Avionics News March 2015 - 30

NEXTGEN CONNECTION
Continued from page 28

nerships unite the best of all worlds and get it to market quickly and
economically."
Working with another partner, Aspen introduced its Connected
Panel in 2011. The system wirelessly connects installed avionics resources with handheld devices such as the Apple iPad. Since then,
it has become "basically standard equipment on the Pilatus PC-12
and PC-24, and Universal Avionics has selected us as their connected
panel solution for its new retrofit avionics," Uczekaj said.
Uczekaj sees development of this technology as the next generation of NextGen technology. He calls it "tablet tech," and most of
the growth challenges it faces are usage issues. "How is the tablet
mounted and where is it located? If it's located away from the PFD,
what are the consequences of looking at it in instrument conditions?
What is its power supply? What is the integrity of its GPS source and
the integrity of its data? Can users employ nonaviation GPS sources
under VFR? What if the system goes offline? The challenges are not
impossible to overcome, but the FAA regs will have to address them."
Given the funding consequences of politics in America today,
"the FAA has done a fine job implementing NextGen to meet its
safety mandate," he said. But Aspen continues to push the FAA

and industry to deliver additional weather and traffic products
that add benefits that will help aircraft owners step up to ADS-B.
"There's a lot of debate today about the price of ADS-B relative
to hull values, especially at the low end," Uczekaj said. "When
the hull cost is $20,000 to $50,000, the cost of ADS-B is somewhat onerous to them. We, as manufacturers, have to find a way
to solve that."
Portable devices are often mentioned as affordable solutions, he
continued, but solving the tablet tech challenges will increase the
cost. "There are not a lot of solutions right now because they are
tough challenges to meet, but we're all looking at them," Uczekaj
said. "We'll see a lot more innovation in this area before the ADSB mandate deadline of Jan. 1, 2020."
As Aspen works on this solution, it is a dedicated supply chain
partner with the NextGen GA Fund.
"It's another way to make NextGen affordable," Uczekaj said.
"It's another solution, but it's not the only solution. It's often
under-looked, but open systems and partnerships are important
because they bring new technologies to market and control costs
through competition. With piston-powered airplanes comprising
68 percent of the U.S. general aviation fleet, industry should band
together to create solutions for the challenges facing GA, especially at the low end." q

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Avionics News March 2015

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