NOTE: The chime will not sound when the aircraft is below 10,000 ft. of
altitude, and on the ground when the engines are >70% N1.
The visual call light on the MCDU will alert the crew to an
incoming message.
Communication Interface
The VHF 3 transceiver is a Honeywell RTA-44D VHF Data Radio (VDR), and is the primary means of ACARS communication. The frequency range is 118 to 137MHz. ACARS is assigned to specific frequencies according to the geographic region. in the U.S. the primary frequency is 131.550 MHz.
The advantage of VHF is that it is relatively noise free and requires low transmitter power, about 25 watts. The disadvantage is that communication is limited to line of sight. An aircraft a 40,000 feet the max range is about 250 miles. The VHF transceiver interfaces through the ARINC ground network for downlink and uplinks. messages to and from the aircraft are routed to Southwest Airlines.
The #3 VDR receives data from the CMU. The VDR can transmit this data using one of two modes: VHF Digital Link (VDL) Mode A, or VDL Mode 2.
VDL Mode A transmits ACARS data at a 2.4 kbps rate. This transmission mode has been in use for many years, but its narrow digital bandwidth causes ACARS frequency congestion when large amounts of data is transmited from the aircraft.
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December 1, 2004
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SWACOM TRAINING GUIDE
ACARS - POWER, DISCRETES, CALL AND COMMUNICATION INTERFACE
VDL Mode 2 transmits data at a 31.5 kbps, which is over 10 times the ACARS VDL Mode A rate. VDL Mode 2 will allow SWA to take advantage of emerging flight-operations applications such as graphical weather descriptions, electronic charts, and engine/airframe health monitoring programs.
The ACARS CMU sends and receives this data from the #3 VDR:
-Frequency to tune the VHF transceiver
-Port select discrete. This discrete selects the ACARS CMU.
When the discrete is a ground, the VHF transceiver selects
PORT A. PORT A comes from the ACARS CMU.
-Data keyline to key the transceiver
-Data in and data out
-Voice/data select discrete. This discrete selects the VHF
transmitter to send audio from the remote electronics unit (REU) or data from the ACARS CMU
Miscellaneous Solid-State Switch Module
The ACARS CMU receives analog discretes from the miscellaneous solid-state switch module. These discretes determine the OUT, OFF, ON, and IN (OOOI) times:
-Out of the gate
-Off the ground
-On the ground
-In the gate
The ACARS sends standard reports of the OOOI times. These discretes supply the status for these components:
-Air/ground sensor
-Parking brake
-Forward entry door
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