Arnav adds engine monitoring to its capable displays
Arnav Systems, a small and innovative company located in Puyallup, Washington, offers a dazzling array of capabilities in its three cockpit displays, the 5-inch MFD (multifunction display) 5200, the 10-inch ICDS (integrated cockpit display system) 2000, and a primary flight display (attitude and heading reference information) housed in a dedicated 10-inch ICDS 2000. The navigation displays accept information from all GPS or loran navigation radios.
The multifunction displays offer a wide variety of information, including a new program called EngineView that Arnav officials believe will help them leap ahead of the competition. Prices of the product line range from $6,995 for the MFD 5200 to $29,995 *or the primary flight display ICDS 2000.
Two ICDS 2000 units, one a multifunction display and the other the primary flight display, can replace everything in the panel except radios. Called a "full glass" system (the screens are actually active-matrix liquid crystal displays), the two are available for $49,995. The primary flight display is expected to be certified in late 2002, but can be used prior to certification in Experimental category aircraft.
The bells and whistles
Three Arnav customers used their personal aircraft in Puyallup to demonstrate display features during two flights for AOPA Pilot. All have played a role in the development of the products. Jim Hill, an airline pilot, flew his Cessna 180 that is equipped with an MFD 5200, while Cirrus SR20 owners Peter Morton and Del Fadden, both retired Boeing engineers, demonstrated the ICDS 2000 in flight. All new Cirrus SR20 and SR22 aircraft are equipped with ICDS 2000 multifunction moving-map displays.
Fadden and Morton praised the new EngineView engine analyzer during a test flight from Puyallup's Pierce County-Thun Field, where Arnav is located. "We have already gained fuel efficiency by having all cylinder information available. We [previously] were reluctant to lean beyond best power without the additional information provided by EngineView," Morton said.
EngineView presents cylinder head and exhaust gas temperatures, oil pressure, oil temperature, rpm, manifold pressure, fuel flow, and outside air temperature. Linking to the on-board navigation system, the program derives miles per gallon, fuel remaining, fuel-to-waypoint, fuel-to-destination, and range. The engine data and fuel pages are displayed in a window located on the left side of the display.
An EngineView data option provides full-time recording of all engine data, but also records latitude, longitude, and altitude that can be used for a playback of tracking data after the flight. This has been useful to pilots accused of violating special-use airspace. The system will log up to 170 hours of data in normal operations. The data is recorded on a card in the ICDS 2000 and can be downloaded to a personal computer. EngineView costs $4,495, not including installation. Installation costs are based on an estimated 30 hours to install an initial Arnav display. It takes an estimated 20 hours to retrofit EngineView to existing Arnav systems, because of the need to install probes and sensors in the aircraft.
Arnav weather demonstrated
Hill demonstrated weather overlay capabilities during the flight in his Cessna 180. Arnav has a government contract to broadcast weather, called WxLink. This is the weather broad-cast portion of the Arnav Aeronautical Network (AAN): 110 ground sites will comprise AAN. Approximately 60 percent of the sites have been completed.
Still in its build-up phase, WxLink VHF coverage extends to most of the aviation corridors in the eastern United States, with partial coverage of the Central and Northwest regions and Alaska. There are plans to add broadcast towers soon in California. The Arnav weather receiver costs $1,995.
Many of the weather products available through WxLink are free, including airport weather, pilot reports, significant weather warnings, notices to airmen, and terminal area forecasts. The weather products provided by subscription include Nexrad composite radar graphics, winds aloft graphical reports, and additional significant weather reports including three-dimensional turbulence and icing graphics. A weather subscription costs $495 for 13 months.
Clear or colored boxes (depending on weather conditions) depict present conditions at airports, while three-level Nexrad weather (areas of green, yellow, or red) shows precipitation. During a demonstration of the system in the Arnav laboratory, precipitation coverage appeared to be significant in Texas, although individual airports beneath the precipitation were reporting cloudy but still VFR conditions. WxLink .eather is updated every 10 minutes.
Pilots can call up weather for any.-"here in the nation while in flight or default to weather along their route. Honeywell, Garmin, and UPS displays will eventually be able to display weather broadcast to aircraft by Arnav, according to Arnav officials.
Other display capabilities
In the Cirrus installations, pilots can view the pilot operating handbook on the Arnav displays along with simplified versions of the aircraft's checklists. In addition to weather and engine information, the displays can provide two-way messaging, terrain warning, navigation, a moving map, and an interface to Goodrich WX-500 Stormscope lightning data. In the near future, the displays will also show Goodrich Skywatch traffic data.
During one of the demonstration flights, Arnav control room technicians sent a "Have a good flight" message up over the VHF datalink, and, when this editor lingered too long aloft aboard the Cirrus aircraft, a more urgent "It's time for lunch" message was sent. Messages are generally two lines, and can be created by the pilot, one character at a time using display buttons to move a cursor. Automatic position reporting is accomplish-ed by the ground station, which interrogates the aircraft's datalink system every five seconds.
The terrain warning feature is predictive, projecting a line 60 miles ahead and comparing natural and manmade obstacles from its database with the aircraft's altitude. Arnav engineers chose a 60-mile range because light aircraft may require that much distance to outclimb mountains in the western United States. Warnings are displayed by a rectangle on the screen showing an aircraft icon and bars ahead of it to depict terrain. Red bars rise above the level of the icon and indicate unsafe terrain. Since Puyallup is within sight of several mountains, including the 14,410-foot Mount Rainier, the display was generally red during the demonstration flights.
Buttons are easy to use
The intimidating thing about most glass cockpits is the number of buttons around the edge of the screen. Arnav has cured button phobia with icons. For example, a square with a lightning bolt in it, located beside one of the %uttons, turns the lightning data display on and off. Another showing depictions of runways provides hot-key access to waypoint information. A box showing an airplane and a check mark means that pushing the closest button will bring up a checklist. A square with an open door and the letter M identifies the menu button — your door to the display's features.
The menu button provides access to all functions of the display. These include: waypoint information, distance, scale, slew, recenter, checklist, and display options.
During the demonstration flight near Puyallup, I was able with little prompting to pull up and view weather for airports on the East Coast, despite lack of experience with the unit. The type of waypoint desired is first accessed by choosing A for airports, I for intersections, and so on. A list of letters used for types of waypoints appears on the search screen to relieve the user from having to memorize the system.
Map features can be toggled on or off from a menu listing such items as airways, obstacles, geography, special-use airspace, and terrain.
Primary flight display
The primary flight display provides an artificial horizon, an HSI, airline-style ribbon indicators showing airspeed and altitude, percent of power used, and a predictive vertical speed indicator that shows altitudes seconds into the future (and a one-minute warning to ground level) — based on current trends.
A three-axis autopilot is built into the display, something Arnav had not announced prior to the Pilot visit. It requires a servo package that is also sold by Arnav. While the primary flight display comes with the autopilot feature included, the autopilot is not activated unless the servo package is installed.
Just for good measure, there are also indicators for flap and gear positions.
Arnav, a pioneer
Arnav has been involved in several pioneering efforts launched by NASA and the FAA to make flying safer. The company's representatives chaired a NASA program to design future general aviation systems and contributed heavily to the low-altitude air traffic control system used by helicopters during the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. The company also led the way in the development and acceptance of liquid crystal displays, datalink, and in-cockpit weather information.
Arnav is also involved in a NASA program called Aviation Weather Information Network (AWIN) to verify the accuracy and precision of transmitted weather products and to evaluate their use to improve decision making by pilots. NASA chose two teams, one of them led by Arnav and including Cessna Aircraft and Federal Express.
GA and the military are markets
The company sees military transports and owner-flown aircraft as its primary marketing targets. More than 500 Arnav displays have been purchased by owners of Piper Malibus and Beech King Airs, Bonanzas, and Barons. An owner of a fleet of Cessna Caravans uses EngineView to record and transmit engine data daily to engine manufacturer Pratt and Whitney. Because of the close monitoring, Pratt & Whitney is willing to allow an engine to go past TBO if the data indicates that the engine s performing well.
Arnav invites its customers to log on to its broadcast system over the Internet to see the same weather graphics they will see in the cockpit. It is very helpful to make a quick check of the national picture from your home before committing to a drive to the airport. It's just another sign that Arnav has not only pioneered datalink and display technology in the past, but plans to continue doing so.
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