Avionics News September 2014 - 21

pieces of paper - and then do it all again 28
days later.
It wasn't that pilots felt no need for those
13 updates. They just dreaded the stack
waiting to be filed and collated and in their
proper places in the approach-plate books,
airways manuals and the like. Quite simply,
it was a laborious chore.
Then came the digital revolution; all the
navigation paper started vanishing in favor
of electronically-rendered graphic representations of the entire inventory of air-navigation papers - charts, approach plates and the
sundry other paper assets.
The early adapters often waxed at length
about their excitement and anticipation of
new electronic charts updates for their electronic flight bags. "No more hours spent filing paper changes!" one declared.
The Avidyne IFD540 getting an update with a USB drive plugged into it.
But this process wasn't exactly a freetime treat among all the chores in aviation.
Pilots and vendors danced the data-card tango,
Special delivery: Online updating
sending back a card removed from the device that now
Avidyne, BendixKing and Aspen Avionics all work with
hosts the update.
software vendors to eliminate a variable and give customSo pilots traded in their paper libraries for the data-card
ers the option to install their database updates with the
Cha-Cha. The user returns a reusable micro memory card
capability to entice people to keep up.
the manufacturer shipped loaded with the data, slips in the
Today, the package-ship for most companies arrives onnew one and follows the procedure. Updates for this cycle
line - sometimes through direct peer-to-peer file sharing,
are expected a week ahead of schedule for the next.
others through tests. No mailing the software, and little
Now jump ahead 15 years from the late 1990s to the
card swapping and downloading.
middle of this decade and look back at the software deFrom BendixKing, the idea spread among general aviamands of modern glass-cockpit
tion users. You download the update,
airplanes. Software and data updates
load it on a memory card and follow
play a larger-than-ever role in tothe package instructions.
SOFTWARE AND
day's cockpits.
Several avionics makers for experiDATA UPDATES
The more glass, the more elecmental and light-sport aircraft have
tronics, and the more software to upPLAY A LARGERall migrated toward Internet-based
date. Think SVS; ground-proximity
updates. It's faster, easier and more on
THAN-EVER ROLE
systems; navigation devices like the
autopilot than before.
generic GPS navigator; and more.
Today, they all run on software. We
Device by device, role by role:
want to learn what software, how
Each has its cycle
much and how often.
Customers already understand that
Those answers come plane-bydifferent boxes perform different
plane, box-by-box, hinging on what
functions; for navigation devices, the
exactly the panel holds - and what job the digital data
update cycle tracks with the paper-update cycle: every 28
helps it perform.
days, 13 times a year.
Thankfully, even the somewhat high-tech data-card
Continued on following page
Cha-Cha finally ended with the maturation of the Internet.

IN TO DA Y ' S
CO CK P I T S .

avionics news

september

2014

Avionics News September 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News September 2014