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White Paper
Constructing an ARINC 429 Repeater

January2014

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Introduction
BelowisadiagramofatypicalARINC429network.AnARINC429networkconsistsofonetransmitter
andoneormorereceivers.Onlytworeceiversareshownbelow,buttheARINC429specificationallows
upto20receiversoraminimumof400loadimpedancetobeusedwithonedriver.Thelengthand
performanceofthecableand/orloadcapacitancealsolimitswhatcanbedrivenbythetransmitter,
exceedingtheloadingresultsinreducedamplitudeanddistortedsignal.Thisdegradationofthesignal
reducesmarginandislikelytoresultinbiterrors.

Fig1ARINCsystemconnections

Onesolutiontoresolvethisistoinsertarepeaterthatwillregeneratethesignal.Awelldesigned
repeaterwillregeneratetheARINCsignaltoaqualitylevelthatisasgoodastheoriginaltransmitted
waveform.Therepeateroutputshouldhavefullamplitudeandtimingparametersthatarewellwithin
theARINC429specification,asshowninFig2.

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Fig2TheARINC429OutputSpecification

Simple Repeater
AcommonmisconceptionisthatanARINCrepeatercanbemadebyconnectinganARINC429line
receivertoanARINC429linedriver,asshownintheexamplebelowinFig3.

Fig3AsimpleARINCrepeater
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Thebenefitofthiscircuitisthatitisveryeasytobuildandwillfunctionafterafashion;howeverithas
seriousdrawbacksandperformanceproblemswhichmaynotbeimmediatelyapparent.Ascanbeseen
inFig2,theARINC429outputwaveformisengineeredwithatrapezoidalshape;thishasbenefitsinthat
itreducesEMIemissionscomparedwithatypicalverticaledgewaveform.

Fig4ARINCOutputPulseShortening

Theslowedgehowevercausesaproblemforasimplerepeater,asshowninfig4.Inthesimplerepeater
circuit,thezerocrossoverpointtimingisalteredatthereceiver.Aonewillbedetectedwhentheinput
hasreachedtheminimumonereceivethreshold(+6.5V),similarlyazerocannotbedetecteduntilthe
inputhasreachedtheminimumzeroreceivethreshold(6.5V).Pulseshorteningdistortionoccursatthe
ROUT(TXIN)pinsasaresultandthisdistortionistransferreddirectlytotheoutputdriver.Ascanbe
seeninfig4bycomparingtheparametertatRINandTXOUT.
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Fig5belowisareallifeexampleofthisdistortion.ThetopyellowtraceistheinputtotheARINC
receiver,attheminimumARINC 429levelof6.5V,thelowermagentatraceistheoutputfromthe
ARINClinedriver.Notetheflatsectionsofthepeaksontheoutputwaveformhavebeenshorteneddue
totheeffectmentionedearlier.

Fig5Minimuminputlevelof6.5V(top),showingdistortionatoutput(bottom)

Fig6/7showcloseupsofthewaveforms,itcanbeseeninFig6theinputwaveformhaspulsetiming
thatmeetstheARINCspecificationof5s 5% or 5s 0.25s, however in Fig 7, the ARINC output pulse
width measures 4.3s, a 0.7s error and 0.45s outside the ARINC 429 specification. Clearly for an
ARINC compliant system; this circuit is not adequate.

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Fig6ARINC 429 inputmeetsthespecificationof5s 0.25sforpulsewidth

Fig7Outputpulsemeasures4.3s,notmeetingtheARINC429specificationof5s 0.25s
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A Better ARINC Repeater Solution

AbetterwayofconstructingtherepeateristouseadevicethatreformatsthewaveformtotheARINC
429specificationforbothvoltageandtimingparameters.Mostdevicesthatperformthisfunction
requiresoftwaretoprogramandoperatethedevice.Thisrequiresaseparatemicroprocessor,software
codewritingandsoftwarevalidationandapproval.HoltIntegratedCircuitshasproducedapairof
devices(theHI8470andHI8476)thatsolvestheseproblems,withouttheuseofanysoftware;these
devicesarehardwarepinprogrammable.WhentheHI8476ARINCreceiverismarriedtotheHI8470
ARINCtransmitteritwillmakeanexcellentrepeater.Fig8showsablockdiagramofhowtheyare
coupledtogethertoproducearepeater.TheHI8476convertstheARINCinputserialstreaminto32bit
paralleldata,thesebitsarethenpassedtotheparallelinputsoftheHI8470.
BoththeHI8470andHI8476areretimedfromthesame1MHzclock.Thisclockisusedtoreconstruct
thewaveformintoacorrectlyretimedandproportionedARINC429serialdatastream,whichmeetsall
theARINC429timingspecificationsandispracticallyjitterfree.
TheblockdiagrambelowshowsthestructureoftheHI8476/HI8470repeater.TheARINC429signalis
feddirectlyintotheHI8476differentialreceiverpins.Ifrequired,labelandSDbitfilteringmaybe
appliedsothatonlycertainlabelnumbersareretransmitted.Thisfeaturealsoallowstherepeatertobe
usedindatasplitters;inthiscasetwoormorerepeaterswouldberequired.
Separatespeedselectionforeachdeviceisused.Thustherepeatercanalsobeusedasarateconverter;
e.g.receiveatlowspeedandretransmitathighspeedorviceversa.
OnceavalidARINC429wordisreceived,thisdataispresentedontheHI8476paralleldataoutputsand
theUPDATEflagthengoeshigh.TheUPDATEsignalclocksthe74HCT74flipflop;thiscircuitproducesa
1spulseintotheTXENB(TransmitEnable)inputoftheHI8470.Thispulseinitiatesasingle32bitword
transmissionattheHI8470ARINCoutputs;thistransmissionusesthe32bitsfromtheparalleldata
inputs.
TheHI8476hasparitycheckingcapability.Ifthisisenabledontherepeaterboardandthewordis
receivedwithoddparity,thenthebit32outputissetto0.Ifparityiseven,thentheHI8476willset
bit32outputtoa1andthereceivedparalleldatawillstillbepresentedattheoutputseventhoughthe
parityisincorrect.Ifparitycheckingisenabled,thenoutputbit32Nisusedtosetthe74HCT74outputto
0andnoARINCwordistransmittedfromtheHI8470.Ifparitycheckingisdisabledbits131willbe
transmittedasis,butODDparitywillassignedtobit32byHI8470.
TheHI8470has16inputsforsensorapplications;theseuseARINCbits[26:11]fortransmission.
Becausetheyarenormallyusedassensorinputs,theyhaveinvertedlogic;alogic1inputistransmitted
aslogic0.Tocorrectthis;HI8470sensorinputsareconnectedtotheHI8476invertedoutputs(BITN
[26:12]);alltheotherinputsusepositivelogic.
Thesesensorinputshaveexternallyadjustablethresholdsorinternallysetthresholds.Inthis
applicationtheinternalthresholdsareused;alogic0=0.8Vandlogic1=2.5V,thisiscompatiblewith
mostpopularlogiclevels.
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LOW/HIGH SPEED
10K

GND

10K

GND

3.3V
28V

28V/3.3V
DC/DC
Converter

3.3V

3.3V

PARITY

HI- 8470

HI-8476
BITS 10:1

ARINC 429
INPUT

LBL
7:0

nBITS 26:11

FLT
7:0

BITS 31:27

BIT32N

SDE
SD9:10

3.3V

CLK

10K

> HCT
74
R

1MHz
Clock

TXENB

PARITY
CHECK

UPDATE

CLK

> HCT
74
R

3.3V

Fig8BlockDiagramofHI8476/HI8470Repeater
Power Supply
Inanavionicsenvironment,therepeaterwilllikelyneedtobepoweredfromanaircraft28Vsupply,so
theHoltrepeaterboardincludesaDCDCconverterthatoperatesfroma7to36Vpowerinputand
providesaregulated3.3Voutput.

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Fig9Input(top)andOutput(bottom)wordsforHI8476/8470repeater(mininputlevel)

Fig10OutputtimingofHI8476/8470repeater(mininputlevel)pulsewidthisaccurate.
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Extended Cable Length

Furtherstestsweredonetransmittingoveratypicalapplicationcablelengthof125ft.Unlikethesimple
receiver(Fig11),theHI8470/8476(Fig12)repeatershowednodeteriorationinoutputquality.

Fig11OutputofsimpleARINCRepeaterwith125ftofcable,pulsewidthparameteris5.74s

Fig12HI8476/70ARINCRepeaterwith125ftofcable,theoutputpulsewidthtimingis
accurateat5.00s
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REVISION HISTORY

Revision

Date

Description of Change

AN-8476, Rev. New

12/11/13

Initial Release

AN-8476-Repeater,
Rev. New

01/20/14

Change document name from AN-8476_New to

AN-8476-Repeater_New

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