Avionics News September 2021 - 22

AVIDYNE'S VANTAGE FLIGHT DISPLAY SYSTEM
Continued from page 21
instrument panel is relatively close to the pilot, maximizing
the functionality of the IFD/CNS stack and touchscreen
displays.
as both a forward-fit and retrofit solution for a wide array of
general aviation aircraft, the initial FAA certification will be
to replace legacy Avidyne Entegra displays in first-generation
Cirrus SR22 aircraft.
" We had received the greatest level of interest and the most
consistent fleet upgrade opportunity from owners of these
early Cirrus SR20 and SR22 aircraft, " Schwinn said. " We
have nearly 4,000 owners of Entegra-equipped Cirrus' who
want something new in the form of a much more capable and
consistent upgrade for their aircraft. "
As Schwinn described it, the new Vantage upgrade will be
available for those 2003 through 2008 era SR20s and 22s and
will include the dual 12.1-inch hybrid touchscreen displays.
Those will be coupled to a pair of Avidyne's current IFD-series
" That allows us to do things we are unable to do in other
applications, " he said. " Plus, with no center-mounted yoke,
there is no need to do a massive panel reconfiguration. That
will make the early installations much easier. "
Schwinn also made it quite clear that introducing the
Vantage upgrade in no way impacts Avidyne's commitment to
supporting its Entegra line of avionics.
" This is not an end-of-life program for the Entegra suite, "
he said. " These are still very capable units, and we know a lot
of Cirrus owners really like them. Yes, Vantage is a bigger,
better, more capable solution, but we know some owners will
upgrade now, some will wait, and some will not upgrade at all.
No matter what an owner decides to do, we are committed to
providing updates and full support for these legacy units for a
long time yet. "
Third generation's the charm
As you would correctly guess, developing any retrofit
solution, even for a simple airplane like an SR20, is not for the
faint of heart. But the ebbs and flows of the retrofit market are
extremely familiar to the folks at Avidyne.
" We've been doing retrofits from day one, " Schwinn said.
" We have sold thousands of our autopilots, GPSs, IFDs, and
MFDs into this segment over the years. We're well-versed on
what it takes to be successful from the product, installation and
support perspectives.
Plan View Map with customizable datablocks and Engine Instruments
GPS navigators and the Avidyne DFC90 digital autopilot. The
IFDs and autopilot are not part of the Vantage upgrade but will
need to be added separately.
If an owner wants to keep their GNS unit or non-Avidyne
autopilot, they'll have to wait a bit longer. Schwinn said that
depending on the market, they may add other third-party GPS
units and autopilots to the FAA approvals sometime in the
future, but that the initial supplemental type certificate will be
for Avidyne IFDs and the DFC90 autopilot only.
" Many of the early SR22s have already been upgraded with
our DFC90 autopilot and IFD-series GPS navigator units, " he
added. " Now, with Vantage retrofit, they can have the largest
and most capable display upgrade available in all of general
aviation - and it's all designed to work seamlessly together. "
Schwinn said that yet another reason to select the Cirrus as
the kickoff platform for the Vantage is that the aircraft's wide
22 avionics news * september 2021
" I will say that we have put more emphasis on the Vantage
hardware platform than any of our previous large-screen
products to make it both a great retrofit and forward-fit
solution. Vantage is actually the first full application of our
new, third-generation hardware architecture. As always
is the case with computer-based products, this is a much
more capable and powerful processing platform that has the
capability to support much more intensive display graphics.
" With the capabilities we've designed into the platform, this
will be our processor and architectural platform for the next 15
years or more. This is a huge technical step forward for us and
will eventually be used across any product that has a decentsized
display. "
Speaking of decent-sized displays, Schwinn stressed the
fact that Vantage is a textbook example of bigger being better.
If you were to compare the Vantage's new 12.1-inch display
with the Entegra's legacy 10-inch display, you'd find that the
Vantage is 40% larger with 64% more pixels.
That adds up to a gigantic improvement in overall display
size, sharpness and resolution. While size does matter, there
are more benefits to Vantage's big screens than just bigness.
" Pilots who are upgrading any type of airplane should be
putting their money behind installing panels that have fewer
Avionics News September 2021

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