Aspen S L O W to reflect flight plan update

On several occasions my Aspen MFD has been slow to reflect changes to the flight plan made in the IFD540.  The delay has ranged from 30 seconds to in excess of 5 minutes.  The CDI on the PFD seems to update the course immediately, shows correct deviations and correct received GPSS commands from the IFD540.  

Edited by fritz - 20 May 2015 at 8:55pm

The ASPEN unit does take maybe 15 seconds to update its on screen routing. I have not noticed a change in that behavior with the 540, did the same thing with the GNS unit it replaced.

Edited by oskrypuch - 21 May 2015 at 3:27pm

+1-- great looking panel.

scott wrote: Can I ask where you sourced those lighted pushbutton switches?

Wow, on ALL points!

Fritz,

Edited by n7ifr - 22 May 2015 at 1:58pm

Jim,

I'm in the 15 second ball park in my test airplane equipped with the EFD1000 running latest Aspen software.

Sorry, I wasn't precise enough.   My Aspen SW is 6+ months old.  I don't know if there is some newer version out there.

A little bit of followup.  I recently updated the software on my Aspen units.  Since the update this slow response has not reoccured.  

Aspen updated from 2.6.2 to 2.7.2

I observed the phenomenon of slow updating of the flight plan display on the Aspen for the first time yesterday. It seemed to take about 5 minutes, but I did not time it. My Aspen software is 2.7.2 and the IFD is running 10.0.3. This is not a huge issue for me, as the IFD540 is mounted right next to the Aspen and serves as the primary moving map display. Nevertheless, I will be very interested if someone comes up with more information on the cause and/or a solution.

This issue has returned! I the picture below you can see the HSI is showing the correct information as is the moving map on the right.  However, the magenta line on the HSI is not updated and the data block on the upper left of the HSI screen is still reflecting direct to the airport, not the approach procedure.   I put the MFD into revision mode and it displayed the same (incorrect) information. This picture was taken several minutes after adding and activating the approach.

Edited by fritz - 21 Feb 2016 at 10:46am

ddgates wrote: Any relationship to the MFD being on GPS1 and the PFD being on GPS2?

Do you have an ACU, or an ACU2?  This is entirely speculation, but the 429 protocol seems oriented towards very short messages - single facts like airspeed, altitude, location, actions.  A long message like a flight plan would be inefficient, and lower priority than "the facts"; and consequently, might be spread out over time amongst all the important "facts" that need to be delivered.  The ACU is limited to low-rate 429 (12k bits/second, or something like that iirc), whereas the ACU works at high rate 429 (8 times faster?).

I'm second-guessing myself anyway:  The ACU speed would result in slow output from Aspen to IFD.  The flight plan would go directly from the IFD to the EFD, so the ACU speed would not be a factor.

I'll have to find my notes on the IFD to EFD configuration.

I checked the config  on our plane this weekend.  For the 429 signals from the IFD540 to the Aspens (both GPS and VLOC), they default to Low-Speed on both units, although the install manual provides for setting them to high-speed.  

They can be changed to high-speed (which is 8 times faster) by making the appropriate configuration changes on each device.  We changed both the GPS out and the VLOC out to high-speed.   This is possible because neither signal goes to the ACU.  The Aspen 429 output, and the corresponding IFD input, need to remain at low speed if you use an ACU (vs an ACU2).

Now, whether it speeds up the flight plan transfer - who knows?   It certainly can't hurt.

I've got an ACU - it's just that the only 429 lines that need to be slow-speed are those which go directly to or from the ACU.    That means the output on the Aspen needs to be low-speed, and therefore the IFD 429 inputs need to remain low-speed.

So the Aspen install manual shows 429 Inputs 1 and 2 are assigned to the GPS1 and VLOC1.   And Input 4 is assigned to the ACU+VLOC2.  On the "NAV C" setup screen in the Aspen, set "Ports 1&2" to High speed.  "Ports 3&4"  need to remain Low speed for the ACU.

Then on the IFD, you'll need to set the 429 OUTPUT assigned to the GPS to High - this is on the "Main ARINC 429 Config" screen.  The format will be set to "GAMA 429 Graphics w/Int" The VLOC 429 output is on another screen well down in the stack:  "VOR/LOC/GS ARINC 429 Config".  "TX" can be set to high.

The flight plan info is sent on the first one.