The A380 cockpit is directly related to the rest of the Airbus fly-by-wire family, but incorporates significant advances
Although it contains many new or upgraded features, the A380 will present no major surprises to pilots familiar with existing Airbus fly-by-wire (FBW) types.
The A380 will be the first Airbus to have a completely integrated avionics system in which modular avionics are fully networked with the flight management system (FMS). Any input of data will alter related information on affected system displays. Apart from the primary flight display (PFD) and the engine display, the liquid crystal displays (LCD) are all interactive. Manipulation of the navigation display (ND), for example, can change the flight profile via the FMS.
Some changes introduce conceptual simplicity: for example, pilots may now control the engine output simply by selecting the thrust, displayed as a percentage of maximum thrust. This may sound an obvious solution, but today pilots control the engine by selecting either N1 (compressor rpm) or EGT (exhaust gas temperature) to achieve the engine output they want.
There will be eight LCDs on the main panel and forward centre pedestal, all rectangular in the "portrait" sense rather than square like those in existing Airbuses. The additional panel height gives space at the base of the ND for a vertical display (VD) of the flight trajectory - in climb, cruise, descent or on final approach. This shows a side profile of the A380 on its actual flight path relative to its planned trajectory and to the terrain profile. Minimum safe altitude or minimum descent heights are shown graphically on the VD, and it will also show the vertical profile of weather radar returns when selected. At the base of the PFD, "reminder" configuration data critical to the flight phase or airspeed - like slat/flap and airbrake selection -- can be shown graphically if desired. Airbus is still working on the best way to present this information, which will continue to be shown also on the electronic centralised aircraft monitor (ECAM) as it is on existing Airbus FBW types.
When the aircraft is on the ground the ND will display a moving map of the airport layout with the aircraft symbol in the centre. Trials of the system - known as Taxi Driver in its existing prototype form - begin on the testbed A340 later this year.
Despite its new internal architecture and capabilities, the A380 display and controls layout is designed to be as close to the standard Airbus cockpit as possible, to enable an A340 pilot to complete the A380 conversion course in seven or eight days' training. In common with existing Airbus types, the electronic flight instrument systems, comprising the PFD and ND, are located in front of the pilots, while the ECAM, comprising the engine/warning display (E/WD) and systems display is placed centrally on the main panel.
Either side of the power levers are the pilots' keyboard cursor control units (KCCU), and above each is a linked multi-function display (MFD). The KCCU/MFD is comparable with the multi-function control and display units on existing aircraft, which are the primary interfaces with the FMS, and can interface with any of the displays except the PFD and E/WD. The palm-rest of each KCCU incorporates a cursor control track ball and selector that enables the pilots to select menu items on the MFD or to make flight plan alterations by selecting new waypoints on the ND, including the VD.
Honeywell's Phoenix, Arizona, operation is supplying the A380's next generation FMS, developing it from the Pegasus system on the A320 and A340. It has a new graphical, rather than purely text-based, pilot interface on the KCCUs which is aimed at making it more user-friendly and intuitive, reducing pilot workload.
The traditional standby instruments have been replaced by a standby navigation system (SNS). "Instead of one screen this system will have two - one primary and one for navigation," explains Alain Marthes, Thales Avionics vice-president, A380 programme. "The pilots will be able to swap displays between the two screens, and will be able to include information like waypoints and standby flight plans."
Checklists can be called up on the ECAM and items change colour as actions are completed. Systems status information is shown graphically on the ECAM, as it is on existing Airbus FBW types. More detailed information can be demanded simply by clicking on "more" at the top left of the display. For example, if the ECAM notifies the pilot of a component failure in a system, the pilots can effectively zoom in on the part of the system affected and see graphically whether standby components have begun operating to compensate, and what effects this may have on the system as a whole.
New view
At first glance, the most noticeable layout change is that, adjacent to each end of the main instrument panel - where chart boards and clips are placed on classic aircraft - are two large displays that present information retrieved from the onboard information system (OIS). This displays whatever the pilot calls up from the OIS - effectively the aircraft library - which contains everything from the aircraft's operating manual to charts and aeronautical information. OIS information is accessed and controlled using a keyboard on each pilot's pull-out table. The table-top keyboard does not interface directly with anything except the OIS, but using it the crew can enter aircraft, airport and weather data so that the system can calculate the take-off or landing performance figures. These can then be passed direct to the FMS so speed bugs are set on the PFD.
Thales Avionics is supplying the eight 150 x 200mm (6 x 8in) cockpit displays, in conjunction with Diehl Avionik Systeme of Germany, as well as the two KCCUs developed specifically for the A380. Marthes explains: "The KCCU reduces pilot workload and task time. All the screens can be controlled through this system, with the exception of some of the primary flight display functions." The first complete set of cockpit systems were delivered on time to Airbus in March. The standard for integrated lab tests will be delivered in mid-July, followed by the flight-test version. The final production standard is required by the first half of 2005.
Marthes says that a new digital signal processing system for the altimeter, being introduced by Thales Communications and Diehl, will be certificated first on the A380, but that it may then be retrofitted to the A330/A340 fleet.
Honeywell's integrated aircraft environment surveillance system combines the features of a terrain awareness warning system - what Honeywell calls an enhanced ground proximity warning system - with a next generation traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) and next generation weather radar. The TCAS provides warnings out to 160km (85nm) compared to the current 65km, says Honeywell.
The company is also supplying the air data inertial reference unit, as it did for the A320 and A330/A340. The system developed for the A380 will be retrofittable to the earlier aircraft and incorporates ring laser gyroscopes and high-integrity GPS. Sensitive about recent late delivery of some of its new systems on other Airbus types, Barry Ecclestone, vice-president Honeywell Aerospace Europe, says: "We've learned from past delays, and the A380 work is currently on track."
Source: Flight International
