AVIONICS.qxp_Finance 22/11/2021 16:45 Page 1
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Understanding BizAv Avionics: Interactive Within the field of cockpit avionics, a core category of instruments and functionality covers those that are interactive. Ken Elliott takes a closer look.
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he cockpit is the location where the interactive flight workload is undertaken. That workload involves attentive activity from inside and outside the aircraft, including other aircraft and air traffic control (ATC). Nevertheless, when it comes to purchasing aircraft, whether it’s new or pre-owned, limited attention is paid to the cockpit compared to the aircraft’s performance and the suitability of its cabin. In this month’s article, we deviate from aircraft equipage and concentrate on the interaction of pilots with the aircraft’s equipment and tools available for manipulation, monitoring and informing. As we move toward touchscreen displays and modular system computing, there will be a reduction in remote equipment. In the far future ‘points of interface’ will be connected
98 Vol 25 Issue 12 2021 AVBUYER MAGAZINE
via a triplicated redundancy network to the ‘aviation cloud’. Most functions conducted onboard today, will be handled offboard by the aviation cloud in the future. For now, however, we rely on remote equipment, installed on board the aircraft. Such equipment is termed Line Replacement Units (LRUs), or Modular Avionics, and is installed as electronic cards – all of which are controlled by pilot using dedicated cockpit control devices. LRUs are found all over the aircraft, hidden under the floor, in dedicated equipment bays, behind cabin trim, in the tail, attached to engines, and in the nose, and each has a purpose. It can communicate, navigate, surveil, convert, sense, collect, push-pull data inside, and move information on and off the aircraft. In the specific case of airframe and engine flight controls, these LRUs provide an added ‘digital to
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