Avionics News July 2016 - 60

NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTIONS
Continued from page 59

That's the idea behind Astronautics Corporation of
America's newest offering, the RoadRunner all-in-one
electronic flight instrument for helicopters. Astronautics
said the RoadRunner is an easily installed form-fit-function
upgrade for rotorcraft, offering operators the increased reliability and functionality of moving from electromechanical
instruments and legacy EFIs to modern digital displays. The
new RoadRunner EFI features an internal helicopter terrain
awareness and warning system and synthetic vision system,
providing operators a real-time, three-dimensional rendering of terrain.
The new product is designed to replace legacy 5-inch
electromechanical indicators and aging EFIS systems. It's
intended for medium to heavy helicopters and fixed-wing
aircraft, and can require as little as a single day to install, according to the company. It also has built-in growth capabilities, including the ability to load update software without
removing the instrument and comes with an upgrade path
for cockpit display of traffic information using Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology.
As a device designed for the upgrade environment, the
Astronautics RoadRunner accepts both analog and digital
interfaces, works with existing radios and is compatible with
the autopilots on targeted platforms. The company expects
to receive supplemental type certificate approval from the
FAA by the end of 2016, with customer deliveries beginning
shortly thereafter.
For more information, visit astronautics.com.
Avidyne
Tom Harper, Avidyne's director of marketing, briefed AEA
Convention attendees on his company's latest improvements to its IFD-series of WAAS-enabled GPS flight management systems. The Avidyne products include the IFD5x
models of large-format, moving-map GPS navigators, plus
the smaller IFD4x models. Harper said the company is adding an attitude reference system to its latest versions, along
with a new synthetic vision capability.
The new capabilities will be available as part of a forthcoming Release 10.2 software upgrade for the FMS units,
which will enable display of what the company calls "exocentric in-trail" SVS, including flight plan overlay,
color-contoured terrain, obstacles, full-color 3-D
traffic and terrain warnings. Avidyne said its SVS
implementation will provide database-driven,
three-dimensional views of the aircraft and its
surrounding terrain, obstacles, traffic, airports
and other navaids. It's "designed to provide significant
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avionics news

july

2016

Avidyne's IFD100
working with
the IFD440

improvements to situational awareness, even in instrument
conditions," the company said.
In addition, Avidyne said its forthcoming IFD550 FMS/
GPS/NAV COM and IFD545 GPS-only FMS will have the
same functionality of the current IFD540 and previouslyannounced IFD510 respectively, but with the ARS. The
IFD550/545 also will give pilots the option to toggle off the
SVS capabilities and view a traditional blue-over-brown attitude display. The presentation can include an overlay of
horizontal and vertical course deviation indicators and a
total velocity vector/flight path marker.
Avidyne also announced the IFD100, an iPad-based app giving pilots a new tool that wirelessly connects to their IFD4x or
IFD5x FMS units and allows them to be controlled remotely.
The company intends to roll out its Release 10.2 software
later this year, pending final certification. The new IFD550
and IFD545 with ARS, and the GPS-only IFD510 and IFD410
models, will be available at that same time.
For more information, visit avidyne.com.
Avionik Straubing
Germany-based Avionik Straubing was founded in 1977,
and has grown to 60 employees. It holds FAA and EASA Part
145 certifications and performs installations and maintenance, plus environmental testing. The company also manufacturers avionics, and brought to the AEA Convention its
LPV/VNAV Converter designed for existing EFIS installations
lacking the ability to display glideslope information during a
GPS-based approach.
The dual-FMS-capable LPV/VNAV Converter resolves incompatibilities present when an aircraft is equipped with an
EFIS system and an SBAS-capable (WAAS/EGNOS) FMS/GPS
with an ARINC 429 interface. Configurations Avionik Straubing highlighted include the Honeywell SPZ-5000 in Cessna
525 business jets or a Thales system
in Airbus EC135/145 helicopters. According to the
company, the target
EFIS system expects
to receive ARINC 429
information but is presented with data over the
Avionik Straubing's
NAV channel. To resolve the
LPV/VNAV Converter

http://www.avidyne.com http://www.astronautics.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News July 2016