Touch-Screen Navigation, Com Panel, ADS-B Compliant Transponder In The Package

Avidyne  introduced a full line of panel-mounted, plug-and-play avionics for general aviation aircraft at EAA AirVenture on Monday. Avidyne’s new avionics stack includes the IFD540 FMS/GPS/ Navigation/ Communication system with touch screen user interface, the AMX240 stereo Audio Panel with Marker Beacon, the AXP340 Mode S Extended Squitter (ES) Transponder, and the attitude-based DFC90 Digital Autopilot.

Each of these products is designed to be a plug-and-play replacement for previous generation avionics systems, while adding significant performance, ease-of-use, and safety enhancements. The IFD540 is a plug-and-play replacement for the popular GNS530 series navigators, the AMX240 is a plug-and-play replacement for the GMA340 and PMA8000 series audio panels, the AXP340 is a plug-and-play replacement for existing KT76A/KT78A transponders, and the DFC90 is currently certified as a plug-and-play replacement for the STEC55X autopilot.

“Pilots and industry experts around the world have continually cited Avidyne as the ‘ease of use’ winner over our competitors in virtually every product category where we have had head-to-head evaluations, and these new panel-mounted products will set the bar even higher for innovation and overall ease of use,” said Patrick Herguth, Avidyne’s Chief Operating Officer. “Installation is always a significant cost contributor with any avionics upgrade, so we decided early on to offer plug-and-play solutions that can reduce the overall cost of acquisition and enhance value for many of our customers.”

Dan Schwinn

“We are applying our leadership in innovation to develop panel-mounted avionics that really improve the flying experience for pilots, just as we changed the market with our radar-replacement MFDs in the late 90s, and with big-glass PFDs in the early 2000s,” said Dan Schwinn, Avidyne’s President and CEO. “Avidyne’s new panel-mounted avionics line comes as a result of significant investments in core next-generation integrated avionics technologies—built on our versatile peer-to-peer data bus backbone that will allow us to be very competitive in this market for years to come with gamechanging, safety-enhancing products that pilots love to fly.

While there was no announcement concerning touch-screen capability for installed R9 avionics, Schwinn said that the IFD540 is essentially a miniaturized R9, and that "the technology would be going back and forth" with a lot of cross pollination between the R9 and IFD540 products.

Schwinn said that while recent uncertainty revolving around the FAA has already caused the certification date on all of the new products to slide, the agency's stamp of approval is expected to come in 2012. "We just have to pull it through the knothole," he said.

FMI: www.avidyne.com