Difference between revisions of "HFDL"

Revision as of 09:15, 7 November 2011

What is HFDL?

HFDL is a HF data link protocol, defined in ARINC spec 635-3. The HFDL service is operated by ARINC as GLOBALink service through a worldwide network of HF stations.

The name is somewhat misleading, as HFDL actually describes a class of data signals; it is also referred to as HF ACARS.

Transmissions on HF are in USB on a sub carrier of 1440 Hz with a symbol speed of 1800 baud.
Modulation is 2-PSK, 4-PSK or 8-PSK with effective bit rates of 300, 600, 1200 or 1800 bits/sec.

PC-HFDL

PC-HFDL is a Windows software to decode HFDL data traffic and has been written by Charles Brain. Just feed the HF receiver speaker's output into the soundcard of a Windows PC. It can be downloaded from the HFDL Yahoo group listed below.

PC-HFDL screen

The best monitoring results will be achieved with the following PC-HFDL settings:

PREAM ON - to control the audio offset of the receiver
SPDU OFF - only needed temporarily ON to see the squitters of a new unknown ground station
MPDU ON - see the MPDU packets
LPDU ON - see the LPDUs within the MPDUs
BDU ON - see the BDUs
VERB ON - see more details
HFNPDU ON - see the routine position reports
HEX OFF - only needed for debugging purposes

So in short, with all options ON except SPDU and HEX, the complete session can be seen: LOG-ON of the aircraft to the ground station giving its 24bit ICAO-ID, the assignment of the 1byte sequence ID number to the given ICAO-ID by the ground station referenced in all subsequent traffic, clear distinction of MPDU packets containing more than just one LPDU, and full traffic details.

The HFDL Yahoo group can be found here. Version 2.042 (which is Vista compatible) can be downloaded from this stub page

Other Packages known to support HFDL

Hoka Code30/A
Hoka Code 300/A
Hoka 300-32
Monteria Centurion
Skysweeper Discontinued
Wavecom W61PC
Wavecom W61LAN
PlanePlotter (Not a decoder but will show aircraft decoded by PC-HFDL)
Sigmira
MultiPSK

Frequencies in Use

Thanks to nickcarr for the text version, updated Nov. 2011. New entries are in bold
Database version 47

Notes

1 = Site is the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession

Node ID	Xmtr Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
01	San Francisco CA	21934	17919	13276	11327	10081	8927	6559	5508
02	Molokai, HI	21937	17919	13324	13312	13276	11348	11312	10027	8936	8912	6565	5514
03	Reykjavik, ISL	17985	15025	11184	8977	6712	5720	3900	3116
04	Riverhead, NY	21931	17919	13276	11387	8912	6661	5652
05	Auckland, NZL	17916	13351	10084	8921	6535	5583
06	Hat Yai, THA	21949	17928	13270	10066	8825	6535	5655
07	Shannon, IRL	11384	10081	8942	8843	6532	5547	3455	2998
08	Johannesburg, AFS	21949	13321	8834	4681	3016
09	Barrow, AK	21937	21928	17934	17919	11354	10093	10027	8936	8927	6646	5544	5538	5529	4687	4654	3497	3007	2992	2944
11	Panama City PAN	17901	13264	10063	8894	6589	5589
13	Santa Cruz, BOL	21997	17916	13315	11318	8957	6628	4660
14	Krasnoyarsk, RUS	21990	17912	13321	10087	8886	6596	5622
15	Al Muharraq, BHR	21982	17967	13354	10075	8885	5544
16	Agana, GUM	21928	17919	13312	11306	8927	6652	5451
17	Canarias - Spain¹	21955	17928	13303	11348	8948	6529

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 ==Frequencies in Use==
-Thanks to MT Utility World which had the text link. New entries are in '''bold'''<br>
+Thanks to nickcarr for the text version, updated Nov. 2011. New entries are in '''bold'''<br>
-ARINC System Table 35
+Database version 47
 ;Notes
-*1 = Panama City - alternate frequency for slot 10 is 21940
+*1 = Site is the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession
-*2 = Panama City - alternate frequency for slot 6 is 2902
 {| border="1" cellpadding="3" style="vertical-align:top;BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" colspan="2"
@@ Line 82: / Line 81: @@
 | 6559
 | 5508
-| 4672
+||||||||||||||
-| 2947
-||||||||||
 |-
 |02
 |Molokai, HI
 | 21937
-| 21928
-| 17934
 | 17919
 | 13324
@@ Line 97: / Line 92: @@
 | 11348
 | 11312
-| 10081
+| '''10027'''
 | 8936
 | 8912
 | 6565
-| 6559
 | 5514
-| 5463
+|||||||||||||||
-| 4687
-| 3434
-| 3019
-| 2947
 |-
 |03
@@ Line 119: / Line 109: @@
 | 3900
 | 3116
-||||||||||||
+||||||||||||||||
 |-
 |04
 |Riverhead, NY
-| 21934
 | 21931
-| 17952
-| 17934
 | 17919
 | 13276
 | 11387
-| 11354
-| 11315
-| 10027
 | 8912
-| 8885
-| 8831
 | 6661
-| 6652
-| 6646
 | 5652
-| 5523
+||||||||||||||||
-| 3428
-| 3410
 |-
 |05
 |Auckland, NZL
-| 21949
 | 17916
 | 13351
-| 11327
 | 10084
 | 8921
 | 6535
 | 5583
-| 3404
+||||||||||||||||
-| 3016
-||||||||||
 |-
 |06
@@ Line 167: / Line 141: @@
 | 6535
 | 5655
-| 4687
+|||||||||||||||
-| 3470
-|||||||||||
 |-
 |07
@@ Line 181: / Line 153: @@
 | 3455
 | 2998
-||||||||||||
+|||||||||||||||
 |-
 |08
@@ Line 215: / Line 187: @@
 |-
 |11
-|'''Panama City PAN'''
+|Panama City PAN
-||
+|17901
-|'''13264'''
+|13264
-|||||
+|10063
-|'''17901'''
+|8894
-|||||
+|6589
-|'''10063'''<sup>1</sup>
+|5589
-||||||||||
-|-
-|11
-|'''Panama City PAN'''
-||
-|'''6589'''
-|||||
-|'''8984<sup>2</sup>'''
-|||||
-|'''5589'''
 ||||||||||
 |-
@@ Line 237: / Line 199: @@
 |Santa Cruz, BOL
 | 21997
-| 21988
-| 21973
-| 21946
 | 17916
 | 13315
@@ Line 246: / Line 205: @@
 | 6628
 | 4660
-| 3467
+||||||||||||||
-| 2983
-||||||||
 |-
 |14
@@ Line 259: / Line 216: @@
 | 6596
 | 5622
-| 4679
+|||||||||||||||
-| 2905
-| 2878
-||||||||||
 |-
 |15
@@ Line 269: / Line 223: @@
 | 17967
 | 13354
-| 11312
 | 10075
 | 8885
 | 5544
-| 2986
+|||||||||||||||
-||||||||||||
 |-
 |16
 |Agana, GUM
+| '''21928'''
 | 17919
 | 13312
 | 11306
-| 11288
 | 8927
 | 6652
@@ Line 288: / Line 240: @@
 |-
 |17
-|Telde, Gran Canaria, CNR
+|Canarias - Spain<sup>1</sup>
 | 21955
 | 17928
@@ Line 295: / Line 247: @@
 | 8948
 | 6529
-| 5589
+|||||||||||||||
-| 2905
-||||||||||||
 |-
 |}