Aspen Avionics has announced a new delay for the release of a low-cost synthetic vision system for general aviation cockpits, adding that the development phase has been a "little painful".

The Evolution Synthetic Vision (ESV) upgrade to the Evolution 1000 Pro primary flight display remains in development to correct performance shortfalls found in flight tests, the company said on 26 July.

Aspen acknowledged that "development and certification has taken longer than expected" during an AirVenture news conference.

The ESV was first unveiled in April 2010, with fielding originally scheduled for the first quarter of 2011. In March, Aspen announced the release data had moved to the second quarter.

Aspen has not provided a new timetable for release of the ESV, which has been priced as an almost $3,000 retrofit for the Evolution 1000 Pro.

The ESV integrated terrain data has been provided by Jeppesen on the high-resolution Evolution flight displays.

Flight tests provided "great feedback" about performance issues that could be improved, and that information is now being incorporated into the overall design of the ESV, Aspen said.

Separately, Aspen announced a new product called the "Connected Panel".

The hardware and software package provides two-way wireless communications between panel avionics and mobile devices using Apple iOS and Android operating systems.

The system is scheduled for release to the market by the end of this year.

Source: Flight International

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