24-Channel ARINC 429 Data Management IC with Integrated Line Receivers

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Mission Viejo, CA (January 16, 2018) – Holt Integrated Circuits today expanded its ARINC 429 data management capability with the announcement of five new devices. The HI-3220 family is capable of managing, storing and forwarding avionics data between 16 ARINC 429 receive channels and 8 ARINC 429 transmit channels in a tiny 10x10mm² footprint. Integrated line receivers and a compact serial peripheral host interface (SPI) save significant amounts of space at such high channel densities, making these devices ideal for multi-channel applications such as data concentrators. An option for 8 receive and 4 transmit channels is also available in an even smaller, cost effective 7x7mm² QFN package footprint.

All ARINC 429 channels may operate independently – the IC uses 32kB of on-board memory and can be programmed to automatically re-format, re-label, re-packetize and re-transmit data on individual channels. Newly received ARINC 429 labels are updated automatically via dedicated label memory locations and a 64-message deep receive FIFO is also available for each channel to queue selected label data for host access. The compact 40 MHz 4-wire SPI interface greatly simplifies host communication, with dedicated op-codes available for fast access.

An optional auto-initialization feature allows configuration information to be up-loaded from an external EEPROM on reset to facilitate rapid start-up or operation without a host CPU. This requires no software overhead or host initialization programming, simplifying DO-178 or DO-254 certification.

“The HI-3220 offers complete flexibility in ARINC 429 data management. A significant amount of board space is saved in high channel count applications by integrating line receivers on-chip, allowing up to 16 receive and 8 transmit channels in a 10x10mm² footprint,” said Anthony Murray, Director of Marketing Communications at Holt.

The HI-3220, HI-3221 and HI-3222 have integrated ARINC 429 line receivers, capable of compliance to RTCA/DO-160 level 3 lightning requirements with external 40kΩ resistors. HI-3225 and HI-3226 utilize external line receivers, for example Holt’s octal HI-8458 family. Transmit outputs interface directly to external HI-8592, HI-8596, or integrated lightning protected HI-8597 ARINC 429 line drivers. Samples are available upon request.