Best Innovation in Avionics ?
 

I'm trying to establish the role of innovation in Avionics and I would appeciate your opinion ! What is the feature of a piece of aircraft electronics or software that has made you sit up and think : that's clever/new/useful ? If you had any such ideas, would you bring them to the attention of someone that could act on them, or it is all too much effort...?

Thanks in advance
hugel

Apart from anything basic I would say TCAS,INS/IRU especially digital gyro types and EGPWS.
This from an engineering point of view.

In my life time of flying, the Flight Director was the first innovation that was great. The last, GPS.

Although when I first saw a DME I was impressed, then when the DME with a Ground Speed readout was made I was really impressed.

I'll tell you what it's not - it's the rubbish Honeywell guidance panel fitted to Embraers. It is without doubt the worst piece of avionics I have ever used. It's over complicated, has too much visual ambiguity, defaults to pointless values - God I hate it! If they made water I bet I wouldn't flow in a straight line, it also wouldn't be drinkable.

Best bit of avionics: Turn & Slip
Second Best: D/I slaved to remote compass
Most convenient: ACARS
Most useful system: ILS

PM

Best: ACAS
Next Best: EGPWS
Third Best: FMS
Most useless: 737NG Vertical Situation Display

I couldn't believe the simplicity of glass cockpit displays after converting from analogue instruments.

A modern PFD, which combines ADI, ALT, IAS, IVSI, Rad Alt, and Turn & Slip - to mention just a few - makes my job so much easier and safer.

My vote for the 'Avionics Personality of Year' goes to the modern glass PFD.

Gossport tube, never had one fail yet!

GPWS, particularly EGPWS/TAWS as these systems fully utilise technology – computation, data, displays, and audio-visual alerting.
Although similar to ACAS and other warning systems, EGPWS is tops as it targets a natural hazard of flight – terrain. Whereas systems such as ACAS have become a necessity due to increasing traffic and commercial pressures on the industry.
Anyone care to estimate the number of lives saved by EGPWS? Whatever the number I doubt if any other avionic system can match the value.

Innovative? Who would have imagined that the basic GPWS’s of the late 70’s would now include spaceflight derived data, a terrain map of the world, significant obstacles, and runway locations with such high accuracy. Also, by using the system in training simulators, all this data is available for free, providing realistic visuals as well as the threat.

track line on /and the ND,,,
FPV also very high up there

The current received-wisdom is that new avionics must either make money (by saving it by permitting improved approaches and routings), for the airline or improve safety. The improvement of safety is obviously important but difficult to quantity in commercial terms until the equipment is a mandated-fit. Even taking a "making money" strategy as the advantage of new products is not easy when there are huge infrastructure and regulatory hurdles to jump...

Of course there must be opportunities for saving money and providing the same or even improved functionality: I hear the words "fusion" and "integration" a lot. Which hopefully will improve the quality of data and its presentation, and reduce the cockpit space and hence weight of such equipment which all helps reduce costs...

So am I right in suggesting the next great innovation (from a commercial standpoint!) will be one that
- improves safety
- makes money through permitting improved operations
- requires minimal certification effort
- reduces equipment overhead ?

I'm not asking for much :rolleyes:

hugel

I agree with you on this, and for me, navigation and safety systems that utilise mapping and terrain data represent a major step forward which I suspect will soon be followed by better synthetic vision systems using similar data.

Having improved mapping and terrain (in the desert things move!) information is obviously a key input too.

hugel

How about the simple things..... Active and standby radio frequencies on the radio head so you don't have to memorize and/or write down new ATC frequencies!

not the tools but the means
 

I hear tcas, glass cockpits, dme etc. Must not forget that the advancement of most modern avionics is due to advancement in the materials that allowed to take computations made by large mechanical/electrical logic gates to electronics to micro electronics to software. A card file that fits in the nose of a Citation X has more going on in it than avionics racks of early jets that you could about stand up in.

I would also say that the advancement from ADF to VOR/DME/ILS to GPS for radio navigation is the greatest advancement in global systems that have surely contributed to aircraft saftey, by far.

I must say GPS . It allows more direct route . Lateral navigation is not a concern wich is invaluable in some areas with little or no beacons. Nobody can get lost anymore !!!!!!!!!!!

The "Cuppa tea button"

Not quite true.... I've seen it happen, with the professionals too! It all comes back to 'putting poop in will give poop out'.

No doubt GPS is fab, especially when it gives vertical guidance too, but what can be done with just an ADF still amazes me.

Graphical map GPS, weather radar, satellite weather such as the XM weather service available in the US, traffic display.

From my early days it was the INS.

Now I would say it is the modern PFD.

Datalink...
 

For me on long-haul...CPDLC/ADS and not having to use the HF to provide positions reports

TCAS

INS (which led to IRU)

Predictive Winshear