 629
have unique label word and each message has a source channel identification code
(CID) which identifies the source of messages.
3.2 WORD FORMAT
ARINC 629 20 bit data word format is shown in Fig. 6,
[A] (Helfrick, 2010, [J] (629 data bus
standards)
. The first three bits are related to word time synchronization. The next 16 bits
are the data contents, and the final bit is a parity bit. Data groups transmitted by
ARINC 629 are called messages. Messages are comprised of word strings, up to 31
word strings can be in a message. So, maximum 620 bits are possible in a word
string.



Figure.5: ARINC 629 Dual Redundant Data Bus
Terminal-2
Terminal-4
Terminal-3
Terminal-1
Terminal-5
Bus-A Bus-B
Multiple Sources
Multiple Sink
6

Sync Data (depending upon word type) Parity
1 2 3 4 5 6 19 20

Figure.6: ARINC 629 Word Format
The ARINC 629 standard defines a multi-level protocol for inter LRU
communications across a common, multiple access data bus
[L] (era96.pdf)
. In 429 stubs
are connected with the data bus wherease in 629 there is no stub and even there is
no master controller in 629. All the functions MC does in 429 are done by RTs.
These RTs have both transmiter and receiver
[D] (Spitzer, 2010)
. ARINC 629 can be
implemented in three media: wire, inductive or voltage coupling and optical fiber
[P]
(datasheet archive)
. Optical implementation offers the same alternative bus configuration
as of DOD-STD-1773 which is the optical equivalent of MIL-STD 1553 having the
same word structure and length and bus protocol. The optical power levels,
wavelengths and means of distributing optical power in any specific implementation
must be contained in a specification which refers this standard. This feature ensures
that the best available technology is used when the system is built
[M] (429 community,
1999)
.
7

4.0 KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ARINC 426 AND ARINC 629

Features ARINC 429 ARINC 629
Year of introduction 1977 1995
Bus Architecture Simplex point to point Time division multiplex
Ports 2 1
st
standard, 2
nd
optional
Wires Shielded twisted pair of
wires
Unshielded twisted pair of
wires
Transmission mode &
coupling
Voltage direct connection Current coupling
Encoding Bipolar, return to zero Bipolar, doublets
Manchester
Data Rate 12.5 or 100 kbit/s 2 Mbps
Bus frequency 12.0 kHz, 12.5 kHz, 14.5
kHz, or 100 kHz
2 MHz
Words Selectable Max words 128 per
channel
620 words per word
string, 32 word strings
Word Update 1 ms to 10 sec, (selectable) 1 ms to 10 sec, update
rate displayed
instantaneous, min or
max value
Divination of areas Three areas : logic 0,logic
1 and Null
Four areas:Periodic traffic
,Urgent aperiodic traffic
,Non Urgent aperiodic
traffic (backlog, new)
Maximum terminal
supported
20 128
Bit wise Comparison
Data Bit Bits (11-29) carrying data Bits (4-19) carrying data
Bits 1 to 8 Bits(1-8) for label First three bits are related
to word time
synchronization.
8

Parity Bit Bit no. 32 is parity bit Bit no. 20 is parity bit
Table.2: Comparison between ARINC 429 & ARINC 629



5.0 CONCLUSION

Various parameters like air speed, atmospheric pressure, altitude, engine RPM,
navigation status, control surface position etc are measured in analog domain and
transmitted to on-board processors, displays and controls in electrical domain
(ARINC 429 & 629). Over the years complexity of avionics systems has increased
and so is the requirement of high data bandwidth and speed of on-board avionics
network. As a result developments are on for commercially adopting optical
standards for avionics networks. Hence, ARINC 629 is being rapidly adopted for
optical networks in aircraft. This paper gives a comparative overview of the two
communication protocols used in avionics data bus. From an assessment of their
key features it can be concluded that ARINC 429 is an easy-to-implement,
inexpensive protocol whose reliability has been adequate for most applications in the
early ages. But, for high data rates, ARINC 629 has been advantageous, also in
case of redundancy as well and hence, gradually optical fiber based airborne
avionics are emerging for commercial aviation applications.

6.0 REFERENCES


A. Albert Helfrick, Principle of Avionics, ISBN 978-1-885544-27-8 page
no.316,317,318,319,332
B. ARINC Protocol Tutorial (1500-029) , 16 July, 2004 ; Condor Engineering,
Inc. http://www.condoreng.com
C. http://www.davi.ws/avionics/TheAvionicsHandbook-Cap-2.pdf;as on 22 Nov
2012
D. Cary R. Spitzer, Digital Avionics System, ISBN-13:978-1930665125, page no.
227,228,232.
E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARINC_429
F. http://www.wseas.us/elibrary/conferences/2010/Vouliagmeni/CSECS/CSECS
-34.pdf
G. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARINC_429
9

H. Robert D. Gardner, Ivan Andonovic,DavidK.Hunter& Andrew J. McLaughlin,
J. Stewart Aitchison, John H. Marsh High Performance Photonic Avionics
Networking using WDM 1999.

I. On-Board Fiber-Optic Network Architectures for Radar and Avionics Signal
Distribution International Radar Conference sponsored by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Alexandria, Virginia, May 712, 2000

J. ARINC 629 Data Bus Standards on Aircrafts, YaseminIsik, Recent
Researches in Circuits, Systems, Electronics, Control & Signal Processing,
ISBN: 978-960-474-262-2
K. http://www.wseas.us/elibrary/conferences/2010/Vouliagmeni/CSECS/CSECS
-34.pdf
L. http://beru.univ-brest.fr/~singhoff/DOC/PAPIER_A_TRIER/era96.pdf
M. ARINC429 Commentary.fm, ver 2.1, 10 May 1999
N. Alban Gabilon, Laurent Gallon. Availability of ARINC 629 Avionics Data Bus.
Journal of networks,vol.1,No.6,November/December,2006
O. Gallon, L., Juanole,G and Blum,I. Modeling and analysis of the ARINC
specification 629 CP MAC layer protocol.
P. http://www.datasheetarchive.com/indexer.php?file=DSA00441301.pdf&dir=D
atasheet-025&keywords=arinc+629&database=user-highscore#