ARINC-629 DIGITAL-COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - APPLICATION ON THE 777 AND BEYOND

In June of this year, the ARINC 629 digital communication system began supporting revenue service as the primary means of digital communicat ion on the 777, Boeing's first fly-by-wire aircraft. This achievement comes as a result of almost two decades of development effort at Boein g and its suppliers. Increasing demands for information exchange betwe en aircraft systems necessitated development of high-speed, high-relia bility communication data buses. Development costs for such systems ar e extensive, and reuse in future airplane designs is highly desirable. ARINC 629, a working example of such a data bus development program, has the capability to support applications beyond the 777 with extensi ve benefits to be gained in development, integration and certification costs. This paper begins with a brief working description of the ARIN C 629 digital communication system, touching on both current mode and fiber-optic implementations. It further describes the architecture uti lized on the 777 and the validation effort required to support certifi cation of a new data bus and new airplane systems architecture. Perfor mance experience during the 777 flight test program and a brief in-ser vice history are discussed and, finally, efforts in several fiber-opti c in-service evaluation programs are presented.