Garmin's Synthetic Vision System Heralds A New Age For GA!

ANN, as you read last month, was privileged to finally be able to talk about something we've known about for a while... real-live Synthetic Vision for GA. As amazing as the concept may be, the reality is even more so. Garmin got this right... and right from the start. During a flight in an SVT-equipped DA40-XL, Aero-TV flew checked out each of the now-certified features of the G1000's SVT capabilities... Highway In The Sky, Obstacle Clearance, Terrain Avoidance, Traffic Alerts... you name it... and came away feeling like the state of the art in the general aviation industry has just been raised by an astounding degree.

And if you can wait about 24 hours, for the next Special Edition of Aero-TV, you'll see that they're not remotely done yet... but we can't say anymore about that... yet.

Garmin's Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT), is designed to fully integrate with the G1000... both present and past models. Garmin's SVT presents a 3D depiction of terrain, obstacles and traffic on the G1000's primary flight-display (PFD) so that the avionics panel replicates what pilots would see outside the cockpit on a clear day.

Garmin's SVT blends information about the aircraft's position with topographic databases to create and display real-time 3D images. The information is presented on the G1000's large flight displays with XGA (1,024x768-pixel) resolution, superior sunlight readability and wide viewing angles. SVT presents the necessary information in ways that are easy to understand so pilots feel at ease interpreting the information.

The foundation of SVT is the depiction of 3D terrain, which is displayed on the PFD(s). Land, water and sky are clearly differentiated with shading and textures that are similar to the topographical colors found on the multi-function display (MFD) moving map. SVT works seamlessly to alert pilots of potential ground hazards by displaying terrain and obstacles which pose a threat to the aircraft with appropriate TAWS alert coloring.

Those flying with a TAWS-B enabled (optional) G1000 avionics suite also have the benefit of receiving voice alerts. Terrain warnings are also depicted on the MFD with a traditional, color-coded "X" symbol.  If the aircraft does not have TAWS-B enabled, reduced capability AC 23-26 compliant terrain alerting is included with SVT.

Pilots will also appreciate SVT's pathways, or Highway-In-The-Sky (HITS) guidance. Depicted as 3D "flying rectangles", pathway guidance symbols help pilots stay on course when flying en route legs, VNAV legs, GPS/WAAS vertical approach procedures, ILS approach procedures, and arrival and departure procedures.  When on an ILS approach, pilots will take advantage of Garmin's patent-pending system whereby SVT relies on ILS signals to position the pathway. Therefore, when pilots fly through the SVT boxes on an ILS approach, they will automatically fly the precision glideslope. Pathways may be enabled or disabled via a PFD softkey.

SVT also brings MFD enhancements. At the nose of the MFD's aircraft graphic, pilots will see the field of view scan (45-degrees lateral scan) and flight path predictor that displays the aircraft's anticipated flight path.

SVT is expected to be available on G900X-equipped aircraft by July 2008, and on the G1000 King Air C90 retrofit in 2009. Integration of SVT into existing G1000 systems or yet-to-be-delivered G1000 equipped aircraft is being coordinated with each aircraft manufacturer.

Come Fly Along With Aero-TV As We Test
Garmin's Amazing Synthetic Vision Technology

About Aero-TV: It's DEFINITELY Show Time!!!!

OK, folks, here we go... we are NOW initiating the first feature programming series for Aero-TV... we're going to take it slow, but we're also going to try and be steady about this. DO UNDERSTAND that this is the most complex media program we've ever undertaken and what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg... but from here on out, we will be doing our best to educate, inform, and entertain YOU about all aspects of the exciting worlds of aviation and aerospace. 

If you've been an observer of the media and associated media industries over the last few years, it's not hard to mistake the fact that a massive revolution is taking place. Old sources for news and information are falling by the wayside, having to change their modus operandi or risk obsolescence (or extinction). Electronic media and print media are both under the assault of progress, and the online world has been a cornerstone for revolutionary change.

We've been ready to go for a while, but to be honest, there's so much more to this program than we've alluded to, and so we've been building and planning a massive new organization within ANN. That said, we're hiring talented new people as fast as we can find them (a far more difficult task than we had imagined -- REALLY good people are hard to find), and we're brainstorming at speeds that would make a deorbiting Space Shuttle feel like a slug. Suffice it to say that we wanted to do this right, rather than right-now, and that the development of this program has been the most carefully pursued undertaking we've ever undertaken. 

E-I-C Note: The complete feature shown above is embedded in this story, with most of the slick and useful functionality otherwise available on the main Aero-TV site (which will be upgraded aggressively over the next few weeks). The ability to embed a video on another web page is but one of the hundreds of amazing little features that we've worked hard on, for many months now, to implement in different phases of the initial release of Aero-TV. It is, BY NO MEANS, the only way to enjoy unaltered Aero-TV programming on other parts of the web... as we have extensive plans for future functionality, but this feature allows those with an interest in a specific Aero-TV News or Feature program to embed it on a different web site, though we must note that we reserve the right to forbid such use for those sites or purposes that we do not feel fit in with the proper mission of the Aero-News Network, Inc.  

Webmasters or Administrators of well-trafficked aviation or aerospace related sites, are welcome to contact the Publisher to start conversations on how they may be able to leverage some of the immense power of Aero-TV programming for their sites and constituency by clicking the I Want Aero-TV For MY Website! link.

Coming Soon!

Aero-TV Presents An EXTENSIVE Look At All The Wonders of the 2008 AEA Convention, And Takes A GOOD Look At Honeywell's KFD840 and KNS770!, Checking Out the Cirrus SR20, Seeing What It Takes to "Compete" As An AMT, Looks At The FAA FAASTeam Program, Updates On The Garmin 495, Flying The Piper Matrix, Hears What's Hot At Blue Mountain Avionics, Gets Some GREAT Rotax Lessons, Gets Updated On ALL Things Lopresti, Has A FUN Chat With Corkey Fornof, Sees What Happens When AMTs Compete, Checks Out The Ltest in Life-Raft Technologies, Checks Out More "HIGH" Tech at I/ITSEC 2007, Hears From AOPA On Critical Aviation Issues, Spills Some Juicy (and HIGHLY Detailed) Cirrus G3 Info, Scores A BUNCH of LSA Reports, and SO MUCH MORE!!!!! Do NOT Miss Them!

FMI: www.garmin.com/aviation, www.aero-tv.net, I Want Aero-TV For MY Website!, I'd Like To Join The ANN/Aero-TV Team!!!, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork