Purpose of the OBMS (from A320 Manual) REMEMBER ALWAYS REFER TO THE

AMM

The purpose of the onboard maintenance is to provide maintenance personnel with an aid
to fault diagnosis further to a complaint of the crew.

To accomplish this goal:

(1) Each system includes a Built-In-Test Equipment (BITE) used for detection and isolation
of faulty equipment. Furthermore the system is able to initiate tests for the purpose of
confirming a fault condition or checking that proper system operation is restored after
corrective action.

Remark:

To simplify the task of maintenance personnel:

- the faces of the computers and the maintenance test functions have been standardized

- the maintenance messages are displayed in clear English language and always concern the
faulty component or, in some cases, the faulty system.

(2) A Centralized Fault Display Interface Unit (CFDIU) acquires and processes (completes,
correlates, memorizes and presents) the data transmitted by the BITEs and the warnings
which have originated the crew complaint.

(3) The result of fault diagnosis is displayed to the maintenance operator through the
Multipurpose Control and Display Units (MCDU) and the Printer which constitute the
user interface.

Levels of Maintenance

The failure information delivered by the Centralized Fault Display System (CFDS)
corresponds to several levels of maintenance.

(1) Line maintenance

This action consists of the identification and/or confirmation of fault condition(s), the
isolation of the fault and the replacement of the faulty unit (i.e the Line Replaceable Unit
(LRU)).

A test is carried out before and after the removal/installation procedure to check the
correct operation of the system.

(2) Hangar or main base maintenance

This maintenance is characterized by intervention of maintenance personnel in a longer

(3) Workshop maintenance

These maintenance actions are performed at regular intervals (check

A, 2A, B...). Intervention of maintenance personnel is then scheduled according to aircraft

B. System BITE Functions

(1) General

- Each electrical or electronic system of the aircraft includes a fault detection, isolating and
storing device called a BITE

- A system consists of a set of removable components called LRUs that are specific to the
system and that are said to be internal to the system. In many cases, a system uses data
from other systems that can be considered as _sensors_ and that are said to be LRUs
external to the system.

Example : In an autopilot, the control unit, the computers which determine the laws and
the power systems are internal LRUs.
The air data and inertial reference units, the radio altimeter, are external LRUs.

- The BITE system reacts to any fault affecting operation, whether INTERNAL or
EXTERNAL to the system.

- Each LRU is a component internal to a given system and no other.

Example : A pressure sensor used for several systems is taken into account as an internal
component by one of these systems only.

- All systems including a BITE system are connected to the CFDIU.

- The systems are connected to the CFDIU by means of the system bus.

Exceptions : the FMGS via the FAC 1 and the EFCS via the FCDC use specific b uses.

- The responsibility for fault detection and isolation lies with the system. The CFDS does
not perform any processing and it does not modify the diagnosis made by the system.

- For complex systems, one of the computers plays the role of system

BITE, in other words it collects the maintenance data from the peripheral computers and it
ensures the interface between the computers and the CFDS.

NOTE : A system BITE is supposed to analyze the data received with a view to establishing
a consolidated diagnosis.

(2) BITE operating principles

- The BITE is capable of memorizing, while making the distinction between internal and
external faults, over a period of one or several flights (depending on the system).

- The fault data memorized during the flight(s) are not affected by the various ground
maintenance operations.

- The BITE enables the memorization of faults in flight and on the

ground, by means of different memory zones.

- All LRU input buses (ARINC 429) are monitored according to the configuration of each
system.

- The faults are memorized following confirmation over several cycles (intermittent faults).
- Faulty LRUs are identified by their ATA 100 reference and sometimes by their
Functional Item Number (FIN).

- The BITE permanently transmits maintenance messages in real time (in flight).

These maintenance messages cover internal and external faults of the current flight or of
the last flight.

System BITEs operate in 2 modes : NORMAL MODE and MENU MODE.

(3) The various fault classes detected by the system BITEs.

The faults detected by the system BITEs are classified in 3 categories with respect to their
consequences on aircraft safety and availability.

(a) Class 1 faults

These are faults detected by the systems, which may have an operational consequence
(safety aspect) on the current flight.

These faults are indicated to the crew in flight:

- by the ECAM system (upper and/or lower display unit)

- by local warning in the cockpit.

NOTE: The FWC receives the class 1 faults from the aircraft systems which are connected
to it.

(b) Class 2 faults

These are faults detected by the systems and which do not have any operational
consequences (safety aspects) on the current flight or on the following flight(s) but which
may have consequences if a second fault occurs. These faults are indicated to the cockpit
crew on ground by a Maintenance STATUS on the ECAM STATUS page after the engines
shut down.

NOTE: The warning messages (class 1 and 2) presented to the crew are transmitted in real
time by the FWC to CFDIU which memorizes them and constitutes the ECAM REPORT
(only messages corresponding to primary and independent faults are transmitted).

(c) Class 3 faults

These are faults detected by the systems which have no consequences on aircraft safety or
availability. The operator may have these faults corrected at his convenience. These faults
are not indicated to the crew.
(a) Type 1 systems

Systems with an ARINC 429 input and output bus, the input being specific to the CFDS.
These constitute the majority of aircraft systems. Type 1 systems are capable of
memorizing data concerning faults detected on a maximum of 64 flights. Schematically, a
Type 1 system BITE consists of 5 zones of non-volatile memory:

1_ Zone 1

This zone is used for storing the identity of the LRU declared faulty during the current or
the last flight. It is also used for storing the identity of LRUs declared faulty during the last
63 flights (background over 64 flights). The capacity is approximately 30 failures.

2_ Zone 2

This zone is used for storing complementary data (e.g. : aircraft configuration, ...)
concerning faults occured during the last 64 flights. The capacity is approximately 30
failures.

3_ Zone 3

This zone is used to store the identity of faulty LRUs and the complementary data
concerning these fault, for faults that occurred on the ground during the last line stops. The
capacity is approximately 3 failures.

Zone 3 access:

_a On the center pedestal, on the MCDU, get access to the MCDU page.

_b On the MCDU MENU page, push the line key adjacent to the SYSTEM
REPORT/TEST indica

CFDIU - Connection With Different System Types_

_c On the SYSTEM REPORT/TEST page, push the line key adjacent to the related system.

_d On the SYSTEM REPORT/TEST page of the system that you have selected, push the
line key adjacent to the related computer indication.

_e Push the line key adjacent to the trouble shooting function indication (if the computer
has this function).

4_ Zone 4

This zone is used for storing more detailed data concerning the faults (parts of the LRU).
This zone is only accessible in the workshop (test bench).
5_ Zone 5

This zone is used for storing the identity of the LRUs affected by a class 3 fault. The
capacity is approximately 400 flight hours.

Memorization of failures in these memories and transmission of these data to the CFDIU is
carried out according to 2 operating modes, Normal Mode and Menu Mode.