{"id":1230,"date":"2021-02-06T15:00:41","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T15:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2021-04-04T22:16:03","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T22:16:03","slug":"racal-avionics-data-entry-device-cdu-teardown-and-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/02\/racal-avionics-data-entry-device-cdu-teardown-and-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Racal Avionics data entry device \/ CDU teardown and test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This will be the last teardown video for a while and this time I have a Racal Avionics CDU allegedly from an RAF Nimrod which I obtained some time ago and discovered that it communicates with a host system over standard RS422. Now, thinking I might be able to connect it to my PC or an Arduino or any other type of microcontroller I set about seeing how it worked. Armed with a RS422 \/ RS485 to USB adaptor and an oscilloscope I powered it up (just needs 28V DC) and probed around to see what I could find. The unit does indeed power up and displays a self test screen. Other than being able to control the screen brightness pressing any of the other buttons did not do anything. So I took it apart to see what was inside&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1234 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-1152x2048.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-600x1067.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-1040x1849.jpg 1040w, https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201113_122013114-scaled.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Model number is 80794\/SS302 NATO stock number 5826-99-1603965. It dates from around 1990 and uses a couple of Motorola 680x series CPU&#8217;s. It appears to be a serial terminal device. There are no ARINC or MIL-1553 buses on this thing although a look at an EPROM dump suggests that is an option. I was unable to get any serial data out of it unfortunately on the RS422 port and even directly on the UART chip itself. I dumped the EPROMS on the boards which reveals that the device configuration is set via straps connected to the rear panel of the unit. However pin 1 was not indicated and what needs to be done with it e.g tie it to ground or +5V. I didn&#8217;t get very far with it but I noticed that the CRT is has a line scan rate of 15.625Khz which is the same as analogue European TV&#8217;s. Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I pulled it apart and too some photos plus made a brief YouTube video which you can see below.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\">\n\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/tZfhHvQ_4Hw\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Racal Avionics data entry device \/ CDU teardown and test\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"Racal Avionics data entry device \/ CDU teardown and test\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2021-02-06T15:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tZfhHvQ_4Hw\/default.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"embedUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tZfhHvQ_4Hw\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tZfhHvQ_4Hw\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1230 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201112_124610829-1-scaled.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201112_124610829-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"PXL 20201112 124610829\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1232\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1232'>\n\t\t\t\tCPU Board\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201112_125353536-scaled.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20201112_125353536-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"PXL 20201112\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1233\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1233'>\n\t\t\t\tVideo Processor Board\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20210125_123401667-scaled.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20210125_123401667-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"PXL 20210125\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1235\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1235'>\n\t\t\t\tData ready for extraction&#8230;\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20210125_123530311-scaled.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/PXL_20210125_123530311-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"PXL 20210125\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1236\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1236'>\n\t\t\t\tHigh Voltage!\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/15.625Khz-signal.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/15.625Khz-signal-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"15.625Khz signal\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1231\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1231'>\n\t\t\t\tInteresting waveform on rear plug\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Serial-signal.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Serial-signal-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Serial signal\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1238\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1238'>\n\t\t\t\tAnother rear plug waveform\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This will be the last teardown video for a while and this time I have a Racal Avionics CDU allegedly from an RAF Nimrod which I obtained some time ago and discovered that it communicates with a host system over standard RS422. Now, thinking I might be able to connect it to my PC or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Racal Avionics data entry device \/ CDU teardown and test - Adrian's electronics blog","description":"This will be the last teardown video for a while and this time I have a Racal Avionics CDU allegedly from an RAF Nimrod which I obtained some time ago and disco"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avionics","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1242,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions\/1242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrian-smith31.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}