Avionics technology flies ahead
Nothing advances quite as quickly as technology. Jon Adams takes a look at some of the more recent changes in aircraft avionics affecting the way special missions are being performed
While the basic principles of aviation remain the same as they have since humans first took to the air, the technology associated with aircraft has been constantly refining and developing to improve efficiency, responsiveness, power and safety, as well as the increased and new capabilities for airborne operations. The application of science to the materials, equipment and technology on aircraft has been leaping ahead at a pace in keeping with Moore’s Law, whereby the power of computing seemingly doubles every two years. As computers get exponentially more powerful, the integration of electronics and onboard computing also gets more powerful. Rarely will you see a special missions craft with a fully analog cockpit, and many will now have become entirely ‘glass’. Not only have the instruments, flight bags and flight systems been enhanced and upgraded, but also the sensors and communications systems are advancing and becoming ‘smart’ and interconnected. Every aspect of the flying experience is touched by novel avionics that are developing and changing every day. As new aircraft are being built, they are coming with all these advances integrated as standard, but there are also options to retrofit systems onto older platforms as costs allow, permitting an enhanced and modern avionics solution onto a perfectly serviceable existing airframe.
Pilot workload is a theme that returns often whenever better avionics and upgrades are mentioned, and for good reason. If a pilot is busy concentrating on one aspect of a challenging flight, they are inherently more distracted by it and less able to focus on another area. By making certain processes easier – or even fully automated – pilots can have a better situational awareness, be more in overall control, fly safer and make better command decisions.
The center of it all
Central to the avionics of an aircraft is its flight management system (FMS). FMSs have been familiar in cockpits since the 1980s, but they started as a fairly rudimentary way to calculate flight progress and fuel consumption. Today, they are so much more. FMSs comprise four basic functions: the flight management computer; automatic flight control or automatic flight guidance system; aircraft navigation system; and electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) or similar electromechanical instrument. The FMS is the core hub where all the inputs are gathered and then output back onto the appropriate displays to inform the flight crew of any aspect that can be monitored.
Flight data recorders are now able to have removable memory cards so that even minor or unusual situations can have the data removed and analyzed to improve the safety of future flights
In the event of an incident, being able to record much of the data that travels through the FMS to work out what went wrong and why, is done through the ‘black box’. Formerly heavy and bulky systems that were locked down and inaccessible, today’s advanced flight recorder systems log many more of the flight instruments, sensors, voice channels and other data for longer periods of time. Many flight data recorders are also being combined with cameras to record video of the pilot’s hand movements and the activation of switches, further aiding in analysis if the switches failed to activate in the lead-up to an incident. As well as being sturdy enough to survive accidents and incidents, the flight data recorders are now able to have removable memory cards so that even minor or unusual situations can have the data removed and analyzed to improve the safety of future flights.
Flightcell is a designer and manufacturer of integrated aircraft cellular and satellite communication systems, and it has a recent innovation the form of its SmartHUB – a cockpit video, audio, and flight data recorder.
Describing how its flight recorder is more than the black box of old, Jonathan McWatt, Marketing Director at Flightcell, said: “The SmartHUB is a flight optimization tool – it will enable operators, maintainers and flight crews to review human and aircraft performance, and allow operations to be monitored for both efficiency and safety. Flightcell has also developed their own software to complement the SmartHUB, so all video, audio and flight data recordings can be viewed and analyzed post-flight, at no cost to the operator.”
As there are ‘increasing requirements … globally for mandatory cockpit recording, especially for government and public sector rotorcraft operators’, McWatt identified that air ambulances are expanding their applications of the ‘cockpit’ recorder to cover wider aspects of aircraft operations: “In addition to mounting the SmartHUB and camera in the cockpit, a second camera can be mounted in the aircraft cabin – we are observing that some of our air medical clients are adding a second camera in the cabin to record video and audio of the medical crew treating their patients.”
Automated flight
Rudimentary autopilots have existed for a while, but as sensors, computing power and technology advances, more sophisticated automatic flight control systems (AFCSs) have been able to take on more flight responsibilities, in more extreme weather scenarios and on more types of craft. Pilots are now able to tell the AFCS at what height they wish to hover and for that to be determined by various inputs, either a steady height or a relative height above the terrain or object below. Depending on the situation, performing rescues above rough seas may need one or the other, and if the pilot is so focused on this single task, they may miss opportunities for other important critical decisions. Advanced AFCSs can help explicitly in this regard, among others.
Pilots are now able to tell the AFCS at what height they wish to hover and for that to be determined by various inputs, either a steady height or a relative height above the terrain or object below
Pioneering aspects of automated flight, helicopter manufacturer Leonardo was granted European Union Aviation Safety Agency certification of its instrument flight rules, single pilot, Advanced Search and Rescue (SAR) Modes for its AW169 helicopter. Describing how the Advanced SAR Modes work, a Leonardo spokesperson said: “The Advanced SAR Modes introduce dedicated FMS search patterns enabling the aircraft to automatically fly along a predefined search path, which reduces a pilot’s workload on the search phase of a SAR mission.
“The AW169 is the only helicopter in its weight category that features Advanced SAR Modes. The high level of automation which is delivered allows for single-pilot-capable SAR modes certification, making the AW169 the world’s first civil-certified helicopter with this capability.”
Scanners and sensors
Size, weight and power (SWaP) considerations are at the forefront of operators’ minds when equipping an aircraft for missions; large, heavy and bulky antenna arrays are less likely to be chosen to increase the capabilities of a special missions aircraft. Small turrets that have electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors encased in an all-in-one solution, or attached to a light gimbal, which are platform agnostic, are going to have an advantage over other solutions. So too are the small and light aerial antenna, when paired with a portable system that can locate and track individuals in real time, allowing search and rescue missions to find missing people more easily, or to monitor teams of ground operations (such as firefighters or police personnel) and direct them to or from areas of need.
Aware of the ubiquitous presence of cellular phones, Smith Myers has created a SAR solution for not only locating people by their phones but also communicating with them, all with antennas and hardware that can fit in the hand. Andrew Munro, Managing Director of Smith Myers, said: “ARTEMIS [introduces] aircrews to capabilities previously unseen in the field. With the power to detect, identify, map, and communicate with mobile phones at extended ranges – up to an impressive 35km in each direction – from the aircraft, ARTEMIS not only outperforms traditional sensors but sets a new standard in SAR technology.
“Its integration with the mission system and moving map is where its true potential shines. For example, the automatic cueing of the EO/IR camera onto the handset’s location provides powerful and unparalleled situational awareness, especially in low-light or instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).
The ability to communicate with individuals in distress via voice or SMS is nothing short of a critical enhancement to SAR operations
“The ability to communicate with individuals in distress via voice or SMS is nothing short of a critical enhancement to SAR operations. Consider ARTEMIS’ unique ability to rapidly detect, locate, and communicate with thousands of mobile phones during natural disasters and wildfires. In the midst of a forest fire, it’s not just about finding people; it’s also about ensuring areas are clear. A high-confidence assessment of empty zones empowers aerial assets to swiftly attack the fire, preventing small blazes from turning into large ones.”
Also aware of the effectiveness of mobile phones as a tool for search and rescue, a spokesperson for FlySight, an Italian company specializing in command, control, communications, computers for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) design and development, described its solution: “OPENSIGHT’s integration with mobile phone identification and geolocation technologies enhances situational awareness in SAR missions. These technologies can detect and geolocate mobile phones at extended ranges, even in areas with no service. They provide real-time data transmission and cueing of sensors, optimizing search and rescue outcomes. The integration with augmented reality capabilities offers a user-friendly interface with multiple synthetic information layers overlaid on live video feeds.”
Determining a reduced SWaP of avionics and equipment is a limit that is being pushed to see how much one can get for less
Determining a reduced SWaP of avionics and equipment is a limit that is being pushed to see how much one can get for less. Aware of the increasing demands on data transmission, VITEC have become experts in ultra-compact and rugged encoders, manufacturing the MGW TOUGH series of portable encoders. Mark Rushton, Global Defence and Security Lead at VITEC, explained that the proliferation of electronics onboard increases the demands and requirements of better, newer and more capable technologies: “Live video streaming, both onboard and to the ground, always presents challenges. Weight and power consumption of additional equipment can soon add up onboard. Meanwhile, constrained data connections to the ground – with so many systems all vying for bandwidth at the same time – coupled with the increase in the quantity of sensors and cameras, puts extreme pressure on already congested cockpit and analyst desks.
“The demand for live, relevant, accurate and usable video streams in mission-critical conditions is paramount, both for operators onboard, and command and control centers on the ground. The need for non-proprietary video streams which can be shared instantaneously has rocketed recently, especially when we consider the current environment we see today. Video streams need to be able to be transmitted over non-dedicated data comms, usually with low bandwidth, whilst still delivering usable, precise and accurate imagery.”
Rushton added that there has been an ‘evolution in the field’ with the development of the HEVC codec, permitting an extra compression of data by up to 50 per cent, allowing more data to be transmitted along the already congested limited bandwidth. Remarking upon the growth of higher-resolution sensors, Rushton added: “The encoder market has kept pace with this advance, now offering up to 4K encoding, either to stream or to use for local recording.”
Communications and data transfer
Imaging sensors are able to live-stream video images direct to the flight crew and the operations crew at base simultaneously
No longer are aircraft communications limited to voice over radio. The increase in satellite coverage and the strength of the cellular network now means that voice and data transfer is feasible and portable on the smallest of craft. As well as clear and interference-free verbal communication with one’s main base, text and speech can also be conveyed to the people in distress on the ground that need to be rescued. Furthermore, with the high fidelity across multiple channels and frequencies, imaging sensors are able to live-stream video images direct to the flight crew and the operations crew at base simultaneously, increasing the situational awareness of the entire operation and the capabilities for organizational coordination. On top of that, literally, many of the forward-looking infrared (FLIR) arrays are able to be integrated into the electronic charts, so that they can add waypoints onto charts of the targets spotted by the imaging system.
Seeing the increase in demand for data transmission, especially for ‘air medical and EMS rotorcraft operators’, Flightcell is continuing to innovate and partner with compatible organizations. “Flightcell is partnering with tracking provider Guardian Mobility to further expand capabilities of sending data off the aircraft, using Iridium Certus,” said McWatt. “The Iridium mid-band Certus service provides a cost-effective solution to global data transmission.
“Flightcell’s DZMx, an all-in-one cellular and satellite voice, data, and tracking system, is complemented by the Guardian Mobility G6 Iridium Certus 100 satellite terminal, adding 88kbps bidirectional satellite data connectivity. The new Guardian Mobility G6 is a one-box unit with SWaP advantage, proven to be a great solution for installation on smaller aircraft.
“The joint product offering, available from early 2024, will provide speeds of up to 88kbps, making it ideal for data transmission from aircraft, including email; flight following and data monitoring; medical device data; images; and compressed video.”
The future
The recent innovations in aerial avionics do not appear to be slowing down. These advances are exciting, and every step is a step towards better and greater things for the industry, making the work safer for the flight crew and helping save people’s lives. It is a joy to be able to see how far we have come in the last year and itʼs hard to wait to see what announcements will be revealed in the coming year.
January 2024
Issue
In the January/February edition, we get swept along by swiftwater rescues; we land upon the qualities that make good helipads; we monitor the rise of HUMS on mid- and light-weight aircraft; and we channel the recent advances in avionics; plus more of our regular content including a heart-warming air ambulance case study for the new year
Jon Adams
Jon is the Senior Editor of AirMed&Rescue. He was previously Editor for Clinical Medicine and Future Healthcare Journal at the Royal College of Physicians before coming to AirMed&Rescue in November 2022. His favorite helicopter is the Army Air Corps Lynx that he saw his father fly while growing up on Army bases.