Avionics News - September 2023 - 53

Lynx NGT-9000
L3Harris is also providing itsT3
CAS system
incorporating TCAS, ADS-B In/Out and TAWS
on the Airbus 320 family of single-aisle aircraft.
L3Harris talked to some of its Lynx customers
at AirVenture Oshkosh in 2019, including
Robert DeLaurentis who flew a modified 1983
twin turbine Commander over both the North
and the South poles on two different flights and
also visited countries on six continents in 2021
and 2022. He used ADS-B for tracking over the South pole.
He noted more people have walked on the moon than have
flown over both the North and South poles. At Oshkosh, he
said there is a lot of weather and traffic capability in the Lynx
system's small box. He added Lynx because Iridium wanted
him to install a transponder with diversity.
Greg Wright, another pilot at Oshkosh in 2019, said the
first flight he took with Lynx after he got home was just
16 minutes to another local airfield. A Lynx audio alert
pointed out traffic at 12 o'clock in the opposite direction
at his altitude, and while it wasn't a near midair collision,
it did get his attention. He used the system flying from
Virginia to Oshkosh, and the system pointed out lots
of nearby aircraft at 1, 2 and 3 miles away. He would
look for the aircraft knowing exactly where an aircraft
was located and still couldn't see it, so he joked that the
Mark 10 human eyeball " isn't what it used to be. " Many
pilots using ADS-B In systems find that there is a lot
more traffic near their aircraft than they ever realized in
the past. " It gets a little startling when you really do get
the full traffic picture around you to see how much you
haven't been seeing over the years, " Morast said.
Mark Scheuer, founder and chief executive officer of
another AEA member company, audio system specialist
PS Engineering, said he finds the Lynx to be good for
what he needs with the touchscreen, traffic on the Garmin
GNS 430 and weather and traffic on ForeFlight.
L3Harris, like most of its competitors in general
aviation avionics, has an advanced air mobility team
involved in shaping industry standards and developing
new technologies and products for the AAM market. For
example, it is developing UAM and eVTOL pilot training
capabilities combined with the company's data analytics
platforms. It is working on these projects with airlines,
civil aviation authorities and OEMs.
L3Harris reports that it is seeing significant growth in
the market for data recorders with the expanding ED155
ICAO recommendations, mandates in Europe and
regulations contemplated in other regions. The company
has recently updated the LDR platform to significantly
reduce weight by 50%. This recorder has been selected
by Lilium for the Lilium Jet eVTOL, a five-passenger
aircraft with 186-mile range. The xLDR provides crashprotected
audio, flight data, and optional images/video
and integrated GPS receiver. It is designed for eVTOLs,
helicopters, general aviation, and unmanned aircraft and
measures just 4.9 by 3.9 by 8 inches and weighs only
2.43 pounds. The LDR platform is currently in use on 15
types of aircraft, including UAM platforms.
Newer avionics typically carry the flight data parameters
directly on the ARINC717 bus to the LDR recorder
without the need for external sensor inputs. However, to
provide a full solution for legacy aircraft without digital
buses recording essential parameters on crash-protected
memory, L3Harris introduced a cohesive off-the-shelf
solution. This uses the EFD-750 standby display with
integrated sensors, which directly connects to the LDR and
exceeds the ED-155 mandates and recommendations.
As with most producers of general aviation and
commercial avionics, L3Harris has been affected by
supply chain issues and computer chip shortages.
" Component availability is impacting design architecture
and component selection, " said Andy Herder, director
of commercial aviation systems advanced engineering
development at L3Harris. " And computer chip shortages
present a similar challenge, so our goal is to proactively
identify high-risk components now and work through
any issues before they arise using redesign, product
transitions and new sources of components. We are
taking similar steps during the new product design
process to mitigate future supply chain issues like we are
experiencing now. "
There is little crossover technology improvements
underway in either space-based or general aviation avionics
that have the potential to crossover from one domain to the
other. However, L3Harris commercial aviation avionics
do take advantage of error correcting techniques inside
microelectronics exploited by space programs.
But one thing that can be expected to cross over
into general aviation is an appreciation of an American
aerospace achievement when the first astronauts to walk
on the moon in a half-century take that one small step
very soon. q
To learn more about L3Harris, visit L3Harris.com.
avionics news * september 2023 53
http://www.L3Harris.com
Avionics News - September 2023

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