Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated

ARINC 429 employs unidirectional transmission of 32 bit words over two wire twisted pairs using bipolar RZ (Return to Zero) fo
Any particular LRU may have multiple sources and/or sinks. A twisted shielded pair carries the ARINC 429 signal, and the sets o
information are transmitted at periodic intervals. The periodic interval of data transmission must be sufficient to provide a min
change in the data, so that if a data set is lost, the loss would be of little consequence. To detect errors, the specification prescr
of odd parity indication and optional error checking

ARINC 429 is a specification, which defines how avionics equipment and systems should communicate with each other. They ar
interconnected by wires in twisted pairs. ARINC 429 employs a unidirectional data bus standard known as Mark 33 Digital Info
Transfer System (DITS). Messages are transmitted at a bit rate of either 12.5 or 100 kilobits per second to other system elemen
are monitoring the bus messages. Transmission and reception is on separate ports so that many wires may be needed on aircra
use a large number of avionics systems.
The unidirectional ARINC 429 system provides high reliability at the cost of wire weight and limited data rates.

An ARINC 429 data bus uses two signal wires to transmit 32 bit words. Transmission of sequential words is separated by at leas
of NULL (zero voltage). This eliminates the need for a separate clock signal wire. Thats why this signal is known as a self-clockin

ARINC 429 is a very simple, point-to-point protocol(PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) is a protocol for communication between two
using a serial interface, typically a personal computer connected by phone line to a server.) There can be only one transmitter o
pair. The transmitter is always transmitting either 32-bit data words or the NULL state. There is at least one receiver on a wire p
may be up to 20 and over 300 feet of bus length. Most systems are designed for under 175 feet. It uses Bus Topology (Start top
also be used but requires more wiring since there has to be a independent wire connection between two LRUs).

ARINC WORD FORMAT

PARITY

The MSB is always the parity bit for ARINC 429. Parity is normally set to odd except for certain tests. Odd parity means that the
an odd number of 1 bits in the 32-bit word that is insured by either setting or clearing the parity bit. For example if bits 1-31
even number of 1 bits, bit 32 must be set to create ODD parity. On the other hand, if bits 1-31 contain an odd number of 1
parity bit must be clear

SSM (Sign Status Matrix)

This field contains hardware equipment condition, operational mode, or validity of data content.
 Normal Operation (NO) - Indicates the data in this word is considered to be correct data.
Functional Test (FT) - Indicates that the data is being provided by a test source.
Failure Warning (FW) - Indicates a failure which causes the data to be suspect or missing.
No Computed Data (NCD) - Indicates that the data is missing or inaccurate for some reason other than a failure. For exampl
commands will show as NCD when the autopilot is not turned on.
In case of Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) representation, the SSM may also indicate the Sign (+/-) of the data or some

DATA

Bits 29 through 11 contain the data which maybe in BCD, BNR or Discrete Data Format

BCD Data Encoding

BCD, or binary-coded-decimal, is a common data format found in ARINC 429 and many other engineering applications. In this f
bits are allocated to each decimal digit.

BNR Data Encoding

BNR or binary encoding is also a very common ARINC data format. This type of encoding simply stores the data as a binary n
much in the same format that is used on virtually every modern-day computer. Bit 29 is the sign bit and bit 28 is
the most significant bit of the data field, which represents one half of the maximum value of the parameter being defined. Suc
represent the increments of a binary fraction series. Negative numbers are encoded as the twos complement of positive value
a 1 then the number is negative (or South, West, Left, From, or Below). Otherwise, it is positive (or North, East, Right, To, or A
NOTE: For Real Data the actual data is multiplied with the scaling factor to encode and decode a more precise value in binary.
In the above example 268 is encoded in BNR format, Bit 29 represents the sign, Bit 28 represents the MSB and so on. The data
from Bit 28(MSB) and not from Bit 11

Mixed Formats

The 32-bit message words can also include discrete information, either mixed with BCD or BNR data, or as separate messages.
in a word may be assigned one bit per variable starting in Bit #11 until the data field is reached. If there are no discretes encod
the unused positions are filled with zeros.

Discrete Data Formats

The Label identifies the type of information contained within BNR and BCD numeric data and the word application for discrete
maintenance, and file transfer methods (also described in ARINC 429P2 and P3). Labels can have system instruction or data rep
functionality.

The binary representation of the Octal Label information and its bit position within the ARINC 429 data word is seen under the
Transmission Order and Bit Position in 429 Word heading of the table above. The most significant bit of the octal word is loca
least significant ARINC 429 bit and is transmitted first onto the bus. Since the LSB of the ARINC word is transmitted first, this ca
Label to be transmitted onto the bus in reverse bit position order. The Label is part of every ARINC 429 32-bit word, and each w
with a Label. A Label is always transmitted in the first 8 bits of the ARINC 429 word.

The Equipment Identifier (Eqpt. ID) is used administratively and identifies the ARINC 429 bus source. It must be associated with
sink combination. Each bus source may have up to 255 of the labels assigned for its usage. Since each type of the equipment (b
has its own sets of Labels (and data) and a distinct equipment identity, the ARINC designer can use the combination of the Lab
Equipment identifier to prevent the conflict of unlike parameters having the same Label

The SDI is optional and when used, occupies bits 9 and 10 of the ARINC word. The SDI is considered to add an extension onto t
words Label, and ARINC systems are expected to decode the Label/SDI combination as a different Label than an ARINC word w
same Label and no SDI implementation.
The SDI has two functions:
1. To identify which source of a multisystem installation is transmitting the data contained.

2. To direct which sinks (destination) on a multilistener bus (known as a multisystem installation) should recognize the data con
within the ARINC word