Business & GA, Commercial, Military

Curtiss-Wright Brings Subsystem Innovation to Heli Expo

By Woodrow Bellamy III | February 26, 2014
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[Avionics Today Feb. 26, 2014] Curtiss-Wright brought a range of its innovative commercial and defense avionics solutions to Heli-Expo 2014, proving one of the oldest American companies is still breaking ground with industry firsts. 

First established in 1929 as the result of a merger between early aeronautical innovators the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss, founder of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co., the company is still brining innovative aviation solutions to the market today.

On the first day of the show, the company announced the industry’s first 20-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Switch PCI/104-Express card, the new Parvus SWI-22-10. Designed to meet MIL-STD-810G environmental requirements, the SWI-22-10 makes integrating onboard computers, cameras, sensors and monitoring devices easier by reducing slot-count while adding advanced Layer 2 network management features. 

Lynn Bamford, vice president of Curtiss-Wright’s defense solutions DVI said the SWI-22-10 meets increased demand in the industry for high-speed network connectivity on fielded rugged subsystems, calling it ideal for system designers seeking to connect IP-enabled devices. 

With a focus on providing subsystem components that are lightweight and designed to withstand the rugged military environment, Curtiss-Wright is ready to meet increased demand for upgrading obsolescent military aircraft in a reduced defense spending environment. 

The company also showed it is ready to support demand for lightweight high speed solutions for the next generation of aircraft as well, as Northrop Grumman selected their Air Data Computer for its LCR-300A Attitude Heading Reference System. The first aircraft expected to implement the air data and navigation system is the AgustaWestland AW609 tiltrotor aircraft.

Finally, the company also announced it has begun shipments of its highest performance embedded graphics module, the VPX3-716 3U OpenVPX multi-head graphics display card. This is the first card based on AMD Embedded Radeon E8860 "Adelaar" GPU. 

"This rugged, SWaP-optimized board, combines unmatched I/O and no-compromise graphics processing, and delivers all the performance and features needed to quickly and cost-effectively integrate graphics display into airborne and ground platforms," said Kamal Khouri, director of product management and marketing, AMD Embedded Solutions.

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