Avilution = Avionics For Innovators
When you’re a leading airframe innovator and designer, where do you go when you need someone to design the ‘brains’ of your new airframe? How do you find someone willing to color as far outside the conventional lines of aviation airframe design, and avionics, as you are?
For many, the answer lies with Avilution – an avionics design firm that is as innovative as the clients that seek them out.
Avilution’s founder, Mark Spencer, said that Avilution approaches avionics as a software problem rather than as a hardware problem, which gives them a lot of flexibility and allows them to bring products to market more quickly than a more traditional approach.
Avilution came to the notice of many in the industry a few years ago with their unconventional ‘UnPanel’ – first seen in the Zenith CH750 Super Duty STOL airplane. Spencer remembers that, "We approached Zenith ... and said 'OK, blue-sky, tell us about what you'd like to see' and between the two of us, we came up with different ideas about an approach that took advantage and leveraged all this technology that's available, to just dispense with everything that everybody's just inherited about airplanes and said 'if you could make an ideal interface for this kind of flying ... what would it look like?'"
Now, the projects that Avilution is developing and supporting, along both hardware and software lines, are at the forefront of aviation and aerospace progress.
In the case of Synergy Aircraft’s exotic and revolutionary physical design, Avilution had to consider the airframe’s highly unusual passenger and pilot configuration. They also had to integrate multiple systems and Synergy’s hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTS) interface. Avilution’s XFS program supported not just the layout of the cockpit but a reimagined overall pilot experience. Bright, clear, hi-res displays driven by the latest i.MX8 processors give maximum possible clarity throughout critical flight regimes. Further, electronic circuit breakers and remote mount avionics supported reducing weight as well as the ability to locate most avionics in convenient locations for weight and balance purposes.
“Being able to work out our unique requirements with Avilution made it possible to imagine and create a far more dynamic and flexible cockpit experience,” said John McGinnis, CEO of Synergy Aircraft.
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Samson Sky provided Avilution with some exceptional opportunities to adapt their design strategies. The unique roadable aircraft features retractable wings and tail for driving on conventional roadways and needed displays that could transition between road and flight operations. This necessitated custom actuators and sensors, as well as an unconventional display that will require many adaptations as the flight testing program progresses. Simply put, no commercial off the shelf (COTS) solution could keep up with what Samson needed to meet its potential. The current iteration again utilizes an ultra-wide display and a flexible configuration that can allow rapid development of new representations as Samson’s requirements evolve. Avilution is building actual gauges from graphic artist representations and then testing it against a customer-supplied flight model. Just as intriguing, the Samson program required custom synoptic pages and checklists that adapted to the radically different airframes
configuration – roadable or flight-ready.
“Avilution’s approach is aligned to help companies like Samson develop avionics solutions that help us to implement our specific vision in a way that is not available from off the shelf products,“ said Sam Bousfield, CEO of Samson and the designer of the Switchblade.
One of the most complex programs involved BETA Technologies’ eVTOL aircraft. An Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) prototype, BETA needed an engine display for eight electric motors that could also deal with decidedly atypical aircraft parameters for its custom CAN-based engine controller. And, the program required rapid delivery of an operational unit for flight testing, as there was no COTS solution to be found anywhere. The solution required Avilution to repurpose Avilution Unpanel hardware, based on an initial display configuration developed from a customer sketch and tested against a customer-supplied simulator. Avilution delivered a flight operational display to the customer within 7 days of engagement, and has supported BETA through independently modified configuration changes since the original installation.
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“XFS enabled extremely rapid development of a comprehensive flight deck for electric flight. Acutely monitoring eight experimental propulsion systems during test flight was enabled with XFS. The libraries and support enabled first flight in 10 months from project inception,” explained Kyle Clark, CEO Beta Technologies
But then again, none of this is all that difficult when it comes to the Avilution/XFS model, where unique unconventional hardware and software solutions are simply an intriguing way for the Avilution team to push the boundaries of modern aviation. After all, Avilution is truly all about ‘Avionics for Innovators.’
Did-You-Know? (Cool Facts About Avilution)
- XFS can be used to build a graphical interface for a radio, show and/or log engine monitoring system(s), or drive and monitor the state of switches and/or relays.
- The eXtended Flight System is software running on common microprocessors, updates, enhancements, and additional features are easily added due to the flexibility of the software.
- Avilution's ECBs (electronic circuit breakers) supports a robust, redundant and distributed architecture which can save significant weight by greatly reducing the number of wires required to power and control devices spread throughout an aircraft.
- Avilution's flight display technology allows modular support of buttons and screens with standard computers providing the ultimate flexibility to both the system integrator as well as the software developer.
- All of XFS is architected for resilience and will support multiple independent backup systems that can be configured for various failover modes.
- If you want a more traditional panel, Avilution builds custom, back-lit panels that are tailor made for your aircraft and mission. Instead of just fitting avionics into your panel, we design an avionics experience that integrates seamlessly with your airplane and mission.
- Avilution is developing IFR capabilities but they are not available at this time. If you have a specific application that requires IFR flight, you can contact Avilution about possible acceleration of development timelines.
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Avilution Would Like To Hear From YOU If:
- You are an avionics integrator or manufacturer with Linux experience and have an idea for the ideal panel for a particular model of airplane.
- You have any underlying elements of an Avionics system such as ADAHRS, ADSB, radios, engine sensors, electronic circuit breakers, audio panels, or any other any other cool device and would like to see support included within XFS.
- You develop displays of your own and want to know how to include XFS.
- You are a software or hardware developer with an idea for how to make flying safer or less expensive.
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