Flight News On Fleet Avionics 2010 Review And The Latest Developments In The Avionics Marketplace
In the October 2010 air news there are reports on aircraft avionics which have been modified to meet the turbulent changes in the business environment.
Despite the financial turbulence of the last couple of years, the avionic manufacturing sector has shown remarkable resilience and seems to be introducing new products at an ever-increasing rate, across both civil and military sectors.
Integration continues to be the key to greater functionality .During this year Airbus has been working on integrating the traffic-collision avoidance system into the autopilot /flight director cockpit displays and systems. This provides an optimum avoidance manoeure in case of conflicting air traffic. It is an automatic manoeure if the autopilot is engaged or FD orders are displayed if the autopilot is not engaged.
Avionics are also going increasingly "green" with developments such as that by Rockwell Collins which, as member of a consortium of industry partners, led by the Swedish Air Navigation Service Provider 'Lufyfartsverket'(LFV) ,has been awarded a role in the AIRE (Atlantic-interoperability initiative to reduce emissions) " Green Connections" project. The consortium includes partners LFV, Swedavia, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), GE-Aviation and Rockwell Collins.
Rockwell Collins will provide connectivity services to allow exchange of flight management system (FMS) 'generated trajectory and time information between the participating aircraft movements and the ground-based metering functions. Rockwell Collins' Hermes functionality at the SAS data link centre in Copenhagen will perform all data transactions between the aircraft, the SAS ground data link functions and the LFV air traffic control centre.
In addition, Rockwell Collins will be responsible for analyzing the effects of winds aloft, air traffic control (ATC) constraints, revisions in the trajectory, cost index and other factors on movement trajectory and time. The results will be used to define the communication precision between the aircraft and the ground for real-time movement coordination.
The project will demonstrate technology and processes required to perform time-based "gate to gate" operations. When successful, the technique will reduce fuel use and generate a corresponding noise and gaseous emissions reduction by minimizing path stretching and holding in today's operating environment.
AIRE Green Connection is a 10-month trial, using revenue flight operations between the airports of Stockholm (Arlanda) and Gothenburg (Landvetter).
Performance Requirements
Earlier this year, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced the performance requirements for aircraft tracking equipment that will be required under the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. The avionics will allow aircraft to be controlled and monitored with greater precision and accuracy by Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B).
The final rule, developed with extensive input from the aviation community, requires aircraft flying in certain airspace to broadcast their position via ADS-B by 2020.It has proved somewhat contentious, particularly by general aviation concerning costs and possible backup.
Much of the discussion inevitably raises the question of LORAN, which authority would suggest is redundant and obsolete. Not so, say some voices. What is needed for a GPS backup is E-LORAN (enhanced), which uses the LORAN-C infrastructure. A complete E-LORAN System in the US is said to cost less than one GPS satellite. It is suggested that E-LORAN can be fully integrated into a GPS receiver for redundancy.
Protagonists claim that GPS is a high frequency, very low power, easily jammed signal. In contrast, LORAN is a low frequency, very high power signal, that is hard to jam and covers the entire US and a great deal of the world. Significantly, Europe seems determined to retain a LORAN capability.
Despite the current grumbling, the manufacturers roll resolutely on. Honeywell's Next Generation Flight Management System (NGFMS) has been undergoing test flights on the Gulfstream G650 and was part of the first flight on the Boeing 747-8.
The NGFMS, which will be certificated on the Boeing 747-8, enables required navigation performance (RNP) 0.1, and allows operators to comply with the NextGen air traffic management (ATM) and the single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program me. It also supports wide area augmentation system-localizer performance with vertical guidance (WAAS-LPV), Future Air Navigation System 1 (FANS-1) and FANS-2 requirements.
It provides enhanced flight planning, navigation and guidance and aircraft performance capabilities to the aircraft as well as a large navigational database that meets future growth requirements.
In addition to being s available on new Boeing 747-8 and Gulfstream G650 aircraft, Honeywells NGMS will be offered for retrofit on Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
Cabin Enhancement
Cabin enhancement continues unabated. Last March Dassault Falcon delivered the first Falcon business jet with Honeywell's new MCS 7120 Swift Broadband Communications Gateway(see photo below).This provides a fully integrated wired and wireless cabin communication system and high-speed global connectivity via the Inmarsat 14 satellite network.
The aircraft was the first business jet in the industry capable of providing fully managed, end-to-end, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony services over the Swift Broadband network. Managed VOIP services deliver significantly higher quality audio performance because of dedicated bandwidth to each call, assuring excellent audio fidelity. The system is available on all current production Falcon aircraft as an option.
EMS Aviation has completed installation of an advanced, managed VOIP service with a Middle Eastern Head of State Airbus A320 aircraft. EMS teamed with paris-based Eclipse, an Inmarsat service provider and avionics dealer, to implement this secure end-to-end voice solution, which is the first of its kind on an A320 aircraft.
Rockwell Collins and Bombardier Aerospace have now release "V7" cabin electronics system (CES) software for operators of Bombardiers Global 5000 and Global Express XRS business aircraft. The software, which Rockwell Collins co-developed with Teague, features a new graphical user interface with improved intuitiveveness and ease of use.
The interface includes an internationally recognized icon-based menu that is less dependent on language, electing advances in modern user interface design. Rockwell Collins and Bombardier will begin rolling out V7 CES and retrofitting in-service aircraft later this year.
Thales is well established in the in-flight entertainment (IFE) and connectivity systems market, currently exercising major contracts with British Airways, Air France and Qatar for installations in the A380 and Boeing 787.It has now finalized an agreement with CSC and proximetry Inc to deliver a new service dedicated to high-performance wireless ground connectivity for airlines and airport authorities.
Called Gatesync, the solution enables airlines to wirelessly load and offload content and data while the aircraft is on the ground. With Gatesync, airlines will have fast, secure wireless transmission capability that optimizes ground operations. Any time, any airport, Gatesync moves time sensitive data, such as the passenger manifest, daily news, meal inventories, surveys, crew logs and system performance data, giving airlines new efficiencies and capabilities.
At the core of the technology is proximetrys Airsync/GS wireless management software, while the ground-based infra-structure relies on CSCs existing private backbone network for the deployment and management of data at airports around the world. Onboard the aircraft, Thales provides Gatesync components and integrates data to the Top Series-in-flight entertainment system.
To date,Gatesync has been field tested at three major airports and verified by a major equipment manufacturer and several airlines and is now ready for broader deployment.
Amid all this new technology it is nice to note that some manufacturers are still concerned about "older" cabins. Flight Display systems has introduced an upgrade kit for Air show 100, Airshow 200, and Air show 400 owners. The upgrade gives passengers the new flight display moving map with worldwide satellite imagery, state-of-the-art hardware and a new two 'year warranty. It is a direct pin-for-pin replacement of the Air show units.
There is no rewiring necessary and no aircraft down time.
Similarly, Honeywell has introduced Jet Map 111, a new moving map upgrade featuring worldwide three-dimensional perspective views of terrain, ocean topography, enhanced graphics and polar ice views. Originally designed for the Honeywell Oviation C-series cabin management system, JetMap 111 can be easily adapted into non-Honeywell systems.
Current Jet Map 11 users can upgrade to JetMap 111 through the simple replacement of the removable compact flash memory card. The first installation of Jet Map 111 was completed last August on Honeywell's Falcon 900.
Older Flight Decks
The older flight deck is well catered for by Universal Avionics, which has developed an updated flight deck for a fleet of BAe Advanced Turbo Prop (ATP) freighter aircraft. Cargo airline, West Atlantic ,has upgraded its fleet of ATPF aircraft with a five-panel suite of Universal Avionics' EFI-890R electronic flight instrumentation system ,UNS-1L flight management system ,terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) and vision-1 synthetic vision system.
The EFI-890R LCD flat panel system allows the display of critical primary flight data, engine indication, weather radar and navigation data from several onboard instruments in a large, centralized, high-resolution digital format. The ATP upgrade also includes the AMETEK engine interface unit and new turbulence-capable weather radar.
The system is fully integrated with existing AFCS and replaces all electromechanical engine displays with engine displays on new EFIS. The updated system also incorporates FMS non-precision approach capability with planned growth for RNP and a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS).
More recently, Universal Avionics announced that its EFI-890R flat panel display systems had been selected by Field Aviation of Canada to fulfill the flight deck component of its Dash 8 (Q-Series) modernization programme.The program me will feature a five-panel EFI-890R display suite including primary flight, navigation and engine displays, dual Vision-1 synthetic vision, radio control units and WAAS/SBAS flight management systems.
The new flight deck will be available to operators of non-EFIS and EFIS Dash 8/Q-Series 100,200 and 300 aircraft. By reducing the number of line replaceable units onboard the aircraft, the Dash 8 modernization program me benefits operators by significantly reducing maintenance and repair costs while improving reliability.
About the Author:
Anthony Juma is the Editor and Senior Aviation Director at Wings Over Africa Aviation.
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