Kollsman and Sandel Developing EVS and SVS for Very Light Jets

Kollsman and Sandel Avionics are jointly developing new enhanced vision and synthetic vision technologies that can be used by smaller business general aviation aircraft such as the new VLJs (very light jets).

Initially, the joint effort will focus on integrating Sandel's advanced displays with Kollsman's ultra-compact HUD (head-up display), called a MicroHUD.  A follow-on program will add Kollsman's new heads-down, forward-looking infrared (FLIR) capability, named GAViS, which would give the pilot improved visibility in darkness.  In both cases, the goal is to reduce the size and cost of these advanced display technologies, making them available to corporate and general aviation.

Randy Moore, Kollsman Commercial Aviation Systems' executive vice president and general manager, showed off what the company calls its Vision-Based Cockpit at the recent NBAA convention in Orlando.

Kollsman sees VLJs as a way to introduce enhanced and synthetic vision technologies into a market that has previously been impractical.  Moore sees getting the costs of these systems lower as key to the program's success, and says Kollsman is looking to get the price of its HUD "down to half the industry-standard $100,000, and to do the same for the infrared imager."

If his company can do this, Moore believes, its new "vision-based cockpit" will be economically right for the $1.5-3.5 million VLJs.  "They are the sweet spot for this product initially, between high-end GA and mid-size corporate jets," said Moore.

GAViS is an uncooled infrared sensor mounted on the cockpit roof that injects an image directly into the HUD combiner, eliminating the projector, and allowing the display to be mounted on either the glareshield or overhead.  The display weighs less than 4.5kg (10lb), but the 150 x 100mm (6 x 4in) combiner has a 32° field of view.

Unlike Kollsman's EVS (enhanced vision) infrared camera installation, GAViS can be mounted in an aerodynamic fairing in the same way as an antenna, thereby eliminating the complexity and cost associated with modified radomes or separate fairings.

Kollsman sees certification of the GAViS occurring in mid-2006 and late 2006 for the new HUD.

In addition, Kollsman is flight-testing a combined enhanced and synthetic vision system, called ESViS, which overlays the sensor image on terrain computer-generated from an onboard database, being developed by Jeppesen.  ESViS also includes a TAWS (terrain awareness warning system) supplied by Sandel.  Its certification is expected in early 2008.  11-26-2005.

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