ARINC


Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated, 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.
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 onward operates as part of Collins Aerospace.

History

ARINC was incorporated in 1929 as Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated. It was chartered by the Federal Radio 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 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 in aircraft. This subsequently allowed electronics to be rapidly replaced without complex fasteners or test equipment.
In 1978 ARINC introduced ACARS, a datalink system that enables ground stations to upload data and download data, via an onboard Communications Management Unit.
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.
The sale of a Standards Development Organization to a corporate sponsor raised concerns of conflict of interest and resulted in the sale of the ARINC Industry Activities Division to SAE International in January 2014. It now operates under the SAE Industry Technologies Consortia.
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

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

Standardization and ARINC Industry Activities

ARINC Industry Activities involve three aviation committees:
  • AEEC : Develop the ARINC Standards,
  • AMC : Organize the annual Avionics Maintenance Conference,
  • FSEMC : Organize the annual FSEMC conference.

    ARINC services

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
  • Air/Ground Domestic Voice Service
  • Air/Ground International Voice Service
  • Airport Remote Radio Access System
  • – Multi-User Systems Environment for shared passenger check-in at airports
  • * Complies with the Common-Use Terminal Equipment and Common Use Passenger Processing System 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 for airports
  • * Also called Electronic Visual Information Display System
  • AirDB – Airport Operational Database Base
  • AirPlan by ARINC - Resource Management System
  • VeriPax – Passenger Reconciliation System validates passengers at security checkpoints
  • Centralized Flight Management Computer Waypoint Reporting System
  • Satellite Navigation and Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems
  • ARINC Wireless Interoperable Network Solutions – 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.
  • ARINC Border Management Solutions – 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 in conjunction with SwiftBroadband.
  • AviSec – passenger data transfer and Advance Passenger Information System.
  • Advanced Information Management User Interface
  • Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure

    Standards

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

400 Series

The 400 Series describes guidelines for installation, wiring, data buses, and databases.
  • ARINC 404 defines Air Transport Rack form factors for avionics equipment installed in many types of aircraft. It defines air transport equipment cases and racking.
  • ARINC 407 is a manual for Synchro uses in aerospace systems
  • 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

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

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
  • 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.
  • ARINC 610B provides guidance for use of avionics equipment and software in simulators.
  • ARINC 608 Design Guidance for Avionics Test Equipment: describes a standard avionics test system concept that will reduce the cost of test and repair of avionic systems.
  • 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. 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 aircraft such as the Boeing 777, Airbus A330 and Airbus A340.
  • 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 interface for partitioning of computer resources in the time and space domains. The standard also specifies Application Program Interfaces 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, 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, known for its implementation as AFDX, defines the use of a deterministic Ethernet network as an avionic databus in modern aircraft like the Airbus A380, the Airbus A350, the 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.
  • ARINC 668 Guidance For Tool and Test Equipment Equivalency.