Air Transport

Thales’ iDeck will help get pilots working together, says the electronics specialist’s A350 programme director Arnaud Rame.

iDeck is a cockpit display system that the French supplier has developed for advanced simulation and prototyping.

“We have been working on the A350 iDeck for 15-months, before we were even selected by Airbus,” explains Rame.

At the heart of the cockpit for the A350 XWB are six flat panel screens and a key element is that the EFB is no longer separate from the safety-critical data. This means the A350 XWB will be the first aircraft that can switch this EFB data from display to display. 

Crucially, it can be switched into the lower central MFD. This not only eases workload but it also reduces weight, because there is no need for a separate computer to power the Openworld elements.

“This means the captain and the first officer can work off of the same information,” explains Rame.

Another feature to make life easier for pilots is the TaxiCam and airport navigation.  The system can replace a single PFD with the camera feeds and the moving map-style airport navigation. As a safety feature the system will only allow a single display to have this information.

The first officer can manipulate the EFB information and the captain can then mirror the display, making crew co-operation a little easier.

Another first for this cockpit is laptop docking. The pilot will be able to plug his or her laptop into the aircraft and the information from the computer can be displayed on the outer left or outer right panels.

The iDeck system has already been tested by more than 100 Airbus employees and, according to Rame, Airbus is aiming to certify the aircraft so that it can be despatched with the two outer screens being unserviceable.

“The screens are all identical, reducing the part numbers,” adds Rame.