Did you know that the aircraft cockpit and ECAM system is run entirely via the communications in the AFDX? All that System Display numbers and monitoring for

ATC Communications

wing anti ice,

fire protection,

Electrical load management system,

Engine interface and monitoring,

Flight control data concentrator system

Oxygen system,

flight warning system,

doors and slides,

Bleed air,

vent control,

Hydraulic Quantity control and monitoring

Fuel quantity control and monitoring calculations

and Landing gear monitoring

get data passed through the AFDX before being displayed in the ECAM and SD Pages as sort of like a group of middlemen. One example is the sensed items during an active abnormal checklist messages in which buttons in the cockpit are pressed to finish the sensed item. I think that each CPIOM module was in charge of those items such as bleed, engine, fire, fuel or landing gear respectively.

I already have a diagram of the AFDX in this forum.

In the event of the total loss of the AFDX, you get the FWS 1 + 2 and CPIOM Fault.

Caption: Currently in the ini350v1 its not working as it should.

Caption: How the FWS recieves data to display appropriate faults.

For Example, When both Flight Warning Systems (FWS) are not working (they are hosted on CPIOMs, and they could lose power!), the aircraft loses its capability to display any ECAM alerts and procedures. Instead, a rudimentary screen is displayed by the Control and Display System (CDS) in its place to provide the pilots with limited information. Because of its limited capabilities, it will not paginate the lines, instead, depending on which CPIOM is working or not, it'll show/hide certain lines that are applicable/not applicable.

Caption; Notice how door page has only amber crosses because the distributor IMA is still booting with the FWS. The fire test sound isnt working while CPIOM Fault display was implemented in yours so...

Based on the virgin atlantic FCOM, each group controls and monitors the following systems, probably contains all of the data displayed in the SD ECAM:

AFDX	CPIOM number 1	CPIOM number 2	CPIOM number3	CPIOM number 4
CPIOM group j1	FWS1	FWS2
CPIOM group j2	FPF 1 EIF1.1 AICF 1	FPF 2 EIF2.2 AICF 2	FPF 3 EIF1.2 AICF 3	FPF 4 EIF2.1 AICF 4
CPIOM group H3	Hydraulic HMCA Yellow 1 Doors and slides Control system 1 FQMS control system 1 Inert gas generation system 1	Hydraulic HMCA Yellow 2 Doors and slides Control system 2 FQMS control system 2	Hydraulic HMCA Green 1 Doors and slides Control system 3 FQMS monitor system 1 Oxygen system and control monitoring 1	Hydraulic HMCA Green 2 Doors and slides Control system 4 FQMS monitor system 2 Oxygen system and control monitoring 2
CPIOM group H4	Air conditioning system 1 CPCS 1 Ventilation control system VCS L1	Air conditioning system 2 CPCS 2 Ventilation control system VCS L2	Bleed air system 1 Supplemental cooling system 1 Wing Ice protection system 1 OverHeat detection system 1	Bleed air system 2 Supplemental cooling system2 Wing Ice protection system 2 OverHeat detection system 2
CPIOM group J5	Avionics Communication Router ATC system
CPIOM group H6	BCS Control system 1 LGERS 1 WSCS Monitoring system 1 LGMS 1	BCS Control system 2 LGERS 2 WSCS monitoring system 2 LGMS 2	BCS Monitoring system 1 LGERS 1 WSCS Control system 1	BCS Monitoring system 2 LGERS 2 WSCS Control system 2
CPIOM group J7	FCDC1 FCU Backup 1 Elec load management function 1 Exterior light controller 1	FCDC2 FCU Backup 2 Elec load management function 2 Exterior light controller 2

Thus, what happens if you get a failure of a single group of CPIOM? You get a system connected to the AFDX with the failure of the module with the subtitle called

DUE TO IMA Module fault.

Edited September 22Sep 22 by schizzel

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed report!

I will pass this along to the team for further review.

Thanks again!

Hi inikyle! I might have figured out how the AFDX works except the switching part, and why the FCOM says the CPIOM letter J has access to the sounds and CPIOM H has much bigger connections. When you trigger faults during abnormal operations, when you run through the checklists and status, the Avionics network is responsible for cross checking each systems hosted in the CPIOMs shared in the network for abnormal data vs normal, then, it was formulated into level 1, 2 and 3 failures, relayed to the ECAM by fws as abnormal sensed procedures,

For example:

The limitations messages in your ECAM such as

NO L/G RETRACTION

AVOID ICING CONDITIONS

ATC COM VOICE ONLY

USE VHF3

FUEL CONSUMPTION INCSD

LDG DIST AFFECTED

FOR BETTER RANGE: REDUCE CRZ/MCH SPEED

MANEUVER WITH CARE

SLATS SLOW

FL100 MEA/MORA

MIN RAT SPD: 140 knots

AT SHUTDOWN: EXPECT BUSBAR LOSS

And plenty of abnormal ecams Are calculated and researched by the Avionics network group depending on the severity of the failures.

CPM J is connected to sounds because they house the urgent systems when they fail such as the fcdc, fire protection, the flight warning system and the atc comms.

Meanwhile, The H cpm needs a lot of networks because they need a lot of data to cross check and monitor the respective data within each other's respective systems in order for proper functioning like the fuel, fuel quantity management, doors, emergency slides, landing gear, cabin air conditioning, pressurization, oxygen system and monitoring. They are essentially the network infrastructure that sends the needed data to your ECAM and the SD page, as well as that auto pitch trim after engine start for example, and I have a hunch that the modules for hydraulic, FQMS and the FCDC are cooperating with each other with the help of the network.

Caption: This is the entire aircraft system connected to the network. It contains 14 switches divided into two identical networks each with 7 switches and

related AFDX cables. These switches interconnect the A/C system.

And, this is why the FWS 1 + 2 and CPIOM fault is very catastrophic as you lose all system indications in SD pages, ecam abn messages as you lost the FWS, and automatic control assigned to these systems as you were only reverted back to manual mode.

Hope this helps with your ECAM research and consult your qualified engineer for the rest of the pieces!

Edited September 25Sep 25 by schizzel
Proofreading and more suggestions. Consult your engineer that helped you with that a350 1.0.8