AEA New Product Roundup

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At this year’s Aircraft Electronics Association show in New Orleans, a number of new products were announced, albeit no major ones for the end user. Here’s a summary of what we saw at the show.

Cabin entertainment and data systems are a significant part of the avionics industry and AEA never fails to deliver new products in this segment. One of them comes from FDS Avionics in the form of Glass Cabin. Using a tablet or smartphone, it allows passengers to point the device in any direction and see a high-resolution moving map based on aircraft position. The so-called DO2D system also operates on bulkhead displays. See a demo video on the FDS website.

Such systems aren’t exactly new so some of them are looking a little dated. To freshen them up, Alto Aviation announced a modular switching system that updates and modernizes older cabin control panels. See them at Alto’s website.

LED technology continues to advance rapidly, and inevitably, those products are finding their way into aircraft. At AEA, AeroLEDs announced that it has no fewer than 15 new aircraft LED applications, including several large landing light replacements for incandescent lamps. The company has also announced an LED replacement for the common 7512 bulb found as navigation lights on many aircraft. These lamps have up to 75 percent lower power consumption and longer life, according to AeroLEDs. Also new is the AEROSUN CX for Cessna 100 and 200 series aircraft. For detailed specs on the new lamps, see the AeroLEDs website.

Trans-Cal is a well-known manufacturer of altitude encoders and although this technology remains unsung, it’s also indispensable. At AEA, the company announced a new encoder the company calls The SSD120-(XX)C-(X) or “Charlie” for short. The encoder, says the company, has a smaller form factor and, something rare in aviation, a lower price. See the details here.

Although new manufacture airplanes have 28-volt electrical systems, many older models still retain 14-volt systems. To run 28-volt avionics on those systems, you need a D-to-DC converter. Mid-Continent Instruments + Avionics rolled out a new one called the TC230. It has overload, short-circuit and reverse-polarity protection and is rated at 230 watts. See more at https://www.mcico.com. Find another DC-to-DC converter from Swiss-based Kuerzi Avionics. It converts inputs from 10 to 48 volts to selectable outputs of 5, 14 or 28 volts DC. Kuerzi’s site has all the specs.

Law enforcement, survey and traffic pilots have their hands full handling not only aircraft radios, but multiple agency frequencies as well. At AEA, two companies introduced products to help with that high-stress task. PS Engineering announced the PAC45 audio control system that can handle up to six radios and seven intercom stations, to just skim its capabilities. The device also has Bluetooth capability for music and telephone interfaces. PS Engineering’s website has all the details.

From Jupiter Avionics comes the JA-10-001, which can handle up to eight radios and the JA-95-070, which can control five, complete with split audio capability, audio levels and intercom controls. See the details at Jupiter’s website.

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