AlliedSignal's new flight information service (FIS) is the centrepiece of a general aviation (GA) safety avionics suite to be unveiled at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention in Atlanta, Georgia, in October.
The system will combine colour weather graphics received via the FIS datalink with the enhanced ground proximity warning system and active traffic alert and collision avoidance system. Information will be presented on a new multifunction display (MFD).
"We will offer an affordable safety solution, with traffic, terrain, weather and position on the MFD," says John Murphy, general manager of AlliedSignal's business and general aviation avionics unit.
AlliedSignal has acquired Nav-Radio, one of two companies selected by the US Federal Aviation Administration to build and operate FIS datalink networks. The company has been assigned two dedicated VHF channels over which to broadcast real-time weather graphics.
Under the FIS programme, AlliedSignal and Arnav Systems will competitively provide free text weather and graphical weather by subscription. AlliedSignal plans to launch its FIS by the middle of next year and to complete a network of over 200 broadcast stations covering the USA by the end of next year.
Subscribers will need to equip their aircraft with a VHF datalink (VDL) radio and MFD. Murphy says AlliedSignal's VDL Mode 2 radio will be available early next year and will operate at 31.5kb/s, enabling a Nexrad image to be uploaded in 6s. The radio will cost less than $2,000, he says.
The FIS will operate as an extension of AlliedSignal's Airborne Flight Information System, which provides flight planning and two-way messaging services to the business aviation community. The company's global data centre in Redmond, Oregon, will download the weather information via communications satellite to the remote broadcast sites.
Source: Flight International
