Upskill / Avionics / How avionics fit together: data buses, integrated modular avionics and partitioning
How avionics fit together: data buses, integrated modular avionics and partitioning
How an aircraft's avionics are organised and connected: federated and integrated architectures, ARINC 429, AFDX networks, ARINC 653 partitioning, and integration and certification under DO-297, following one regional fleet upgrade. Part 1 of the Avionics engineering series.
By Aerospace Garage Desk · In practice · 50 minutes · 24 narrated pages
What you will be able to do
✓ Compare federated and integrated modular avionics architectures and explain what each does for fault containment, weight, wiring and maintenance.
✓ Decode ARINC 429 words in BNR and recognise BCD, and list what an interface control document must define for every label.
✓ Explain how ARINC 664 Part 7 (AFDX) makes Ethernet deterministic, and calculate virtual-link bandwidth and a simple worst-case delay.
✓ Describe time and space partitioning under ARINC 653, and build and check a partition schedule against a spare-time rule.
✓ Explain the DO-297/ED-124 roles and tasks, and how the FAA (AC 20-170) and EASA (AMC 20-170) give credit for platforms, applications and installation.
✓ Identify how voting and redundancy can be defeated by common cause, using an official investigation report.
Course content
Session 1 · Federated versus integrated avionics
1.1
Many boxes, one aircraft: what an avionics architecture is · free preview
Line-replaceable units and the federated rack
From federated to integrated modular avionics
Worked example: Kura Avionics counts the boxes
Session 2 · ARINC 429: the classic point-to-point bus
1.2
ARINC 429: one talker, many listeners
The word as an interface contract
BNR, BCD and the limits of point-to-point
Worked example: decoding a negative roll-angle word
Session 3 · ARINC 664 Part 7 (AFDX): switched Ethernet made deterministic
1.3
Why ordinary Ethernet was not enough
Virtual links and the bandwidth allocation gap
Two networks, one answer: redundancy and integrity
Worked example: Kura adds an engine-data link to a display port
Session 4 · Integrated modular avionics and partitioning
1.4
One computer, many functions: the partitioning promise
Time and space partitioning, the ARINC 653 way
Platform, applications and who does what: DO-297, AC 20-170 and AMC 20-170
Worked example: building Kura's partition schedule
Session 5 · Integrating and certifying an avionics architecture
1.5
Interface control: the contract between suppliers
Configuration tables and parameter data
Incremental acceptance, installation and the security link
Worked example: Kura's interface audit finds four mismatches
Session 6 · When the data mislead: voting, service life and the series ahead
1.6
Voting, monitors and the trap of common cause
Keeping an integrated architecture healthy in service
Where the Avionics engineering series goes next
From the investigation file: two sensors that agreed, A320 D-AXLA, 2008
Who this course is for
Avionics, systems and integration engineers at airframers, suppliers and design organisations who define buses, networks and integrated platforms
Certification and airworthiness engineers who assess IMA, databus and interface evidence against FAA AC 20-170, AC 20-156 and EASA AMC 20-170
Licensed avionics engineers and technical managers in operators and MROs who support integrated aircraft and want to understand the architecture behind the messages
You need: A working knowledge of aircraft systems and basic binary arithmetic; Troubleshooting intermittent avionics faults is useful background.
Upskill courses are for professional development and are not approved by any aviation authority. Learner Terms