User's Manual

Airbus Iridium SATCOM System
165E5733-00 L-3 Aviation Recorders Proprietary
Issue, Rev. 02
21 January 2014
Page 47
When configured for RS-232 mode, the serial ports support software (Xon/Xoff) and hardware
(RTS/CTS) handshaking. If hardware handshaking is not being used, the RTS and CTS pins do not
need to be connected.
Figure 6-5 – Serial Port Interface
6.9 Ethernet
The Airbus Iridium SATCOM System has four Ethernet ports (see Figure 6-6). Each port can auto-
negotiate the best speed (10/100) and mode (full/half duplex). Port 1A is currently configured with a
static IP address.
A 4-conductor Ethernet cable must be used. The rear connector pin layout provides slightly better
noise immunity with a star-quad cable construction, but a twisted-pair cable construction can generally
also be used. For star-quad cables, the conductor lay order should be maintained without crossing the
conductors when terminating. For twisted-pair construction, the conductor twists should be maintained
right up to the rear connector. In either case, the best noise immunity is obtained by keeping the strip
length of the shield as short as physically possible, preferably <0.25 inches.
PIC P/N E51424 and ECS P/N 422404 are examples of aircraft-quality star-quad Ethernet cables that
are typically suitable for use. PIC P/N E40424 and ECS P/N 922404 are examples of aircraft-quality
twisted-pair Ethernet cables that are typically suitable for use.
Each of the Ethernet ports can be configured in software for the proper protocol of the external aircraft
system to which it is interfaced. Below is a list of the available protocols.
 None
 Not Monitored