Avionics News January 2015 - 22

UNIVERSAL AVIONICS SYSTEMS CORP.
Continued from page 21

awareness right on the primary flight display - and supplanting
the blue-sky-over-brown-ground design of PFD displays emulating the obsolete mechanical attitude indicator.
The SVS led to advances in Universal's TAWS offerings and
beyond into displays portraying a three-dimensional SVS scene
that remains perspective-correct with altitude changes.
The company's TSO'd WAAS/SBAS-enabled FMS which,
when released in September 2007, gave Universal another first
- the first to be usable for LPV instrument approaches.
But even when its launches trail other companies' firsts, innovation remains Universal's hallmark in the avionics firmament.
Today, as noted by DeHerrera, the company continues to
apply its innovative muscle to advancing technologies it already masters - and mastering new ones as it identifies new
opportunities.
InSight, in-mind
Universal created its own ripple during last October's NBAA
Convention by unveiling its InSight Integrated Flight Deck,
which offers some interesting departures from other integrated
packages - as well as some firsts.
The InSight display system is designed as an integrated flight
deck solution, featuring an embedded SVS with advanced mapping capability, electronic charts, radio control, broadcast weather support and graphical flight planning. The second-generation
SVS includes 3 arc second resolution, terrain shading, ice/water
features, obstacles, urban area outlines, high-resolution airport
maps, runways, taxiways, ramp areas and pilot-selectable viewing angles.
The electronic maps and charts feature airport and terminal,
airway depiction, geo-referenced own-ship indication, special
use airspace and remaining runway distance. Embedded radio
control allows tuning from the Electronic Control Display Unit,
suggested frequencies and point & click tuning from the map.
Broadcast weather support includes XM, METARS/TAFS,
Airmets/Sigmets, TFRs, lightning, winds aloft and flight information services-broadcast provisioning. Graphical planning allows for point & click flight plan edits and DTO, and "nearest"
search.
Universal's InSight Multi-Function Display features multiple
pilot-selectable formats and a configurable power-on default option. Additionally, Universal's advanced Primary Flight Display
allows for pilot-selectable display information windows.
Primary hardware components of the InSight Integrated
Flight Deck include a 10.4-inch EFI-1040 Display acting as
22

avionics news

january

2015

PFD and/or MFD; Electronic Control Display Unit; Alphanumeric Keyboard and Data Concentrator Unit II. The 10.4-inch
high-resolution LED back-lit LCD EFI-1040 Display offers
multiple processors/partitioning, an Ethernet-based architecture,
and future size and orientation options.
Pilot interface and control of the system is conveniently provided through the ECDU, a 5-inch flat-panel display, and a Cursor Control Panel - a unique point & click system controller.
The highlight of the system is its embedded next-generation
Synthetic Vision System, employing advanced mapping capability and an intuitive, system-wide Graphical Pilot Interface.
The launch OEM customer, MD Helicopters, wants InSight
in its Next Generation MD Explorer helicopter and plans an
unusual option available with the package: landscape mounting of the PFD display. Portrait-mounted - taller than wide
- SVS views tend to favor the high and low view important to
pilots who spend minimal time down low, below 3,500 feet,
for example.
A wider field-of-view of the three-dimensional SVS graphics
is proportional to the display's wide field of view of the landscape, a view that favors the left and right details more critical to
helicopter pilots who spend more of their time below 2,500 feet.
"They're really happy with the difference," DeHerrera said.
Repeating a pattern of success
"It's these types of innovation that have kept us successful,
even though we're a niche company competing with much
larger organizations," DeHerrera said. "We use innovations to
solve problems."
With about 450 people working from multiple facilities and
their Tucson, Arizona, headquarters, Universal gives off the
feel of a much-larger organization. But that small-company approach suits Universal, if its results are a guide.
"Being a niche company has its advantages, keeps us nimble
and flexible," DeHerrera observed.
Those traits might seem universal to modern business, but the
degree of manifestation varies widely from firm to firm. Universal shows no signs of suffering from its size and independence.
Whether it's finding a way to keep aircraft recorders running
after losing ship power - thanks to software managing capacitor
discharging - or transforming the nature of the data recorders
themselves, or innovating what's now a staple of aviation, Universal Avionics seems to swing above its weight.
And look for more to come. As DeHerrera noted, the aviation
business just keeps moving faster, which means companies like
Universal have to move faster to stay ahead.
"That's where we like to be," DeHerrera said. "We like being
first with something useful and innovative." q

Avionics News January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News January 2015