Avionics News December 2021 - 17

There are two words that keep driving
conversations: autonomy and automation. Both
are driving new products in general aviation.
Or is it these products that are driving the
opportunity for automation and autonomy?
sites, ride-sharing apps, and GPS systems. In their own
times, the automobile, electricity service, and television
were disruptive technologies. "
Without judging which camp is right, it is easy to look
at how Tesla is disrupting the status quo in the automobile
industry. This, of course, got me thinking about the
disruptive technologies being introduced with the advent
of AAM and then, of course, throughout the history of
aviation.
The first technology we take for granted every day is the
technology I routinely remind the regulatory authorities that
generated the last major technological shift. Technically,
slowly beginning in the late 1940s with military aircraft,
then being introduced in the British de Havilland Comet
in 1949 and making widespread application with the
introduction of the Boeing 707 in 1958 followed shortly
thereafter with the Douglas DC-8, the modern jet age took
off and aviation never looked back.
The introduction of the space race of the 1950s and 1960s
introduced aircraft (spaceships) that don't fly today. But
while the early space race introduced new technologies, it
is the ancillary technologies that affect everyday life today.
What would life be like without portable, battery-operated
vacuums, Tang, meals on the go and space blankets?
Remember the Dustbuster? According to the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, " An Apollo-era
partnership with Black & Decker to build battery-operated
tools for moon exploration and sample collection led to the
development of a line of consumer, medical and industrial
hand-held cordless tools, including the popular Dustbuster
cordless vacuum. "
What about thermal blankets? Being a marathoner,
outdoorsman, and survival instructor, I have used thermal
blankets for nearly my entire aviation career without
appreciating its humble beginnings. Again, according
to NASA, " So-called space blankets, also known as
emergency blankets, were first developed by NASA in
1964. The highly reflective insulators are often included
in emergency kits and are also used by long-distance
runners after finishing a race to avoid a large swing in body
temperature. They have been incorporated into outdoor
clothing and sleeping bags as well. "
And, of course, you cannot talk about space-age products
without a discussion of Tang. Contrary to the other
products, Tang was not developed in support of NASA. The
drink mix was formulated by General Foods Corp. in 1957
and first marketed in powdered form in 1959. In an article
from foodtimeline.org, " Sales of Tang were poor until
NASA used it on John Glenn's Mercury flight in February
1962, and on subsequent Gemini missions. Since then, it
has been closely associated with the U.S. human spaceflight
program, which created the misconception that Tang was
invented for the space program. "
Let's fast forward a few decades and look at
transformational technologies of avionics. The first clearly
is GPS. According to GPS.gov, " The Global Positioning
System, originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based
radionavigation system owned by the United States
government and operated by the United States Space
Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems
that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS
receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an
unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. "
I think it is clear that GPS qualifies as an innovation that
significantly alters the way we as consumers, industries and
businesses operate.
Continued on page 61
avionics news * december 2021 17
http://foodtimeline.org http://GPS.gov
Avionics News December 2021

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