Business & GAProduct Focus: Cockpit Switches Keypads seem to be mat-ter-of-fact arrays of push-button switches laid out in unassuming squares or rectangles. But these devices can reflect a complex design evolution. Take the case of the AT2901 control…
Business & GASafety in Avionics: Are Two HUDs Better Than One? For optimum safety and standardization, both pilots in the side-by-side cockpit seating of an airliner should be provided with a head-up display (HUD). That statement is perhaps the one most likely to…
ATM ModernizationIndustry Scan The X-45A unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstration aircraft completed its first flight in late May at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, Calif. The 14-minute flight reached an airspeed…
CommercialTest Cards for the Airbus 380 As the Airbus 380 program moves forward, a specialist avionics data bus supplier enjoys a lead in producing test cards for the super jumbo’s real-time version of the 10/100-megabit/sec (Mbit/sec) switched Ethernet…
Business & GAWanted: Small Package, Big Performance It’s a matter of wanting it all. Aircraft operators seek antennas that perform multiple functions with improved performance, yet are smaller and less obtrusive on the airframe. Antenna manufacturers appear to be…
MilitaryAV-8B: Open Systems Pioneer Six years ago the Naval Air Systems Command (NavAir) started a program to replace the mission and stores management computers on the AV-8B combat VSTOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) aircraft with a…
ATM ModernizationEditor's Note: Tomorrow's Navaid Mix What a difference a Volpe National Transportation Systems Center study makes. When this U.S. government organization submitted its study of GPS vulnerabilities to the Department of Transportation (DoT) in early September 2001–followed…
CommercialElectronic Flight Bags –– Part II Like an alignment of the planets, events and activities surrounding the development of electronic flight bags (EFBs) have been coming together to form what would appear to be a large new market…