Astronautics Corporation of America, based in Milwaukee, received FAA Technical Standard Order Authorization (TSOA) for its 6-inch by 8-inch Electronic Flight Instrument (EFI) display, Control Panel (CP), and Engine Data Concentrator Unit (EDCU). Variations of the equipment are being offered as an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) and Engine Instrument & Crew Alerting System (EICAS) on civil and military aircraft around the world including C-130, L-100, helicopter and trainer aircraft, the company said. The newly TSO’d system is currently being shipped in support of C-130 avionics upgrade programs around the world.
The display uses Astronautics’ LED, NVIS compliant backlight with avionics grade active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD). The EFI uses an Intel Atom processor, and it can accept both analog and digital interfaces along with a video input via RS-170 with provisions for a digital video interface (DVI) video or a second analog video input via RS-170, S-video, or composite input. The EFI display, available with different bezel configurations, has a small mechanical package allowing it to accommodate difficult instrument panel mounting situations. according to the company.
Astronautics uses a six display configuration in C-130 retrofits. Depending on discrete input strapping or pilot selection, the display functionality can be primary flight, navigation, system status, video or EICAS. The system uses the EDCU to convert analog engine data to digital data that is provided to the EFI for display on the EICAS. The CP is used to select the information that is displayed on the navigation display, as well as set the altitude minimums, barometric corrections, selected altitude and gross weight.