Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC), established in 1929, was a major provider of transport communications and systems engineering solutions for eight industries: aviation, airports, defense, government, healthcare, networks, security, and transportation. ARINC had installed computer data networks in police cars and railroad cars and also maintains the standards for line-replaceable units.^{[citation needed]}

ARINC 665 This standard defines standards for loadable software parts and software transport media. ARINC 667 is a Guidance for the Management of Field Loadable Software 700 Series [ edit ].

ARINC was formerly headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, and had two regional headquarters in London, established in 1999 to serve the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, and Singapore, established in 2003 for the Asia Pacific region. ARINC had more than 3,200 employees at over 120 locations worldwide.

The sale of the company by Carlyle Group to Rockwell Collins was completed on December 23, 2013, and from November 2018 operating as part of Collins Aerospace.

• 2Activities and services
• 3Standards

History[edit]

ARINC was incorporated in 1929 as Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated. It was chartered by the Federal Radio Commission (which later became the Federal Communications Commission) in order to serve as the airline industry's single licensee and coordinator of radio communication outside of the government. The corporation's stock was held by four major airlines of the day. Through most of its history, ARINC was owned by airlines and other aviation-related companies such as Boeing until the sale to The Carlyle Group in October 2007.

Not much later ARINC took on the responsibility for all ground-based, aeronautical radio stations and for ensuring station compliance with Federal Radio Commission (FRC) rules and regulations. Using this as a base technology, ARINC expanded its contributions to transport communications as well as continuing to support the commercial aviation industry and U.S. military.

ARINC also developed the standards for the trays and boxes used to hold standard line-replaceable units (like radios) in aircraft. This subsequently allowed electronics to be rapidly replaced without complex fasteners or test equipment.

In 1978 ARINC introduced ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System), a datalink system that enables ground stations (airports, aircraft maintenance bases, etc.) to upload data (such as flight plans) and download data (such as fuel quantity, weight on wheels, flight management system (FMS) data), via an onboard Communications Management Unit (CMU).

ARINC has expanded its business in aerospace and defense through its ARINC Engineering Services subsidiary. With the sale of the company to Rockwell Collins, the ARINC Engineering Services subsidiary split into Commercial Aerospace and Defense Services. The Defense Services branch was then purchased by Booz Allen Hamilton, remaining part of the Carlyle group.^[1]

The sale of a Standards Development Organization (SDP) to a corporate sponsor raised concerns of conflict of interest and resulted in the sale of the ARINC Industry Activities (IA) Division to SAE International in January 2014. It now operates under the SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC).^[2][3]

United Technologies completed its acquisition of Rockwell Collins in November 2018 and merged it with its UTC Aerospace Systems to form Collins Aerospace.

Activities and services[edit]

Though known for publishing 'ARINC Standards', this role is independent of ARINC commercial activities.

Standardization and ARINC Industry Activities[edit]

ARINC Industry Activities involve three aviation committees:^[4][5]

• AEEC (Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee): Develop the ARINC Standards,
• AMC (Avionics Maintenance Conference): Organize the annual Avionics Maintenance Conference,
• FSEMC (Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference): Organize the annual FSEMC conference.

ARINC services[edit]

ARINC services include:

• ACARS -a digital datalink system for transmission of short, relatively simple messages between aircraft and ground stations via radio or satellite
• AviNet Global Data Network - formerly known as the ARINC Data Network Service (ADNS)
• Air/Ground Domestic Voice Service
• Air/Ground International Voice Service
• Airport Remote Radio Access System (ARRAS)
• vMUSE- Multi-User Systems Environment for shared passenger check-in at airports
  • Complies with the Common-Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) and Common Use Passenger Processing System (CUPPS) standards
• SelfServ- common use self-service passenger check-in kiosks for Airports
• OnVoy- internet based passenger check-in system for use at off-airport locations such as hotels, cruise ships and convention centers
• AirVue- Flight Information Display System (FIDS) for airports
  • Also called Electronic Visual Information Display System (EVIDS)
• AirDB- Airport Operational Database Base (AODB)
• AirPlan by ARINC - Resource Management System (RMS)
• VeriPax - Passenger Reconciliation System (PRS) validates passengers at security checkpoints
• Centralized Flight Management Computer Waypoint Reporting System (CFRS)
• Satellite Navigation and Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems (SATNAV and ATCALS)
• ARINC Wireless Interoperable Network Solutions (AWINS) - connects all types of radio and telephone systems including standard UHF and VHF analog radios, mobile digital, voice over IP systems, ship-to-shore, air-ground, standard phones, and push-to-talk cellular.
• ABMS Border Management Systems – delivering a full stay management capability, screening all travellers before travel, and managing visitors throughout their stay.
• In Flight Broadband – offering in-flight connectivity to passengers and crew inconjunction with SwiftBroadband.
• AviSec – passenger data transfer and Advanced Passenger Information System.
• Advanced Information Management (AIM) User Interface^[6].
• Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure ^[7].

Standards[edit]

The ARINC Standards are prepared by the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee (AEEC) where aviation suppliers such as Collins Aerospace and GE Aviation serve as contributors in support of their airline customer base. An abbreviated list follows.

400 Series[edit]

The 400 Series describes guidelines for installation, wiring, data buses, and databases.

• ARINC 404 defines Air Transport Rack (ATR) form factors for avionics equipment installed in many types of aircraft. It defines air transport equipment cases and racking.^[8]
• ARINC 424 is an international standard file format for aircraft navigation data.
• ARINC 429 is the most widely used data bus standard for aviation. Electrical and data format characteristics are defined for a two-wire serial bus with one transmitter and up to 20 receivers. The bus is capable of operating at a speed of 100 kbit/s.

500 Series[edit]

The 500 Series describes older analog avionics equipment used on early jet aircraft such as the Boeing 727, Douglas DC-9, DC-10, Boeing 737 and 747, and Airbus A300.

600 Series[edit]

The 600 Series are reference standards for avionics equipment specified by the ARINC 700 Series

• ARINC 600 is the predominant avionics packaging standard introducing the avionics Modular Concept Unit (MCU)
• ARINC 604 is a standard and guidance for the purpose of designing and implementing Built-In Test Equipment. The standard also describes the Centralized Fault Display System.^[9]
• ARINC 610B provides guidance for use of avionics equipment and software in simulators.
• ARINC 615 is a family of standards covering 'data loading', commonly used for transferring software and data to or from avionics devices. The ARINC 615 standard covers 'data loading' over ARINC 429.
• ARINC 615A is a standard that covers a 'data loading' protocol which can be used over various bus types such as Ethernet, CAN, and ARINC 664.
• ARINC 618 is a standard that covers a data transmission protocol called 'Character Oriented Protocol'.
• ARINC 619 is a standard that covers a data transmission protocol over ARINC 429 called 'Bit Oriented Protocol'.
• ARINC 620 is a standard that covers a data transmission protocol called 'Datalink Ground System'.
• ARINC 624 is a standard for aircraft onboard maintenance system (OMS). It uses ARINC 429 for data transmission between embedded equipments.
• ARINC 625 is an Industry Guide For Component Test Development and Management. It provides a standard approach for quality management of Test Procedure Generation within the commercial air transport industry.
• ARINC 628 is a standard for CABIN EQUIPMENT INTERFACES
• ARINC 629 is a multi-transmitter data bus protocol where up to 120 terminals can share the same bus. It is installed on the Boeing 777.
• ARINC 633 is the air-ground protocol for ACARS and IP networks used for AOC data exchanges between aircraft and the ground.
• ARINC 635 defines the protocols for the HFDL network of radios used for communication and messaging between aircraft and HF Ground Stations.
• ARINC 653 is a standard Real Time Operating System (RTOS) interface for partitioning of computer resources in the time and space domains. The standard also specifies Application Program Interfaces (APIs) for abstraction of the application from the underlying hardware and software.
• ARINC 660 defines avionics functional allocation and recommended architectures for CNS/ATM avionics.
• ARINC 661 defines the data structures used in an interactive cockpit display system (CDS), and the communication between the CDS and User Applications. The GUI definition is completely defined in binary definition files. The CDS software consists of a kernel capable of creating a hierarchical GUI specified in the definition files. The concepts used by ARINC 661 are similar to those used in user interface markup languages.
• ARINC 664 defines the use of a deterministic Ethernet network as an avionic databus in modern aircraft like the Airbus A380, Sukhoi Superjet 100, the Bombardier CSeries, and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
• ARINC 665 This standard defines standards for loadable software parts and software transport media.
• ARINC 667 is a Guidance for the Management of Field Loadable Software

700 Series[edit]

The 700 Series describes the form, fit, and function of avionics equipment installed predominately on transport category aircraft.^[10]

• ARINC 702A defines the Flight Management Systems (FMS)
• ARINC 704 defines the Inertial Reference System (IRS).
• ARINC 708 is the standard for airborne weather radar. It defines the airborne weather radar characteristics for civil and military aircraft.
• ARINC 709 defines Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)
• ARINC 717 defines the acquisition of flight data for recording
• ARINC 718 describes an Air Traffic Control Transponder (ATCRBS/MODE S)
• ARINC 724B defines the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS)
• ARINC 735B defines the Traffic Computer with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)
• ARINC 738 defines an integrated Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU)
• ARINC 739 is the standard for a Multi-Purpose Control and Display Unit (MCDU) and interfaces.
• ARINC 740 defines airborne printers
• ARINC 741 is the standard for a first-generation L-bandsatellite data unit.
• ARINC 743A defines a GNSS receiver
• ARINC 744A defines a full-format airborne printer
• ARINC 746 is the standard for a cabin telecommunications unit, based on Q.931 and CEPT-E1.
• ARINC 747 defines a Flight Data Recorder (FDR)
• ARINC 750 defines a VHF Digital Radio
• ARINC 755 defines a Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR) for approach and landing
• ARINC 756 defines a GNSS Navigation and Landing Unit
• ARINC 759 defines an Aircraft Interface Device (AID)
• ARINC 760 defines a GNSS Navigator
• ARINC 757 defines a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
• ARINC 761 is the standard for a second-generation L-band satellite data unit, also called Swift64 by operator Inmarsat.
• ARINC 763 is the standard for a generic avionics file server and wireless access points.
• ARINC 767 defines a combined recorder unit capable of data and voice.
• ARINC 771 is the standard for the second-generation L-Band satellite data unit, also called Certus Broadband for the low earth orbit (LEO) Iridium NEXT by operator Iridium
• ARINC 781 is the standard for a third-generation L-band satellite data unit, also called SwiftBroadband (SBB) by operator Inmarsat.
• ARINC 791 defines Ku and Ka band satellite data airborne terminal equipment.

800 Series[edit]

The 800 Series comprises a set of aviation standards for aircraft, including fiber optics used in high-speed data buses.^[11]

• ARINC 801 through 807 define the application of fiber optics on the aircraft.
• ARINC 810 is a standard for the integration of aircraft galley inserts and associated interfaces Title: Definition of Standard Interfaces for Galley Insert (GAIN) Equipment, Physical Interfaces.
• ARINC 811 provides a common understanding of information security concepts as they relate to airborne networks, and provides a framework for evaluating the security of airborne networked systems.
• ARINC 812 is a standard for the integration of aircraft galley inserts and associated interfaces
• ARINC 816 defines a database for airport moving maps
• ARINC 817 defines a low-speed digital video interface
• ARINC 818 defines a high-speed digital video interface standard developed for high bandwidth, low latency, uncompressed digital video transmission.
• ARINC 821 is a top-level networking definition describing aircraft domains, file servers and other infrastructure.
• ARINC 822 is the standard for Gatelink.
• ARINC 823 is a standard for end-to-end datalink encryption.
• ARINC 825 is a standard for Controller Area Network bus protocol for airborne use.
• ARINC 826 is a protocol for avionic data loading over a Controller Area Network bus.
• ARINC 827 specifies a crate format for electronic distribution of software parts for aircraft.
• ARINC 828 defines aircraft wiring provisions and electrical interface standards for electronic flight bag (EFB)
• ARINC 834 defines an aircraft data interface that sources data to Electronic Flight Bags, airborne file servers, etc.
• ARINC 836 describes modular rack-style aircraft cabin standard enclosures.
• ARINC 838 provides a standardized XML description for loadable software parts.
• ARINC 839 is a function definition of airborne manager of air-ground interface communications (MAGIC)
• ARINC 840 defines the Application Control Interface (ACI) used with an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)
• ARINC 841 defines Media Independent Aircraft Messaging
• ARINC 842 provides guidance for usage of digital certificates on airplane avionics and cabin equipment.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2017-03-03. Retrieved 2017-03-02.Cite uses deprecated parameter |dead-url= (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. ^https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2013/12/24/arincs-new-owner-to-sell-off-two.html
3. ^https://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/01/prweb11485149.htm
4. ^'Aviation committees'. ARINC. Archived from the original on 2010-07-31. Retrieved 2010-07-25.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
5. ^'AEEC, AMC, & FSEMC:Aviation Industry Activities Organized by ARINC'(PDF). ARINC. September 2008. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-05-15. Retrieved 2010-07-25.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
6. ^'AIM data sheet'(PDF). Rockwell Collins. May 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
7. ^'Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity'. Rockwell Collins. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
8. ^'Air Transport Equipment Cases and Racking - ARINC 404'. Archived from the original on 2012-06-08. Retrieved 2012-10-20.Cite uses deprecated parameter |dead-url= (help)
9. ^'FAA Standards, Category: Aeronautical'. Archived from the original on 2007-06-29.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
10. ^'ARINC Store, 700 series'. Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2011-08-17.Cite uses deprecated parameter |dead-url= (help)
11. ^'ARINC Standards store, 800 series'. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2010-06-10.Cite uses deprecated parameter |dead-url= (help)

External links[edit]

ARINC 653 (Avionics Application Standard Software Interface) is a software specification for space and time partitioning in safety-criticalavionicsreal-time operating systems (RTOS). It allows the hosting of multiple applications of different software levels on the same hardware in the context of an Integrated Modular Avionics architecture.^[1]

It is part of ARINC 600-Series Standards for Digital Aircraft & Flight Simulators.

• 2History
• 3Basic principles of partitioning

Overview[edit]

In order to decouple the real-time operating system platform from the application software, ARINC 653 defines an API called APplication EXecutive (APEX).

Each application software is called a partition and has its own memory space. It also has a dedicated time slot allocated by the APEX API. Within each partition, multitasking is allowed. The APEX API provides services to manage partitions, processes and timing, as well as partition/process communication and error handling. The partitioning environment can be implemented by using a hypervisor^[2] to map partitions to virtual machines, but this is not required.

The current work of the AEEC APEX Subcommittee includes the enhancement of ARINC 653 for multicore processor architectures.^[3]

History[edit]

Initial version[edit]

The initial version of ARINC 653 was published on October 10, 1996.

ARINC 653-1[edit]

Supplement 1 was published on January 1997 and introduced the concepts of APEX and Time and Space partitioning.

ARINC 653-2[edit]

Supplement 2 was published in 3 parts between March 2006 and January 2007:^[4]

• Part 1 (mandatory services): ARINC 653 partition management, Cold start and warm start definition, Application software error handling, ARINC 653 compliance, Ada and C language bindings;
• Part 2 (optional services): File system access, Data logging, Service Access points, ...
• Part 3 (Conformity Test Specification);

Current Organization of Standard[edit]

• Part 0 - Introduction to ARINC 653 (currently at revision 1, released June 2013)^[5]

• Part 1 - Required Services (currently at revision 4, released August 2015)^[6]
• Part 2 - Extended Services (currently at revision 3, released August 2015)^[7]
• Part 3 - Conformity Test Specification (currently at revision 1, released 16 Oct 2006)^[8]
• Part 4 - Subset Services (currently at revision 1, released June 2012)^[9]
• Part 5 - Core Software Recommended Capabilities (currently at revision 1, released December 2014)^[10]

Basic principles of partitioning[edit]

ARINC 653 Platform[edit]

An ARINC 653 platform contains:

• A hardware platform allowing real-time computing deterministic services.
• An abstraction layer managing the timer and space partitioning constraints of the platform (memory, CPU, Input/output).
• An implementation for the ARINC 653 services (the APEX API).
• An interface to be able to configure the platform and its domain of use.
• Various instrumentation tools.

Initialization[edit]

Initialization of an ARINC 653 partition creates resources used by the partition. Resources creation (PROCESS, EVENT, SEMAPHORE...) is performed by calling API services named CREATE_xxxx.

Error handling[edit]

The process error handler is a preemptiveprocess of the highest priority dedicated to handle partition exceptions. It is created by the service CREATE_ERROR_HANDLER during partition initialization.

The API allows the error handler to stop a faulty process (STOP_SELF). In that case, the RTOS scheduler will elicit the next process with the highest priority.

ARINC 653 does not specify how the scheduler should behave if the error handler does not stop a faulty process. In some (theoretical) cases, this could lead to an infinite loop between the faulty process and the error handler.

The error handler can obtain information about the source and the context of the exception.

Arinc 825 Software

Mode management[edit]

Arinc Raptor Software

Each partition can be in several activation modes:

• COLD_START and WARM_START: Only the initialization process is executed,
• NORMAL: The initialization process is stopped, and the other partition processes are called by the RTOS scheduler depending on their priority,
• IDLE: No process is executed. However an implementation could still in theory execute a hidden process of the lowest priority, for example to start an infinite loop.

The SET_PARTITION_MODE service allows to manage these states. It can be called by any process in the partition. Entering the IDLE state is irreversible for the partition. Only an external event (such as a platform restart) can change the state to another mode when the partition is in this state.

The processes of a partition[edit]

Each partition has at least one process.

Process scheduling is preemptive. The scheduler is called either by a timer or by API services.

API services[edit]

The ARINC 653 APEX services are APIcalls belonging in six categories:

• Partition management
• Process management
• Time management
• Inter-partition communication
• Intra-partition communication
• Error handling

No ARINC 653 services are provided for the memory management of partitions. Each partition has to handle its own memory (still under the constraints of memory partitioning enforced by ARINC 653).

Each service returns a RETURN_CODE value which indicates if the call has been successful:

• NO_ERROR: the service performed nominally after a valid request
• NO_ACTION: the state of the system has not changed after executing the service
• NOT_AVAILABLE: the service is temporarily unavailable
• INVALID_PARAM: at least one of the service's parameters is invalid
• INVALID_CONFIG: at least one of the service's parameters is incompatible with the current configuration of the system
• INVALID_MODE: the service is incompatible with the current mode of the system
• TIMED_OUT: the delay for the execution of the service has expired

Aric Software

Links to POSIX and ASAAC[edit]

The field covered by ARINC 653 is similar to ASAACDef Stan 00-74. However, there are differences between the two standards.^[11]

Some ARINC 653 (APEX) calls have a POSIX equivalent, but are different from how they are defined in POSIX.^[11]

For example, the following call defined in ASAAC:

would be translated in ARINC 653 by:

and also in POSIX by:

Arinc Software Architecture

References[edit]

Arinc 429 Simulator Software

1. ^'ARINC 653 - An Avionics Standard for Safe, Partitioned Systems'(PDF). Wind River Systems / IEEE Seminar. August 2008. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2009-05-30.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
2. ^VanderLeest, S. H. (2010-10-01). 'ARINC 653 hypervisor'. 29th Digital Avionics Systems Conference: 5.E.2–1–5.E.2–20. doi:10.1109/DASC.2010.5655298. ISBN978-1-4244-6616-0.
3. ^'APEX Subcommittee'. AEEC. August 2008. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
4. ^'Product Focus: ARINC 653 and RTOS'. aviationtoday.com. 2004-07-01. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
5. ^'Avionics Application Software Standard Interface: ARINC Specification 653 Part 0'. Aeronautical Radio, Inc. June 2013.
6. ^'Avionics Application Software Standard Interface: ARINC Specification 653P1-3, Required Services'. Aeronautical Radio, Inc. 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
7. ^'Avionics Application Software Standard Interface: ARINC Specification 653P2-2, Part 2, Extended Services'. Aeronautical Radio, Inc. 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
8. ^'Avionics Application Software Standard Interface: ARINC Specification 653P3, Conformity Test Specification'. Aeronautical Radio, Inc. 2006-10-20.
9. ^'Avionics Application Software Standard Interface: ARINC Specification 653 Part 4, Subset Services'. Aeronautical Radio, Inc. 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
10. ^'ARINC Store'. ARINC IA. 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
11. ^ ^ab'Flexibility and Manageability of IMS Projects'(PDF). University of York. Retrieved 2008-07-27.

See also[edit]