Paul wrote:
That appears to be a EFIS only and not a 3D topo moving map.
The idea here is to incorporate the attitude gyro display into
the 3D topo moving map display so you get exactly what you would see
if you looked out of the window.
Hans Conser wrote:
Paul did we look at the same website? From their website:
Test pilots have called the display "virtual VFR" because what is shown on the
screen is what you see (or can't see) out the window.
*Real-time 3-D terrain modeling based on USGS database
*Real-time 3-D towers, antennae, and obstructions
From their press coverage page:
"We flew in a 5-mile haze just north of Atwater, and I watched the display begin to
show the Sierra foothills before I could actually see them outside. "
Paul wrote:
No need for a attitude gyro except for backup and perhaps data to the computer.
You *have* to have the gyro so the computer knows what view to give you right?
I don't see any slot for a CD drive. So no 3D topo data.
They use a smart media instead of a CD, why I do not know. Space requirements
maybe?
Smart media is not a software distribution standard. CD's are software
distribution standards. A bunch of floppy disk will also work.
Probably not PC compatible either so that rules it out for my use.
They use a Pentium 333 with a 4.3 gig HD, I don't know enough to know if that means
compatible or not.
The processor is right but you need a mouse or some other pointing device,
a 101 key keyboard or equivalent and a CD reader to get PC software in. Also the
system must be running at least Windows 95.
I am unwilling to lock myself into their software.
Fair enough. If it is easy to put together system like that may be a great
business opportunity, it seems to be where things are going. It seems like their
software is very configurable, and could save a ton of panel space, besides the
obvious safety advantages of "virtual VFR".
I have not heard that GPS has a problem with rain. Different frequency
than TV. Are you sure it is not rain on the dish that causes the problem.
Definitely, I have had C and Ku band signal totally gone when the dish was dry and
there was weather between it and the satelite. I don't know anything about the GPS
frequency, but water is pretty dense stuff to punch RF through. Thats why subs
have to use super long wavelengths. I forget what the satelite freqs were, but I
believe they were in the low Gigahertz range.
I never had any trouble talking to ATC in the rain and a lot of airline pilots
do it all the time. My FM radio works fine when it is raining. Course this
is not C or Ku band. Dead reckoning is not hard for software to do while
the GPS is sending invalid data. Notice that there is a check sum at the
end of every GPS line. Your GPS knows when the data is not good and the program
can check that valid data flag and DR in the meantime.
Please straighten me out if I am confused, but I think the SFS unit does have 3D
topo maps like you envision.
Hans Conser
Bozeman, Montana
(Too dry here to disrupt any RF)
More from their website:
The primary flight display (PFD) combines pitot-static information from an
airdata computer, attitude and heading data from a solid state three-axis gyro,
and position input
from a GPS receiver (included) to generate a state-of-the-art display. This
display utilizes military-style flight path marker symbology with skyway
(highway-in-the-sky)
navigation for waypoints and approaches. The flight path marker, which displays
your projected flight path, allows you to guide your aircraft through a 3-D
series of "boxes"
on the screen - easily, safely, and accurately to the destination.
The PFD also displays real-time 3-D terrain modeling, airspeed, groundspeed,
altitude, altitude above ground,
density altitude, vertical speed, angle of attack, heading, decision height,
actual winds aloft, crosswind component, OAT, and timers.
I'll take another look Hans but without PC compatibility it would
not be something I would buy. This is a long standing thing with me back to the
days when IBM owned the computer world and you were married to them
lock stock and software with no, nada, none, possibility of divorce.
I NEVER want to go through that again!!!!
Paul Lamar
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