Glider EFIS anyone?

On Sunday, January 13, 2013 11:57:40 AM UTC-7, Roel Baardman wrote:
Allow me to share some random thoughts.



Looking at the options for instrumentation for new Light Sport Aircraft, I find most manufacturers to offer a complete glass panel for flight

instruments,engine controls, communications and of course navigation.

There is no thing round with a pointer to be found and everything requires electrons to work.

Factory-made gliders require of course to be equipped with certified instruments but I wonder if anybody in our small niche of aircraft instrument design

is working on a one-panel box that shows the usual flight information.

Given the progress in that area, it is certainly technically feasible.



- It is. However, I think we have one big difference: we rely entirely on batteries for power.

There are not a whole lot of (off-the-shelf) displays out there that are well readable in direct sunlight and do not require a lot of power for their

backlight. There is a company called Pixel Qi, which shows promising technology though.



- I wonder why you would want 'a single box'. I would - personally - like a decent "avionics bay" inside new gliders. That way you can keep a clean panel,

containing just the screen, and RF cables and cables towards things like sensors and GPS can probably also remain short.



We would have to get used to vertical tapes for speed and altitude but everything could be over-laid a navigation screen with the usual soaring computer

information in dedicated boxes.



Why would we have to get used to vertical tapes? When I think long and hard about what information you require for the decision-making process during

cross-country flights, I think that is very very different from those tapes. Also, when certification requires an analogue AIS, why duplicate it on your

precious panel-space?



When I think long and hard, I get the impression that we would use a computer-screen for two purposes:

- As a digital replacement/enhancement of our paper map, the traditional moving map. This is long-term planning, tactics, etc.

- As an instrument to increase situational awareness, by showing data the pilot is not able to visualize himself (traffic at your six for example). This is

short-term planning, collision-avoidance, thermal-centering etc



This would clean up our busy panels and we could rid ourselves of the ugly external boxes that stick out from the panel or the canopy frame.

I’d be interested in such a panel and would think in the long run this could well be marketed to the existing glider fleet, especially in the

Experimental category.



So who might be working on a Glider-EFIS?



I am working, for the purpose of getting to know various technologies, on a rapid prototyping platform. Due to the lack of proper displays, and my desire

not to re-do my panel at this point, I interface with good old analog gauges. Borgelt was very kind and provided me with the information required to use

second-seat varios as a generic analog gauge.



Roel

Pixel Qi has some competition:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing...light-readable

One additional advantage to the "Glass Cockpit" is it's relative compactness. Round gauges take up a lot of space so the number one can use is limited. Another is more creative information display is possible such as putting the speed-to-fly command on the airspeed vertical tape as a moving bug.

I think we'll see this in gliders before we see a glass panel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Glass

It is very low power consumption and you can leave all the TSO'd gauges in your panel. You can look outside the cockpit AND look at the gauges. The next generation of speed-to-fly variometers will interface with consumer level HUDs if they are smart.