Over on his YouTube channel the inimitable [Ben Eater] takes a look at an electronic altimeter which replaces an old mechanical altimeter in an airplane.
The old altimeter was entirely mechanical, except for a pair of wires which can power a backlight. Both the old and new altimeters have a dial on the front for calibrating the meter. The electronic altimeter has a connector on the back for integrating with the rest of the airplane. [Ben] notes that this particular electronic altimeter is only a backup in the airplane it is installed in, it’s there for a “second opinion” or in case of emergency.
The back of the electronic altimeter has a 26-pin connector. The documentation — the User Guide for MD23-215 Multifunction Digital Counter Drum Altimeter — explains the pinout. The signals of interest are ARINC Out A & B (a differential pair on pins 2 and 3) and ARINC In A & B (a differential pair on pins 5 and 14).
Here “ARINC” refers to the ARINC 429 protocol which is a serial protocol for communicating between systems in aircraft. Essentially the protocol transmits labeled values with some support for error detection. The rest of the video is spent investigating these ARINC signals in detail, both in the specification and via the oscilloscope.
Of course we’ve heard from [Ben Eater] many times before, see Ben Eater Vs. Microsoft BASIC and [Ben Eater]’s Breadboarding Tips for some examples.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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