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dnelson
12-24-2010, 12:48 PM
Hi AFS,

For the lack of a better description, I've noticed what seems to be spurious ARINC data. Here is a video (700 KB) of what I'm seeing (pls be patient - my DSL upload speed is just slightly faster than a speeding tortuous):

http://caura.dyndns.org/tmp/afs-spurious.avi

If you can not see the video, the flight director initially starts out all red. Then there is a brief moment of GPS data (magenta arrow), the flight director changes color to magenta (lateral) and yellow (vertical) for a number of seconds then changes back to red. Rinse, lather, repeat.

The conditions are as follows:
- Plane is stationary (in the garage)
- 430W:
- Powered on and fully operational
- CDI set to GPS
- No flight plan or "Direct To" loaded/activated.
- EFIS and ARINC powered on
- BRG and CRS sources set to GNAV1
- The "430W-EFIS-Autopilot-ARINC' touble shooting passes with flying colors.

Thank you,
/\/elxon

Trevor Conroy
12-27-2010, 09:08 AM
Does your GNS-430W have a satellite signal lock? I'm guessing it does not (or has a very weak one) in the garage. This should all me mitigated once you are outside taxing or flying.

dnelson
12-27-2010, 12:13 PM
Hi Trevor,

Yes, I believe it does. I'll take a picture this evening and post to confirm.

Regards,
/\/elson

dnelson
12-27-2010, 05:38 PM
Hi Trevor,

The 430W does indeed have satellite lock:

http://caura.dyndns.org/tmp/afs-garmin.jpg

The "MSG" is because the 430W is currently not receiving any data from the EFIS (temporarily removed for service).

Also, forgot to note that the firmware version of the EFIS is S7.10.24-MV15, the ARINC module is 4.0, and the Garmin is 3.30.

Thank you,
/\/elson

Trevor Conroy
12-27-2010, 05:44 PM
Your software versions look good. What happens to the EFIS CDI when you press the CDI button on the GNS-430 and put it in VLOC mode? Does a green needle show up? What about when you put a waypoint (D->) in the GNS-430, does the needle turn to magenta? What mode is your FD in? HDG: NAV, VER: NAV?. What color are the command bars when you put the EFIS in HDG: NAV, VER: NAV mode?

dnelson
12-28-2010, 08:02 PM
Hi Trevor,


What happens to the EFIS CDI when you press the CDI button on the GNS-430 and put it in VLOC mode? Does a green needle show up?

I get the green arrow.


What about when you put a waypoint (D->) in the GNS-430, does the needle turn to magenta? What mode is your FD in? HDG: NAV, VER: NAV?. What color are the command bars when you put the EFIS in HDG: NAV, VER: NAV mode?

The EFIS has been boxed up and shipped to AFS this afternoon for some repairs. Until I get the EFIS back, I can not answer your questions with 100% certainty. Suffice to say, however, that the EFIS and 430W pass with flying colors during the 430's Instrument Test Page. I submitted a picture here (http://www.advanced-flight-systems.com/Forum2/showthread.php?274-Error-in-document-430W-EFIS-Autopilot-ARINC-Interface-Troubleshooting&p=1164). Does this suffice? If not, we'll have to revisit this topic when I receive the EFIS so that I can answer your questions with 100% accuracy.

Anybody: Has anybody else tried the above - GPS, EFIS, ARINC powered on and functional, the airframe is not in motion, the 430W's CDI is in GPS mode, and no destination configured in the 430W? I'm curious if I'm the only one experiencing this or not.

Thanks
/\/elson

NoahF
12-29-2010, 08:04 AM
Nelson, I was not able to view your video, so I'm not sure that I totally understand the issue you're troubleshooting. However, I have had the GPS, EFIS, and ARINC powered on and functional, with the airframe not in motion, the 430W's CDI is in GPS mode, and no destination configured in the 430W, and I get no color changes on the EFIS as you have described. Feel free to contact me privately (email is best) if I can run any other tests or diagnostics on a (hopefully) known good system.

dnelson
12-30-2010, 08:09 AM
Hi Trevor,

With some help from Noah, I believe that this problem is unique to my installation. I've some things to test out when I get the EFIS back and we'll see where things proceed from there.

Namely:

- Ensure that the RS-232 ground line is securely attached to the rear of the unit (I've rather lax about it during initial testing)

- Powering on/off other equipment to see what other affects there may be

- Unplugging devices on the ARINC and RS-232 busses

I did notice in the video that when the flight director changes back to magenta/yellow, it lasts for a slow count of up to ~8 (4 seconds, maybe). By chance, does this time constant have any significance to you?

Thanks and happy new year,

/\/elson

Trevor Conroy
12-30-2010, 02:53 PM
I'd like you to run the ARINC GPS and ARINC VOR tests found in Instrument Calibration -> Admin Settings -> Diagnostics -> and take screen shots of both screens. The GNS-430W and ARINC adapter need to be powered on and functioning.

dnelson
01-11-2011, 09:15 PM
Hi Trevor,

I received the EFIS this evening in good order. Here are the results of my tests after ensuring that all grounds, dsub connectors, etc where securely fastened:

With the exception of the 430W, the powering of other equipment that share the RS-232 and ARINC busses had no effect. When I powered off the 430W, the problem went away. On power up and subsequent satellite acquisition, the problem returned. If I entered a Direct-To and activated it, the problem went away. If I then delete the Direct-To, the problem returns.

Removing devices on the shared RS-232 buss had no effect. I did not remove devices from the ARINC buss. Though, the A/P was powered off. Also, toggling the A/P's ARINC source switch did not have any effect.

Here are the videos (in MPEG4 format and ~20 secs each in duration) of the diagnostic GPS (http://caura.dyndns.org/tmp/gps.mpeg) and VOR (http://caura.dyndns.org/tmp/vor.mpeg) tests. In order to maintain any kind of video quality, the smallest size I could wrangle was approx 5.5 MB each - pls be patient on the transfer. :D

And finally, I did notice something on the EFIS screen. Whenever the spurious data comes over, the CRS field very briefly displays the last CRS setting. Sometimes this is 150 (presumably from the instrument test page on the 430W) and other times it is 360 (not sure when it gets that value). Anyway, when I turn the CRS knob and the next time it flashes, the new CRS value is briefly displayed. Here is the video (http://caura.dyndns.org/tmp/efis.mpeg) of it in action. Initially the CRS is set to '360' and that flashes by. I then turn the CRS knob a random amount and then '023' flashes by twice. Just another data point.

Thank you,
/\/elson

Trevor Conroy
01-12-2011, 09:49 AM
Hello David. We've confirmed this issue here. What version of GNS-430 software are you running? When you first power it up it will display the software version. The current version is 3.3. Our software engineers believe this problem is due to outdated 430 software.

dnelson
01-12-2011, 05:06 PM
Hi Trevor,

I'm relieved that you have confirmed the issue. When I boot the 430W, there are two s/w versions:

Main: 3.30
GPS: 3.2

The unit was purchased new in Dec 2010.

Thank you,
/\/elson

dnelson
01-13-2011, 07:05 AM
Hi Trevor,

I see that v4.00 was made available is April of 2010. Will updating to v4.00 solve this problem?

Thank you,
/\/elson

Trevor Conroy
01-13-2011, 12:56 PM
It hasn't changed recently. They all still ship with 3.30 main and 3.2 GPS software. 4.01 main software is available as an option. It has a few upgrades, but its main purpose is for rotorwing use. It provides HTAWS for larger helicopters that require a better terrain solution. You have to buy an unlock card as well to use the system and need to get a 2 gb terrain card.
If you have 3.3, you are up-to-date.