GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
FLIR Systems will supply infrared sensors and become strategic investor
Infrared imager specialist FLIR Systems has become a strategic investor in Max-Viz, a new US company developing enhanced vision systems (EVS) for corporate and commercial aircraft. FLIR will also supply infrared (IR) sensors for Max-Viz's high-end RVR-Max System 2000 EVS. Both companies are based in Portland, Oregon.
Max-Viz plans to certificate the System 2000 EVSin December, says Jean Menard, director of corporate sales. Flight testing for aircraft supplemental type-certification is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year, although the initial application has yet to be determined, he says.
The System 2000 fuses imagery from uncooled short-wave and long-wave IR sensors for presentation on a head-up display (HUD). Menard says the dual-sensor approach combines short-wave IR's ability to detect runway lights with long-wave IR's better weather penetration and terrain imaging. Uncooled sensors are cheaper, smaller, require less power and are more reliable than cryogenically cooled IR imagers, he says.
Max-Viz plans to certificate its EVS for Category II approaches to Cat I-equipped runways, the system reducing decision height on the approach from 200ft to 100ft (60m to 30m). This is the certification achieved by Gulfstream last year for its pioneering EVS. The system will work with any raster-scanned HUD, but flight testing has involved displays from neighbouring RockwellCollins FlightDynamics, Menard says.
The System 2000 EVS is priced at $350,000 installed. Max-Viz is also working on a system to provide a view of taxiways and runways in reduced visibility. The $100,000 Taxi-Max System 1000 is a long-wave IR sensor installed in the aircraft's fin cap or radome, providing a 40° horizontal by 30° vertical image on a head-down display. Flight testing by a French aircraft manufacturer is due in June, with certification scheduled for July.
Max-Viz was formed by ex-employees of BAE Systems Canada, now CMC Electronics. Now an independent company, Quebec-based CMC is continuing its EVS development and last month received C$16.9 million ($10.5 million) in Canadian government support for projects including EVS. The repayable investment will partially fund a C$56 million research and development effort covering enhanced vision, aeronautical communication and satellite navigation systems.
CMC plans to certificate its IR-EVS late this year, says business development director Rick Beasley. The system uses a cooled dual-band infrared sensor and is the first element in a modular architecture. The next will be an imaging millimetre-wave radar, flight testing of which is scheduled to begin early next year. The third step will involve fused IR and radar, to which synthetic imagery generated from a terrain database will be added, as the fourth step.
Source: Flight International