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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 0015.PDF
FLIGHT International, I January 1977 13 a D 3 i a Avionics Redifon laser visuals for USIM Franco-US link-up A FRENCH-DEVELOPED flight-deck display system is to be modified to conform with US production stan dards, following an agreement between Thomson-CSF and Bendix. The display embodies colour cathode- ray tubes (CRTs) on which raster and cursive symbology can be presented. Developed for military use by Thom son-CSF, it will be adapted to US commercial specifications and licence- built by Bendix. Joint development and marketing will continue once licence production has begun, but Ben dix will retain rights in the US and Canada. Several development studies have shown that CRTs are likely to figure prominently on future commercial and military flight decks. The launch ing of a new type is regarded as a prerequisite for the appearance of such displays in commercial airliners, however, and development has been slowed up by a lack of suitable colour systems. Cossor SSR in Hong Kong A SECONDARY SURVEILLANCE RADAR (SSR) has been installed in Hong Kong. Costing about £1 million, the system was supplied by Cossor Electronics and became operational in early December. Dual-channel SSR 700 interrogator/receiver and plot- extraction equipment has been in stalled at an autonomous site at Mount Parker on Hong Kong Island. Information is transmitted from Mount Parker by radio link to the data-processing and display system at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport. Three display consoles have been supplied, but there is no limit on the number which the plot-extraction system can serve. Each console has a 22in-diameter horizontal radar display and is viewed by two con trollers sitting opposite one another. This has led to an unusual arrange ment whereby every aircraft has two identical labels, one of which is in verted. Labels are thus immediately legible to either controller. The carrying of SSR transponders has been mandatory since July 1, 1976, for all aircraft (except helicop ters and light aircraft) operating in the Hong Kong flight information region. REDIFON Flight Simulation is build ing a scanned-laser simulator visual system under $1-5 million contract from the United States Naval Train ing Establishment Centre (NTEC). The scanned-laser technique is said to offer better resolution and a wider field of view than current displays. The system, due to be completed within 21 months of receipt of con tract, will also be evaluated by the US Army. The prototype will embody a small- scale model illuminated by a moving laser located at the aircraft's com puted position. The model will be viewed not by a camera, but through a bank of photo-multipliers mounted above it. Measuring 18ft by 40ft, the initial model will be viewed by 30 photo-multipliers, comprising three groups of ten sensitive to red, green and blue light respectively. The laser illuminator scans on the raster principle, and the prototype will produce up to 5,000 lines per scan at a refresh rate of 30 times per second. Field of view will be 180° in azimuth by 60° in elevation. Light detected by the photo-multipliers will be processed to build up image in formation for the laser projector, mounted above the pilot's head and synchronised with the laser illumina tor. Photo-multiplier processing re sembles conventional television image-generation, although many un usual effects have to be accounted for as several detectors gather light from overlapping regions. Minute time dif ferences occur when light from a given point is detected by different photo-multipliers, and so the speed of light is involved in some com putations. The system may find its first appli cation in a helicopter simulator. Laser visuals could perform par ticularly well in the simulation of helicopter "nap of the earth" flying, an area in which present techniques are severely limited. The simulation of low-level strike operations is also seen as a likely scanned-laser applica tion. Also announced by Redifon is a Lufthansa order for two Monoview display systems. Monoview serves the pilot only, and is based on conven tional closed-circuit television. The systems, to be delivered this summer, will be attached to 707 and A300B simulators which are already in service with the airlink. Doppler VOR for Norway PLESSEY NAVAIDS is. to install a Doppler VOR (DVOR) in Norway. The £100,000 equipment will be located at Drammen, near Oslo, and will serve Oslo Airport. Plessey claims that DVOR showed many advantages over conventional VOR in compara tive studies carried out by the Nor wegian Aviation Authority, mainly British Army gets advanced helicopter communications THE FIRST example of a new air borne communication and homing system has been delivered to the British Army by Marconi-Elliott's Airadio Division. The ARC 340 is claimed to be most advanced system of its type in the world and will be installed in the Gazelle and Lynx and other helicopters. Several communi cation channels can be worked simul taneously, and communications per formance remains unimpaired if the set is used as a homing device. The equipment first flew 15 months after receipt of the contract, and flight development was carried out jointly with Westland Helicopters and the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The electronics display covered by a recent development agreement between Thomson- CSF and Bendix (see news story) can provide either a TV display from a forward-looking camera, or radar data because the former is less affected by the uneven terrain which sur rounds the site. It is also said to offer greater signal accuracy and integrity. The equipment will be installed in a custom-built structure which will raise the beacon's base above the surrounding treetops, and should enter service this year.
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