Commercial

Aviation
Services
MAINTENANCE TIP
CUSTOMER SUPPORT ENGINEERING  BOEING COMMERCIAL AIRPLANES  P.O. BOX 3707  SEATTLE  WASHINGTON 98124-2207

777 MT 23-060
30 March 2011

SUBJECT THALES SATELLITE DATA UNIT (SDU) P/N 82155D33-032 –

SATCOM SERVICE ISSUE

APPLICABILITY 777 Airplanes

CONDITION An operator has experienced frequent “SATVOICE LOST” EICAS

advisory messages for a long period (several hours) with no SATCOM
data or voice availability, and frequent log-on and log-off events.

RECOMMENDED Boeing recommends that operators reset the SDU after performing the
ACTION SATCOM System Ground Test (AMM TASK 23-15-00-740-804),
either from the CDU or the SDU front panel.
Perform the following steps to reset the SDU from the CDU:
1. Make sure the airplane systems are powered on and initialized.
2. Make sure that the IRS is aligned.
3. Perform the following steps from one of the CDUs:
a. Select the MENU key on the CDU, then select the Line Select
Key (LSK) adjacent to “<SAT”.
b. Select the NEXT PAGE key on the CDU, then select LSK 2R
adjacent to “MAINTENANCE>”.
c. Select the LSK 1R adjacent to “TEST>”.
d. Select the LSK 5L adjacent to “<INITIATE SELF TEST” to
initiate the SDU self-test.
Note: The SDU self-test takes approximately 2 minutes. The
“<SAT” prompt will be displayed on the CDU after the test is
completed.
4. Make sure that there are no active faults associated with
SATCOM shown in the Maintenance Access Terminal (MAT),
under the Existing Faults–ATA 23, after the self-test is
completed.
Operators can also perform the following steps to reset the SDU from
the SDU front panel:
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30 March 2011
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1. Make sure the airplane systems are powered on and initialized.

2. Make sure that the IRS is aligned.
3. From the SDU front panel, push the “TEST” button.
Note: The Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) from the SDU front
panel will flash during the initialization sequence. The LEDs
become steady green after the initialization is completed, which
takes approximately 5 minutes.
4. Make sure that there are no active faults associated with
SATCOM shown in the Maintenance Access Terminal (MAT),
under the Existing Faults–ATA 23, after the initialization
sequence is completed.

BACKGROUND Thales has confirmed frequent SATCOM service dropouts by

analyzing the SDU logs from a 777F operator. The log data revealed
that the SDU starts to malfunction 48 minutes after a “SATCOM
System – Ground Test” is performed. The Ground Test initiated from
the MAT does not get registered as completed by the SDU and
continues to run until it overflows the SDU buffer. As a result, the
SATCOM system becomes unusable approximately 48 minutes after a
Ground Test is initiated from the MAT, unless the SDU is reset.
To mitigate this issue, Boeing recommends that operators reset the
SDU after performing the “SATCOM System - Ground Test” from the
MAT.
Thales advised that this condition will be corrected in the next SDU
software upgrade by the end of 1st Quarter 2011. Thales will release
the Component Service Bulletin 82155D33-23-001 by 1 April 2011 for
retrofit installation of the new SDU software.

MAINTENANCE None.
MANUAL ACTION

CMC / EICAS SATVOICE LOST

MESSAGE