Bendix/King's IHAS 5000 and 8000 bring push-button safety information to the cockpit
The Bendix/King side of the Honeywell avionics empire has a unique suite of components that gives general aviation pilots the ability to monitor four of our biggest safety concerns: traffic, weather, terrain, and situational awareness. And it's all displayed in living color on a single, crisp, 5-inch-diagonal active matrix liquid crystal multifunction display (MFD).
Called the integrated hazard avoidance system (IHAS), it is available in one of two configurations. One big difference between the two is the way thunderstorm cells and precipitation returns are portrayed. By the end of the year, the IHAS 5000 should be able to receive uplinked ground-based weather radar imagery via its new, yet-to-be-TSOed KDR 510 datalink receiver. The IHAS 8000 is for those flying airplanes equipped with airborne weather radar; in this setup, the airplane's own radar imagery can be displayed. Both IHAS units can accommodate Stormscope lightning imagery via Goodrich's WX-500.
The IHAS can perform so many functions that it's best to break out each component according to its features and capabilities.
Multifunction displays — the KMD 550 and 850
Nonradar-equipped airplanes use the KMD 550 display unit in the IHAS 5000 configuration; the KMD 850 — designed for the IHAS 8000 — has a digital weather radar interface capability.
Both MFDs use an open-architecture, multiple-CPU, modular design that provides interfaces for GPS or flight management system navigation inputs, and a WX-500 Stormscope for lightning information. Plug-in modules support interfaces with the IHAS' additional functions — weather radar, enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS), flight information service (FIS), and traffic information.
This modular design lets the map, weather, traffic, and terrain functions operate continuously, no matter what may be currently depicted on the MFD. It also lets pilots upgrade in increments if they don't have the financial wherewithal to buy the full system at one clip.
The MFD controls are sparse and simple to use. Below the screen is a row of smart keys, labeled by function: MAP, WX, TRFC, TERR, and AUX. (The AUX key is for page setups and calling up an external video source.)
Press a key and the appropriate information pops up immediately. An overlay function lets you customize a screen view by superimposing one data set atop another — traffic and terrain, for example. In the top right corner is a small joystick. This is used to move a cursor around the moving-map page. When the cursor arrow is positioned over an airport or obstacle symbol, the name of the airport or the height of the obstacle (msl and agl) automatically pops up on the screen. The joystick can also be used to pan the map in any direction. You can move the range of the display in and out using soft keys to the right of the screen.
Moving map
The MFDs use a customized Jeppesen aeronautical database that shows all the usual topographic and cartographic information, plus airports, Victor airways, VORs, NDBs, and special-use airspace — including altitude limits. Color shading indicates terrain elevations. GPS or FMS position, flight plan, track, speed, distance, and other data can be overlaid on the moving map, and the system is certified for IFR en route and approach operations.
Compatible position and navigation sources include Bendix/King's new KLN 94 GPS, plus the company's other, earlier KLNs — the 89B, 90B, 900, and the KLN 88 loran unit. Bendix/King says that virtually all other manufacturers' GPS receivers — with the exception of the earlier Northstar boxes — are also compatible with the MFDs, but refers customers to its authorized dealers for further information. One advantage of using the KLN 94 as a GPS source, Bendix/King says, is that holding patterns, DME arcs, and procedure turns can be portrayed on the MFD — and the 94's display screen, too.
Weather
Weather-information inputs to the IHAS 5000 system can come from a WX-500 Stormscope or future uplinks of ground-based weather radar imagery and text messaging via FIS. The IHAS 8000 lets you do all the above, as well as display the airplane's airborne weather radar imagery. Compatible airborne weather radars include the Bendix/King RDS 81, 82, 84, and 86 models, plus the RDR 2000 and 2100 vertical-profiling radars.
Stormscope imagery is accessed by simply pressing the WX function key. In the IHAS 8000 installations using the KMD 850 MFD, the WX function key can be used to toggle between on-board radar imagery and Stormscope plots; radar and Stormscope imagery can also be overlaid on each other on a single view.
As for FIS, this requires an interface module in the MFD and the IHAS' KDR 510 digital data receiver, a $5,000 package. Though not yet available, Bendix/King officials say that by the end of 2001 the KDR 510 will be TSOed. The KDR 510 "listens" to the network of 220 Honeywell-owned remote-broadcast sites (construction of the sites is beginning now; half of the sites will be up by the end of the year). These continuously transmit radar (through Honeywell's datalink weather subscription — part of Honeywell's Wingman database service) and textual weather information (free of charge). These include METARs, TAFs, sigmets, airmets, and pireps. Nexrad images, graphical sigmets and airmets, and lightning data from a national lightning data network can be uploaded on a subscription basis. The FIS network will provide coverage from 5,000 feet agl and higher when it becomes operational toward the end of this year; it's in the demonstration phase now.
Whatever source of weather information you select, it will appear on the MFD and let the pilot make tactical in-flight weather decisions. The best thing about the uplinked Nexrad imagery is its freedom from the attenuation effects that can plague smaller general aviation airborne weather radars.
Traffic
There are multiple sources of traffic information available to IHAS 5000 and 8000 operators, too. One, called at traffic advisory system (TAS), uses a Mode C interrogating unit — the $21,750 KTA 870 — with an 18-nm range. This capability lets you see any nearby airplanes broadcasting their positions with Mode S or Mode C transponders. Push the TRFC function key, and voilà — the range and relative altitude of any nearby traffic threats are shown on the MFD using standard TCAS symbology.
A traffic information service (TIS) feature is also available. This uses Bendix/King's $5,000 KT 73 datalink transponder to hook up with air traffic control radar to depict nearby air traffic on the KMD 550 or 850. TIS shows position, altitude, altitude trend, and course information on up to eight target airplanes within a chunk of airspace seven miles horizontally and 3,500 feet vertically of the TIS-equipped airplane. TIS is currently available from 80 FAA sites throughout the United States.
TCAS I and II units can also be channeled into the traffic function of the IHAS units.
And as if this weren't enough, there's still another venue for providing traffic information — a combination traffic and terrain sensor called the KMH 880. It has a traffic and terrain functionality that's a merging of enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) and the aforementioned TAS functions. In its traffic function, the unit provides TCAS I-like audible warnings and symbolic traffic depictions. By combining the two functions in one box, the KMH 880 saves weight.
Terrain
EGPWS advisories are provided to the IHAS units via either the $29,000 KMH 880, a combination traffic/terrain advisory unit, or a dedicated EGPWS-only box that Bendix/King calls the KGP 560. The KGP 560 is an FAA-approved terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) that weighs just 1.5 pounds, is the size of a paperback book, and costs $9,921. It comes with an internal GPS receiver with a database of terrain and obstacles. The unit calculates the airplane's altitude, generates audible warnings ("terrain ahead," "obstacle ahead," or "too low, terrain," to cite a few examples), and then presents threatening terrain in shades of yellow and red.
There are other audible call-outs. A "don't sink" warning sounds off should the airplane lose altitude after takeoff. "Sink rate" is called out to the pilot if a steep descent rate should occur, and, of course, the "pull up, pull up" command occurs when the EGPWS calculates that a collision with terrain or obstacles is imminent.
The bill of lading
If all these boxes and functions confuse you, it's because the IHAS units offer so many configurations and are capable of performing so many functions. If it's any comfort, bear in mind that you don't have to buy the whole works in order to realize some significant safety benefits. The IHAS concept, Bendix/King says, was built according to customer input. Pilots wanted the advantages of a wide range of information, but didn't necessarily want or need to buy all the units at once. They wanted to be able to add modules over time and have the flexibility of selecting the units of their choice. Have a WX-500 Stormscope and no radar? Then you could go with datalinked radar and FIS by the end of the year. Want traffic information but no EGPWS? Then you can choose between the KTA 870 and the KT 73.
But if you were to ante up for the full IHAS 5000 suite, needed a new GPS receiver, and wanted the integrated traffic/terrain capability, the price tag would add up to some $41,190 — assuming you already had the WX-500 Stormscope (installation and certification costs excluded).
And the breakdown for the IHAS 8000 — assuming you have no GPS, wanted the KMH 880 integrated traffic-and-terrain warning system, and needed compatible airborne weather radar — runs to $67,647.
That's a lot of money, no doubt about it. But for the foreseeable future the IHAS units appear to be the only ones capable of providing big-airplane-style warning features — complete with voice annunciation for traffic and terrain warnings — to operators of high-performance piston singles and twins. Watch for more enhancements and developments to the IHAS units as we slide into the fall months. We'll keep you posted.
E-mail the author at [email protected].
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