Managing Multiple High-Speed Sensor Streams with ARINC 818-3
Paul Grunwald, Tim Keller · 2020
ARINC 818, when developed in 2005 was designed for cockpit displays. It is the de-facto video bus standard for all modern cockpit avionics implementations. In the past 15 years, ARINC 818 has been revised twice, and is now being used not just as a display interface, but throughout the aircraft, including highspeed sensor applications. Revisions to the specification support multiple high-speed sensors on a single link with speeds up to 32Gbps. The ARINC 818 standard has supported video switching, stereo and 3-D provisions, color sequential implementations, regions of interest, data-only transmissions, multi-channel implementations, bi-directional communication, synchronization signals, options for high-speed coax interfaces and optical interface details. This paper will provide an overview of the latest revision of the specification and features that support multiple sensors, countermeasures, ISR, and other high-speed video links. Approaches and philosophies on how to approach partitioning, timing, multiplexing, as well as implementations and certification concerns, utilizing the ARINC 818-3 protocol to maximize throughput and minimize SWAP issues.