ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENT SYSTEM OF AIRBUS
The Single Aisle aircraft cockpit instrumentation information is displayed
on six display units. These display units are part of the Electronic
Instrument System (EIS).
The EIS is separated into two subsystems:
- Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS),
- Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitoring (ECAM).
The four EFIS displays (2 for each flight crew member) give to the flight
crew all the basic flight parameters. The ECAM system gives to the flight
crew aircraft system displays, faults, checklists and the aircraft operational
status.
ECAM
The System Data Acquisition Concentrators (SDACs) receive data
from the A/C systems and sends it to the Display Management
Computers (DMCs) for display on the ECAM display units.
NOTE: Note: DMC 1 supplies both ECAM displays and DMC 2 is
also a backup for ECAM displays.
The DMCs acquire data and transmit it to the Display Units (DUs),
which generate the images. Under normal circumstances:
- DMC 1 supplies both ECAM display,
- DMC 2 and 3 are available as a backup.
The Flight Warning Computers (FWCs), heart of the ECAM system,
receive data from:
- the A/C systems to generate red warnings,
- the SDACs to generate amber cautions.
The FWCs then supply:
- the DMCs for the display of alert messages,
- the attention getters,
- the loudspeakers with aural alerts and synthetic voice messages.
ECAM CONTROL AND INDICATING
The EWD is divided into two main parts:
- the upper area is used to display the main engine parameters, the
Fuel On Board (FOB) and the slat/flap position,
- the lower area is used for warning, caution and memo messages.
The SD is divided into two areas:
- the upper part is used to display the various system pages, diagrams
of the A/C systems,
- the lower part is used to display permanent data.
Below the ECAM displays, on the center pedestal, there is the ECAM
control panel. The two control knobs on the LH side are used to adjust
the brightness of the two ECAM screens and to turn them off. The
P/Bs on the RH side are mainly used to:
- display any of the system pages or the STATUS page,
- clear or recall a warning or caution message.
An A/C STATUS page may be also displayed on the SD to give an
operational status of the A/C. When things are not normal the STATUS
page displays:
- operational data on the LH side,
- INOPerative SYStem on the RH side.
In front of each pilot, there are two attention getters, a red MASTER
WARNing and an amber MASTER CAUTion. As a further means of
getting the attention, there is a loudspeaker on each side of the cockpit
for aural alerts and synthetic voice messages.
ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENT SYSTEM - ECAM CONTROL AND INDICATING
EFIS
For the EFIS displays, data from the Air Data and Inertial Reference
System (ADIRS) plus navigation data from the Flight Management
and Guidance System (FMGS) is fed directly to the DMCs.
The DMCs then process the data and generate the images to display.
Under normal circumstances:
- DMC 1 supplies the CAPT EFIS displays,
- DMC 2 supplies the F/O EFIS displays,
- DMC 3 is available as a backup.
EFIS CONTROL AND INDICATING
Flight parameters are displayed on the PFDs while navigation data is
displayed on the NDs.
Outboard of the PFDs, there are control knobs to adjust the brightness
of the associated PFD and ND, and to turn the displays off.
Two EFIS control panels are used to select what is displayed on the
EFIS screens. The EFIS control panels are divided into two sections,
one section associated with the PFD and the other one with the ND.
Just below the ECAM screens, on the center pedestal, there is a
switching panel with, on the right, 2 rotary selectors to restore data
to the EFIS and ECAM displays in abnormal operation.
ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENT SYSTEM - EFIS CONTROL AND INDICATING