CO detectors grow up
Engine monitoring, data recording added
July 28, 2016
By Mike Collins
Guardian Avionics, which got its start in 2003 making carbon monoxide detectors for aircraft, is adding more capabilities to its popular line of cockpit mounts for Apple iPads. The company has launched its iFDR 650 and iFDR 680 Connected Cockpit, which add flight data and voice recording to an iPad-based multifunction display. They also include USB power and, of course, CO detection capabilities.
“It’s a connected cockpit panel,” said Ash Vij, Guardian’s president and founder.
The remote-mounted iFDR 680 offers dual serial ports, dual USB ports, and five RS-232 data inputs. The system will pass engine data from, for example, a JPI engine monitor and display it on an iPad. It also will capture GPS position and speed from the aircraft’s data bus. The iFDR 680 includes built-in Bluetooth to display the information wirelessly on an iPad. It can be located on the back of a Guardian iPad mount.
The iFDR 650 offers the same capabilities in a panel-mounted unit with two USB ports on its face. Currently available only for experimental aircraft, both are priced at $899.
A companion iFDR app records engine data and uploads it to the cloud at the end of each flight, when the iPad connects to the Internet. Audio recording is done by the iPad itself. “We saw that people really want to install [iPad tablets] in the cockpit,” Vij said. “The whole goal is to see how easy we can make it for a customer to install an iPad in the cockpit.”
Also new are USB power sources. The iFDR Power 250 Series includes a panel-mount dual USB port, a remote-mount dual USB port, and a remote-mount power port that mounts behind Guardian’s panel-mount units for the iPad Mini and iPad Air. They, too, currently are available only for aircraft in the experimental category.
For more information, visit the Guardian Avionics website.
Mike Collins
Technical Editor
Mike Collins, AOPA technical editor and director of business development, died at age 59 on February 25, 2021. He was an integral part of the AOPA Media team for nearly 30 years, and held many key editorial roles at AOPA Pilot, Flight Training, and AOPA Online. He was a gifted writer, editor, photographer, audio storyteller, and videographer, and was an instrument-rated pilot and drone pilot.
