Testing is under way of Thales' cockpit equipment for the Airbus A350, with the French electronics specialist expecting to deliver the software and hardware for the first aircraft over the next six months.

Most of its systems and equipment have passed Airbus's lab unit acceptance reviews and are now being tested on the airframer's rigs and simulators, according to Thales.

The Paris-headquartered company supplies the main cockpit display screens, keyboard and cursor control units, computer modules for the avionics network, head-up displays, air data and inertial reference units, the onboard airport navigation system, electrical power conversion system and in-flight entertainment equipment.

While the first full specification software should arrive at Airbus "this summer", hardware for the first aircraft is to be delivered "before the end of this year", said Thales' A350 programme director Sébastien Perrignon.

The main instrument panel will be largely covered by six 15in (38cm) rectangular, horizontally arranged display screens. Two are in front of each pilot, and the remaining two screens are located - one above the other - in the middle of the instrument panel and the slightly angled forward section of the centre pedestal.

The display area of each screen is around 60% larger than the cockpit screens on the A380. Given that the A350 screens are arranged in a horizontal rather than a vertical manner, as employed on the A380, it is possible to combine, for example, the primary flight and navigation displays on a single screen instead of two.

However, the A350 screens are subdivided by a virtual grey bar, making the display appear similar to the A380 equipment.

Thales says that the A350 cockpit was designed as a "natural evolution" of the A380 and that Airbus requested the artificial division to ensure continuity with previous models and so that pilots can maintain cross-crew qualifications.

At the same time, the large screens have "future-proof product evolution characteristics", allowing new or different display concepts, said Thales. "[Outside the Airbus arena] we can do with the screens what we want", said Perrignon.

Source: Flight Daily News

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