Business & GAProduct Focus: Cockpit Switches Pilots no doubt are oblivious to the effort that goes into the making of a lowly cockpit switch. But considerable human factors expertise is required to design a switch's shape, size, position…
ATM ModernizationFBW for the S-92 While offshore support operator Petroleum Helicopters Inc. (PHI) takes delivery this month of the first production Sikorsky S-92 at Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, engineers at BAE Systems' Johnson City, N.Y., facility are…
Business & GASafety: From Typo to Tailstrike Incorrect weight and speed data can be potentially deadly, especially when the airplane's computer accepts erroneous information without an error check–rather like a word processor without a spell checker. What a difference…
ATM ModernizationScan Rebuilding Iraqi ATC A team of Raytheon ATM officials traveled to Iraq in late January, responding to an initial $10.5-million contract the company won to rebuild the air traffic control (ATC) facilities…
MilitaryKeeping Secrets in Integrated Avionics In the not-too-distant future, military aircraft may receive and exchange classified data with a variety of systems, as nodes in a global network. At the same time, military aircraft are equipping with…
Business & GASystem Design: What to Listen for in Digital Audio We live in an analog universe, where every sound and color has infinite complexity, depth and resolution� Every sense–hearing, taste, smell, etc.–is analog in nature. As humans, we don't have the ability…
Business & GAUAVs: Out of Uniform When Greg Holland began working on commercial applications for unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in 1993, "there was absolutely no one–and now there is quite a growing field of people with various systems,…
ATM ModernizationLonger Legs for VHF A drawback to standard VHF radio communication is that it is limited in range to little more than line of sight. Unlike HF and lower frequencies, VHF's transmitted waves propagate minimally around…