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- Multiple board configuration is supported.
- The number of active channels is configurable.
- The baudrate baud rate of each channel is configurable independently.
- Internal and IRIG-B synchronization sources are supported.
- Message transmission can be enabled/disabled dynamically (cyclical transmitted messages are also supported).
- Raw-data or field definition (Label, SSM, SDI, Parity) available on transmission and reception.
- Field-specific (Label, SSM, SDI) filtering on reception messages.
- Two error injection modes per channel.
- BNR, BCD, Discrete data types supported.
- Different signal types can be packaged on a single message.
- Signals are configurable with 1-bit granularity precision.
- A gain and an offset can be applied to each signal within a message both in transmission and reception.
- Status information for each channel can be monitored independently.
- Reception intervals can be monitored on reception messages and set timeout triggering is available.
- The timestamp of each received message can be monitored.
- Python scripted configuration file creation is available.
- Configuration creation, modification and importing fully supported in GUI.
The driver is entirely configurable via the RT-LAB interface. Users can select the ARINC-429 board type to add, delete and duplicate channels, messages, and signals in order to quickly obtain the desired configuration.
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- Verbose: If set to true, the entire configuration is displayed during the loading of the model.
- Reverse gain/offset computation: If selected, the gain and offset computation will be reversed. This behavior is detailed in the section below and it corresponds to implementations found in older RT-LAB versions.
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The way the gain and offset are applied is shown in the blue boxes. The OpOutput and OpInput and OpOutput (Transmission, Reception) represent the standard data points coming from and going to the model.
The ARINC429 subsystem (Arinc429 Channel) is subsystems (Tx and Rx Channels) are a representation of the real ARINC429 network.Note: The values given for gain and offset are just examples; any floating point value can be usedARINC 429 network.
Reverse gain/offset computation option disabled
If Reverse gain/offset computation option is disabled disabled, the operations are as follows.
Reverse gain/offset computation option enabled
If Reverse gain/offset computation option is enabled the operations are as follows.
Board Configuration
- Card type: Used to determine the number of channels available to configure.
- Device ID: ARINC-429 system-wide board identifier. May vary depending on the platform where the card is installed, i.e., Windows/Linux.
- Clock type: Synchronization source to be selected (Internal or IRIG-B).
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- Channel number: Allows configuration of the identified channel in the ARINC-429 board. When adding a new channel to the list, its channel number field is set to 0 by default. Make sure to change it to the desired value for your application.
- Baudrate: Supported baudrates baud rates go from 12.5Kbps (low-speed) to 100kbps (high-speed) 'Custom' can be selected to specify a value between 12.5 and 100kbps.
- Record channel data: Enables the recording of all information related to the data exchange on the current channel. The recorded data is saved in files with the *.csv format; these files can be found on the host after each execution of the simulation, in the data folder under the project directory. For more information, please check the Recorders' documentation.
- Mode: If manual mode is selected, the start and the stop of the recording need to be done using the API. A simple example of how to use the Python API is shown in the example project under the scripts directory.
- Decimation Factor: The step factor at which the data will be recorded. This factor must be an integer greater than 0.
- Maximum file length (MB): The recording will stop when the logging file reaches this size. The file length is in megabytes (MB).
- Parity: Selects the desired parity for the channel:
- Transmission: Odd/Even/None
- Reception: On/Off
- Enable gap error injection: Reduces the intermessage inter-message gap to 3-bit time.
- Inject bit error: Affects the number of bits to be transmitted.
- Low bit error: 31-bit transmission.
- High bit error: 33-bit transmission.
- Enable external transmission: Selects between enabled external transmission and tri-stated output for the board's channel transmitter.
- Internal Loopback: Reception only: true/false. If set to true creates an internal connection from the selected reception channel to its transmission counterpart.
- Merged buffer storage: Reception only: true/false. If set to "true", messages will be stored in the merged buffer that could be shared by multiple channels and can store up to 16384 messages before overflowing. If set to "false", messages will be stored in an individual buffer that can hold up to 2048 messages before overflowing.
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- Board: Assign this message to an available board
- Direction: Selects between transmission and reception message types.
- Channel: Assign this message to an available channel on the selected board.
- Label: Label value in octal for the current message.
- Transmission: Set the label value to be transmitted
- Reception: Allows to filter messages at reception based on their label.
- SDI: Source Destination Identifier (SDI) value in binary for the current message.
- Transmission: A fixed SDI value can be configured. If it is set to 'Unused', the SDI bits will be available to be controlled from the payload of the message. This is used in case where a specific application requires more bits than what is defined into the standard.
- Reception: A fixed SDI value will apply a filter to only receive a message with this specific SDI. If it is set to 'Unused', no filter on the SDI will be applied and the message will be received without filtering on a specific SDI value. In this case, a new connection point is available and will provide the SDI value to the model.
- SSM: Status Sign Matrix (SSM) value in binary for the current message.
- Transmission: A fixed SSM value can be configured. If it is set to 'Unused', the SSM bits will be available to be controlled from the payload of the message. This is used in case where a specific application requires more bits than what is defined into the standard.
- Reception: A fixed SSM value will apply a filter to only receive a message with this specific SSM. If it is set to 'Unused', no filter on the SSM will be applied and the message will be received without filtering on a specific SSM value. In this case, a new connection point is available and will provide the SSM value to the model.
- Enable raw data: Creates a 'Raw ARINC Word' connectable, which allows the user to take control of the contents of the 32-bit word outside of the driver. (31 bits when parity is not set as: 'None'/'Off' for that channel).
If a message is to be transmitted, here are the additional parameters to be set:
- Enable dynamic SSM: Allows the user to control the value of the SSM for this message by means of a connectable (i.e. through a model or LabVIEW panel).
- Enable dynamic SDI: Allows the user to control the value of the SDI for this message by means of a connectable (i.e. through a model or LabVIEW panel).
- Enable cyclic transmission: Allows the user to specify a fixed time in milliseconds between consecutive message transmissions.
- Transmit rate (ms): The rate at which the message should be transmitted. Rate is given in milliseconds.
Notes:
- For a payload greater than 20 bits "Unused" needs to be set for at least the SDI or SSM field.
- Permitted values for SSM and SDI are 0 (00), 1 (01), 2 (10) and 3 (11). If a value greater than the acceptable ones is provided through the dynamic SDI/SSM connection points, then the maximum value 3 (11) will be applied.
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- Name: This parameter uniquely identifies each signal in order for RT-LAB to create a connectable for it in the connection tree.
- Encoding: BNR, BCD and DIS encodings are available.
- Start bit: The start bit of the signal in the ARINC-429 word (for BNR, the sign bit is excluded).
- Size: The number of bits of the signal ranging from 1 to 23.
- Initial value: The initial value of the signal.
- Min: The minimum value the signal can hold. Dependent on the signal type and size in bits.
- Max: The maximum value the signal can hold. Also dependent on the signal type and size in bits.
- Gain: Gain to be applied to the original received or transmitted value.
- Value offset: Offset to be applied to the original received or transmitted value.
The table below lists the signal types that can be inserted in each message:
| Encoding | Description | Special considerations |
|---|---|---|
BNR | Two's complement fractional binary encoding | |
BCD | Binary Coded Decimals encoding | |
DIS | Discrete signals (1 to 23 bits unsigned) | none |
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- Discrete signals can be used to fill in the space left by BNR or BCD signals.When mixing signal types, discretes can never be at the MSB position.
Python API
Alternatively to the Graphical User Interface, an API has been developed to allow the creation of ARINC-429 configuration files that can be loaded to the driver. The API documentation can be found in ARINC-429 Python API documentation.
ARINC-429 Configuration Importer
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The driver's connectable points depend on the driver's configuration (number of channels, number of messages in each channel, if a message is to be transmitted or received, etc.).
The following table lists the driver connectable points for channels, transmission messages, and reception messages.
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