Purpose: This document is intended to provide design guidance for the development and installation of an Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR). The EAFR standard addresses combinations of any or all of the following in a single Line Replaceable Unit (LRU), a Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) function, a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) function, a data link recording function, and an image recording function. This document does not address the overall flight data recorder system requirements but considers interface and system standards. This document does not replace ARINC Characteristic 747 which defines DFDRs. This document addresses the details of the voice recording function but does not describe the audio distribution system. It does not replace ARINC Characteristic 757 which defines CVRs. The EAFR may be used in a single or dual-redundant installation as permitted by regulation. Both configurations are addressed in this Characteristic. The document provides guidance and information to ensure customer-controlled interchangeability of equipment in a standard aircraft installation. Further, it assists in functional verification and in data retrieval.

COMMENTARY: Over the years several nomenclatures have been used for flight data recorders often to differentiate the technology used. From this point forward, this document will use the generic term Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to remove any reference to the technology or recording medium used.

This specification addresses the Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet in numerous sections. Reference is made to this by the use of the term AFDXTM which is a trademark of Airbus Industries.