ARINC 708 describes the characteristics of an airborne pulse Doppler weather radar system. Display data and system mode/status information are transmitted over the display databus from the Transmitter-Receiver unit (T-R) to the Control/Display Unit (CDU).
The PC708-1 is an intelligent IBM-PC/AT (ISA) interface card for a variety of ARINC 708 Display Databus applications. It can operate simultaneously as a transmitter and receiver. A powerful DSP core and large on-board memory relieves the host PC of 708 protocol processing.
Included are record and playback software utilities that are adequate for many applications. The record utility monitors the databus and writes the data to a file for future analysis or playback. The playback utility can transmit a recorded or user generated file onto the databus.
Applications that require custom software are easily implemented using the provided example source code and C driver library. Driver features include transmit scheduling, a large monitor with time stamp, and an interrupt log list.
The PC708-1 has on-board removable terminating resistors and is user selectable between two bus connections. Contact Ballard Technology for information on PCI, cPCI, and USB versions of this board.
The easiest way to use the PC708-1 is with Ballard's CoPilot 708 graphical software (available with board or separately). CoPilot 708 allows the user to easily test, simulate, and monitor the ARINC 708 display databus with a few clicks of a mouse. Features include the ability to record and reuse 708 data, transmit user-generated or recorded data files, view bus activity on a real-time graphical display, view data in engineering units, and much more.
Alternatively, software developers can use the bundled Application Program Interface (API) that enables quick and easy development of custom applications. Driver software is included for Windows® 95/98/NT.