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Arduino and Avionics Control

Tall_Order

Active Member
Patron
As a bit of an electronics guy, I would like to experiment with custom control of radio frequency selection and perhaps some other features from an Arduino based control panel.

Looking online, I see many avionics use "Industry Standard SL40 Protocol" which makes me think this info/standard is public domain. If so, has anyone seen what this means from a technical standpoint? ie. what are the practical properties of the signal I need to generate to command a specific result. Long shot would be if there is already a library out there (something like #include<sl40commands.h> for example) but may be willing to go "first principle" on it depending on complexity level.

Any info on where to look for this tech data would be appreciated.
 
RS232 logic voltage

Thank you for that, Mike. That is exactly what I was looking for! The only thing I couldn't find was the logic level on the inter-avionics connection. Is it -15V to +15V? I haven't bought any of my avionics yet so I can't scope the connection. Just want to make sure I will have a correctly sized logic level converter for the Arduino to talk to my bus- and it looks like I have some hex to learn if I want to try this...
 
It’s a standard RS-232C interface. I use common interface chips that guarantee minimum +/- 5V.

Good luck with the project. If you need a ready-made open-source controller for this, check my arduino thread on this site.

Vern
 
Project Scope Overlap

If you need a ready-made open-source controller for this, check my arduino thread on this site.

Vern

Thanks Vern, I was not aware of your project until you pointed it out. That is really cool. Well done!

Just to clarify, is it an (Arduino based) mini MFD with radio broadcasting capability of parameters? Would it(or any library subpart) assist in bridging the gap between "val" (in an IDE sketch I make) and the hex data stream?

Going for a very specific look/feel in my plane, my goal is to create a custom upfront control panel allowing nav/com/xpdr control. The standalone functions AHRS/GPS/AirData are largely sorted enough to experiment with anyway.
 
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