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Universal Avionics adds Fly by Sight developments
January 30, 2020 By Helicopters Staff
Universal Avionics at Heli-Expo debuted new developments in its Fly by Sight flight deck concept for the helicopter market. The company explains its Fly by Sight concept brings various flight deck technologies together in an integrated way for more intuitive head-up operation during critical phases of flight. It is designed to improve safety in low-visibility environments and mission operations. At Heli-Expo 2020, Universal Avionics (UA) announced the integration of its new software-based Interactive FMS (i-FMS) navigation system into the Fly by Sight concept.
“During last year’s Heli-Expo, we unveiled our Fly by Sight concept to helicopter operators with the InSight + ClearVision flight deck,” said Dror Yahav, CEO of UA. “We are continuing to develop and enhance our capabilities, bringing a fully functional demonstration to the show this year, featuring even more mission and life-saving operation capabilities – critical to EMS, law enforcement, and SAR operators.”
ClearVision is described by the company as a complete EFVS solution providing head-up symbology combined with enhanced vision (EVS) and synthetic 3D terrain display (SVS). It features a large field-of-view and infinite field of regard, with the high resolution SkyLens HWD and SkyVis / SkyVis NVG HMD solutions for the rotorcraft market.
UA explains the InSight Display System is designed for all helicopter missions, from IFR and low visibility to low altitude and special mission operations. The flight deck solution includes high-resolution LCD displays with 3D Synthetic Vision System (SVS) and 2D Topographical Moving Maps for enhanced situational awareness. InSight also features pilot-selectable screen layouts, a graphical user interface, and advanced radio control.
The i-FMS is a software-based FMS designed on a flexible and open architecture system which can be hosted on a variety of hardware platforms. It enables new concepts in Human Machine Interface (HMI) such as augmenting head-down displays with ClearVision Head-Up Displays (HUD) and HWD, allowing pilots to Fly by Sight.
UA states integration between the InSight Display System and ClearVision EFVS system greatly improves the way pilots fly – day and night, particularly in degraded visual environments. Utilizing the SkyLens HWD or SkyVis / SkyVis Night Vision Goggle (NVG) HMD, pilots are offered what the company describes as a real-world view of terrain and obstacles, and enhanced safety in limited visibility with Fly by Sight operations. The cockpit suite provides a head-up, head-down solution for enhanced safety.
The addition of i-FMS is designed to enhance this head-up time in high workload environments, explains UA, enabling the pilot to conduct critical functions via head-up technologies instead of relying on head-down displays. The company states the system is specifically designed to make operations more intuitive, made possible by integrating the head-up display with key FMS functionality.
