special report

just a few years ago. The bad news is that “high two of those and you’ve got something approaching speed” is a relative term. Internet respectability. Cabin electronics Inmarsat and its partners refer to Swift64 as provid- The main suppliers of Swift64 and SwiftBroadband ing an in-flight high-speed Internet connection, calling it claim that it will be possible to convert the Swift64 keep passengers Swift64 to reflect the data exchange rate of 64 kbps. But equipment to SwiftBroadband with simple software up- the fact is, 64 kbps is fast only when compared to what it grades once the higher bandwidth services become was several years ago. When compared with equipment available. On the other hand, Inmarsat has said it may connected and available in the typical ground-bound office, better ask require special SwiftBroadband hardware, which would how “slow” it is rather than how “fast” it is. In fact, most mean sending the Swift64 box back to the manufacturer Swift64 customers are opting for dual- or quadruple- for an upgrade. entertained channel systems. And even at the more “civilized” rate Alas, no one seems to know what the price of Swift- of 256 kbps, it is a fraction of that of the typical office Broadband service will be. Swift64 currently costs by Kirby J. Harrison connection in which access speeds of three to five about $8 or more per minute for so-called circuit-mode megabytes per second are common. That’s about 46 to data, which refers to a connection that is always on. or a long time–too long some say–the industry 78 times faster than a DSL or cable modem connection. Company officials have hinted the per-minute pricing has been struggling to give passengers on corpo- Midcoast Aviation, a major completion and refur- for SwiftBroadband could drop to levels that would rate aircraft the same business and entertainment bishment center in Cahokia, Ill., has completed more stop the erosion of Inmarsat’s voice-calling business to tools at 41,000 feet that they enjoy at home or in than a dozen Swift64 installations, according to director competitor Iridium–about $1.50 a minute for calls their offices. And the truth is it’s going to take a of avionics Bob Staples. placed anywhere in the world through its network. That little longer. The reasons are multiple–size, Buyers of the multi-channel systems, said Staples, is considerably lower than the $9 to $12 per minute that weightf and power considerations; logistical complica- have higher levels of satisfaction than those who opted Inmarsat can cost. tions unique to airborne environments; and the addi- for a single-channel system. tional complexity of certifying the equipment to meet But do not despair. SwiftBroadband (not to be con- Coming Soon to a Smaller Business Jet FAA requirements. fused with the Australian telecommunications com- While the size of the satellite antenna that must be Take high-speed Internet access, for example. The pany of the same name) expects to bring its new installed atop the tail limits Inmarsat Swift services to good news is that it’s a lot closer to reality than it was 432-kbps in-flight system on line later this year. Bond larger business jets, that seems to be changing and there

20aaAviation International News • February 2006 • www.ainonline.com are whispers that some equipment might fit signals just as a flat-surface phased-array Rockwell Collins and Boeing have an- airplanes as small as a King Air. antenna does. But at higher latitudes, as nounced an agreement to provide broad- According to EMS Satcom strategic mar- the satellite signal strength is degraded, the band data exchange for the corporate keting manager Alan Mak, future antenna antenna opens in a manner similar to Ve- aviation market with the rollout of Collins technology is a key piece of the puzzle that netian blinds into individual panels. Even eXchange, an Inmarsat rival. It will com- will allow manufacturers to bring true high- so, it comes in a relatively small package bine the real-time satellite communications speed-data service to a much broader range and has low power requirements. capabilities of Connexion by Boeing broad- of airplanes. EMS Satcom is among those. The company claims that data transfer band network with Collins Airshow 21 X can reach data speeds from 500 kbps to The company’s new high-gain AMT-3800 rates will be in the neighborhood of 10 to cabin information and entertainment system one megabyte per second. antenna is fuselage-mounted, about 2 inches 12 megabytes per second. architecture and hardware. The eXchange Gulfstream has received multiple STCs high, 12 inches wide and 38 inches long. According to Starling CEO Micha package will debut on two Global Express for installation of its Broad Band Multi- “With the AMT-3800 we’re able to Lawrence, the company has met with Gulf- XRS business jets, as well as Bombardier’s link high-speed Internet connection system serve midsize business jets and turboprops, stream to discuss bringing the antenna to Global 5000 demonstrator. on several of its aircraft models. The sys- [and] in terms of mechanical and size limi- the midsize G150, which is built by Israel AirCell of Louisville, Colo., is also in tem uses SkyLink service to provide Inter- tations we’ve reached a new threshold,” Aircraft Industries. the game, with the introduction last fall of net access at speeds comparable to those of said Mak. EMS has also introduced the Starling has also met with Rockwell its Axxess system for medium-to-large ground-based cable or DSL lines. AMT-3500, an intermediate-gain antenna Collins executives who are grappling with business aircraft. The multi-channel wire- Gulfstream is guaranteeing minimum for even smaller aircraft. design matters related to the eXchange less and broadband-ready satcom system is connection speeds of 512 to and 128 kbps EMS Satcom competitors Chelton Sat- high-speed-data service that will use the nearly available, with certification on track from the aircraft and says normal data com and CMC Electronics have also Connexion by Boeing satellite link. for the second quarter. speeds with the system range from 700 announced sleek, lightweight Arinc 781- The twin-panel Mini-Mijet antenna is Iridium channels provide voice and nar- kbps to more than one megabyte per sec- compatible antennas that will fit on smaller designed to be installed atop an aircraft rowband data services, while expansion ond. In fact, the Savannah, Ga.-based business airplanes. fuselage. It is 14 inches in diameter, sits ports permit the addition of two more OEM claims data speeds as high as 3.5 Chelton’s HGA-7000 can be mounted five inches high and weighs 55 pounds. channels. Through the system’s Ethernet megabytes per second are possible. on midsize and larger business jets, accord- The price has yet to be determined, but port, operators can add a high-speed Last summer, Rockwell Collins’ new ing to the company. Lawrence said it would be less than current Inmarsat connection on a plug-and-play SAT-6100 satellite communication system Measuring 33.9 inches long, 11.77 Ku-band antennas used with Connexion basis. The standard Axxess headset in- made its debut aboard a Bombardier Global inches wide and 1.88 inches high, the 18.7- and SkyLink services, both of which are cludes a color display, advanced noise-can- 5000. The system is a baseline component pound HGA-7000 antenna is the smallest larger and heavier. celing and standard ear bud/headset jacks. of Collins Ethernet-based Airshow 21 cabin and lightest in this class. Electronic steer- The first flight of a Mijet antenna is Baseline list price is $47,000. electronic system, standard on the Cana- ing eliminates the need for moving parts expected to take place in April on a Boe- Last month Cessna Aircraft selected dian-built business jet. The SAT-6100 con- and–along with hermetic sealing of the an- ing 737, marking the start of the certifi- Axxess as a factory option on its Citation sists of the Rockwell Collins SRT-2100 tenna–contributes to what the Lewisville, cation program. X, Sovereign and XLS models. It will be satellite terminal and one or two HST-2100 Texas company believes will be a high available on the Citation line starting in high-speed transceivers providing three level of reliability. Inmarsat Has Competition the third quarter. Aero-I/H/H+ channels and one or two The recently introduced phased-array There are other providers of in-flight Satcom Direct, a Florida-based provider channels of Swift64 high-speed data. SatLite satcom antenna from CMC Elec- high-speed Internet services–Connexion by of satcom service, has introduced a new The SAT-6100 interfaces with all In- tronics is touted by its manufacturer as Boeing and Arinc Direct’s SkyLink. Both service called Aero X that the company marsat-approved high-gain antennas, in- being “optimized” for business jets. The provide relatively fast speeds, but possess claims will provide significant increases in cluding top- or fin-mounted setups. In top-mounted antenna with its integrated limited coverage areas. Connexion pro- the Swift64 data transmission rates. addition, the SAT-6100 can be used with beam steering unit is based on the propri- vides data access over most of the North- Using Satcom Direct’s proprietary com- any Inmarsat-approved intermediate-gain etary technology and architecture used ern hemisphere. SkyLink offers coverage pression algorithms and EMS Satcom’s antenna to accommodate Aero-I service. In in CMC’s CMA-2102 high-gain antenna only over the U.S. cabin network accelerator hardware, Aero the future, the company said, the system system and supports Inmarsat Aero-H, will include Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband Aero-H+, Swift64 and SwiftBroadband capabilities and permit data transmission satcom services. speeds of up to 432 kbps. Like its competitors, the SatLite an- tenna, introduced last June, is compatible Airborne Cellphone Use Nearing Reality with newer Arinc 781 and 741 legacy ter- In the halls of government, the Federal minal equipment. It measures 39.9 inches Communications Commission (FCC) is at- in length, 13.1 inches wide and 2.64 inches tempting to come up with a set of rules high and weighs 16.75 pounds. The an- governing the in-flight use of personal cell- tenna is listed at $75,000, uninstalled. phones. At the same time, the FAA is tak- More recently, Starling Advanced ing a wait-and-see approach and will make Communications introduced a Ku-band its decision based on that of the FCC. satcom antenna the Israeli-based company Meanwhile, companies are moving says will bring high-speed connectivity in ahead to produce systems that will provide a package custom-designed for midsize in-flight cellphone service. OnAir, the in- business jets. flight voice and data communication joint Starling, formed in 2003 and jointly venture of Airbus, SITA and Tenzing, owned by Israeli defense contractors appears to be among the leaders but has Rafael Development, Elbit Systems and announced its intention to focus exclusively Elron, is a relatively new name in the sat- Continued on next page u com antenna market. What makes its product unique is its ability to expand mechanically when in While several companies are studying the possibility of in-flight cellphone systems, use to provide high-bandwidth data trans- the FCC and FAA have not yet approved their use, fers at higher latitudes. When the antenna so passengers must rely on the traditional surface is in the flat position, it receives air-to-ground and satphone services for now.

www.ainonline.com • February 2006 • Aviation International Newsaa21 communicate with GSM phones through From a passenger perspective, cabin en- More recently, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based special onboard antennas and exist- tertainment continues to be the single most company has been bringing some unique ing satcom transceivers. important component of the business air- new products to the market. Among these is The Ericsson box will be able craft cabin, and more than ever they are dis- a 10.2-inch widescreen monitor that offers to handle 58 simultaneous phone covering the same products in the air that the viewer split-screen (right and left sides) calls, making the technology an were available on the ground. capability. The unit comes at a cost of appropriate option. But like Aero- Satellite live television has come of age, $4,186. The company is also researching Mobile, Ericsson is focusing on business with coverage over most of the major mar- split-screen capability on larger monitors. aviation as a secondary market. kets–North America, Europe and the Mid- Also new is the three-channel, 900- While it appears to be a ready market dle East. Now some companies are touting MHz, SB900X3 wireless audio transmitter with considerable demand, observers be- the possibility of worldwide service. box. The box, priced at $782, is no larger lieve there are some roadblocks, not the Companies are already testing tech- than a pack of cigarettes, said v-p of satel- least of which is the cost of $3.50 an hour. nology that would broadcast television lite systems Jay Healey. While considerably less expensive than programming to almost any location in Flight Display has received certification existing ground/air voice communication, it the world over the Ku-band Connexion on the MD-87 for its 42-inch LCD monitor is nonetheless not cheap. by Boeing satellites now being used for and has begun deliveries to its launch cus- It may also be that the advent of high- Web surfing. tomer. The order calls for two monitors in speed in-flight Internet access will make The launch customer for the service is each of eight aircraft to be delivered over the the in-flight use of a cellphone moot. If Singapore Airlines, and Rockwell Collins next two years. The company has also found Recently available displays from Rosen Aviation business travelers are already connected plans to introduce it to business aviation a rather unusual customer for the $17,232 include this fold-down 17-inch screen designed to mount on the ceiling of a business jet. with cheap and ready access via e-mail and customers through its eXchange broadband monitor in the form of a private owner who text messaging through onboard data se- satellite service when that service is certi- wants one installed in his Sikorsky S-76. vices, do they need a cellphone? fied in the second quarter. In the future is a 65-inch LCD monitor, uContinued from preceding page Others, however, believe that the public, The first passengers to actually sample for which the company expects certification on the airline sector. AeroMobile, by con- including business executives and wealthy the worldwide satellite live experience are by year-end. “We have a manufacturer and trast, is targeting both the airlines and busi- individuals who are accustomed to being likely to be those flying on a Bombardier we have a launch customer,” said Healey. ness aviation. Rosen Aviation introduced the proto- The company was formed last year as type of its FliteView moving-map display part of an alliance among Arinc, Inmarsat at the 2004 NBAA Convention. It is now in and Telenor with the intent of “bringing production and was selected as standard to the market a fully defined mobile serv- equipment on the Gulfstream G150. Ac- ice.” The system was tested successfully cording to a Rosen source, FliteView is on a Boeing 737 last fall and, according compatible with the Collins Pro Line 21 to AeroMobile director David Coiley, cer- cabin electronics systems. tification by European aviation authori- The Eugene, Ore. company is also pro- ties is expected later this year, with U.S. ducing a new universal lift mechanism for certification to follow “perhaps in 2007.” 10- to 20-inch monitors, and a new 17-inch He added that AeroMobile is already headliner fold-down screen. engaged in talks with business aircraft manufacturers and noted that the airline LCD Displays technology required is equally applicable Gain on Gas Plasma to business aviation. No so long ago, if you wanted a video One of the minor glitches with air- screen bigger than about 30 inches, your borne use of personal cellphones is in only choice was gas plasma, which was–and cellphone technology. About 70 percent of remains–power-hungry, heat-generating, al- the world’s cellphones are based on GSM titude-change-sensitive and very expensive. chip technology. The remainder of the If you wanted a smaller screen, LCD made world, primarily the U.S. and Japan, uses more sense. But that is rapidly changing. Coordinating cabin entertainment systems is a CDMA technology. Coiley said most U.S. complex matrix, as illustrated in this system business jet. According to Rockwell Collins, The 42-inch LCD monitor from Flight and Japanese business travelers already diagram from Intheairnet of Irvine, Calif. the Canadian OEM’s Global line of aircraft Display Systems weighs 29 pounds, about own cellphones with a quad-band chip will be the launch platform for the system. 50 pounds less than a comparable plasma that will allow its use anywhere in the Moving-map technology has been im- unit. It consumes less power, generates less world. But because the world’s largest proving no less quickly than in-flight satel- heat and–at $17,232–costs considerably business aviation fleet by far is in the connected in every way, will still expect to lite direct television. JetMap II, which less than the $23,000 plasma alternative. U.S., any system AeroMobile develops have their cellphone as a ready choice. Honeywell announced last year, has al- Continued on page 25 will permit the use of any cellphone tech- Meanwhile, with in-flight cellphone use ready taken a quantum leap forward with u nology, said Coiley. still in the wings, providers of current the addition of a set of high-resolution A relative newcomer to the satcom antenna Coiley said the concept for in-flight use ground/air phone systems continue to see maps of major cities and sites such as the field, Starling Advanced Communications is a of cellphones is in essence one of creating growth. Iridium announced late last year Hoover Dam and Eiffel Tower. The com- cooperative effort of three Israel defense-oriented a “country” consisting of the world’s air- the number of aircraft fitted with its satel- pany has some 60 maps and sites available, firms. Its Ku-band antenna, below, is being ways. This in turn will result in a user-fee lite communications equipment more than and the total will grow to more than 300. developed for smaller business jets. structure similar to international roaming doubled from the previous year. Iridium The JetMap II upgrade will also take tariffs. “Our target is $3.50 per minute for subscribers in the aviation market sur- the viewer closer with a jump from a six- AeroMobile service,” he said, “and we passed 5,000, according to the company, level zoom to a seven-level zoom, and res- think that is achievable.” adding that the number of aircraft fitted olution is also improved. Still to come is an Mobile phone maker Ericsson has also with Iridium-based data transfer systems upgrade that will interface with “just about jumped into the in-flight cellphone market had grown 200 percent. any cabin system” and offer a choice of with a line of multi-band hardware aimed Iridium and its sales partners signed a touchscreens or remote control. at the international traveler. number of large accounts last year, among Flight Display Systems is adding some The product was launched at the Paris them a deal with fractional aircraft owner- new features to its moving map, including Air Show in June last year–the Ericsson ship giant NetJets to add Iridium phone better resolution, an expanded worldwide RBS 2708 is a 12-MCU piece designed to systems to its jet fleet. city database and additional languages.

22aaAviation International News • February 2006 • www.ainonline.com CES Offers Glimpse of Future Cabin Tech

by Stephen Pope

he Consumer Electronics Show (CES) centrating on building its subscriber base While manufacturers have started mass- a DVD to allow it to hold HD movie con- in Las Vegas last month lived up to its among car buyers and in homes. With producing some smaller OLED screens– tent. Blu-Ray has the edge in capacity–up reputation as a playground for tech about 100,000 subscribers so far, the serv- mainly for cellphones and digital cameras– to 50 gigabytes per layer, compared to HD lovers, with more than 2,500 compa- ice is relatively small, but considering it has it was the new SED technology that caused DVD’s 15 gigabytes–but HD DVD support- nies showing off an array of items that the potential to reach billions of people in the biggest stir at CES. ers say Blu-Ray is more expensive and diffi- beep,t ring, flash, download, upload and 130 countries, company executives said The technology is being pioneered cult to manufacture. heaven knows what else. WorldSpace is poised for growth. jointly by Toshiba and Canon, which have Just like the VHS versus Betamax war of A healthy contingent from the aviation So far the aviation market has not been formed a joint venture called SED Inc. to the 1980s, it could take some time to sort industry mingled among the 150,000 peo- a focus for the nascent company, but that produce the first SED television, possibly out the next generation of high-definition ple in attendance at this year’s show, as could be about to change. Arti Mehta, as early as this year. The big advantage of DVD technologies. In the meantime, some avionics makers, installation centers and WorldSpace marketing manager, said the SED technology is that it combines what’s manufacturers say they will produce HD business aircraft manufacturers sent repre- satellite radio provider would be interested best about LCD and CRT displays. Like DVD/Blu-Ray combo players. sentatives to search for the new technolo- in developing receiver equipment for air- LCD TVs, SED televisions are thin and can Other notable technologies shown at gies and products that could one day find craft if it can get connected with the right be produced in wide format. But like con- CES included Sharp’s two-way LCD flat- their way into the cabin. partners. Besides an obvious potential audi- ventional CRTs, SEDs make use of the col- panel screen, in which a single display can With so much to see, finding wholly ence among airline passengers, WorldSpace lision of electrons with a phosphor-coated show two completely different images, one aviation-appropriate technology was no could also prove popular with business jet screen to emit light. of which can be viewed from slightly to the easy feat. Yet among the abundant iPod buyers, just as XM and Sirius have in the Electron emitters, which correspond to left of center and the other slightly to the add-ons, video-gaming consoles, digital U.S. WorldSpace currently offers about 40 an electron gun in a CRT, are distributed in right. The big advantage in the consumer cameras and a seemingly endless assort- channels of music, news and talk, including an amount equal to the number of pixels electronic world, Sharp believes, is that it ment of mostly superfluous tech gear, a pop music channels, news from CNN In- on the display. Since SEDs apply the same will allow a driver to view navigation infor- number of notable technologies stood out. ternational and Bloomberg and even an light-emission theory as CRTs, they provide mation on the display while it simultane- It’s no secret that satellite radio has Islamic channel created for the Middle far richer colors, a sharper overall picture ously provides entertainment content to the caught on in a big way, with XM and Sirius Eastern market. and faster video response than LCDs and passenger on the right. But such a display battling it out for the lead among U.S. con- Flat-panel televisions, particularly high- plasma, which can appear fuzzy when could have applications in aircraft, as well, sumers. The technology is near the top of definition models, dominated CES this images are moving across the screen. A where space limitations might make such a the wish lists of business jet buyers, and as year, with manufacturers showing off their private demonstration of a 42-inch SED tel- monitor an appropriate alternative to in- a result satellite radio receivers are becom- best and (literally) brightest products. evision at the Canon exhibit seemed to sup- stalling multiple cabin displays. ing commonplace in the passenger com- While the usual big LCD and plasma port the company’s claims that the tech- Finally, Panasonic showed off a technol- partments of many business airplanes. screens were well represented, new offer- nology provides a better picture. ogy that probably won’t make it into a busi- Now, a satellite radio provider called ings based on technologies such as organic The downside to SED technology, at ness jet cabin, unless it’s a VIP Airbus A380 WorldSpace of Silver Spring, Md., is poised light-emitting diodes (OLED) and surface- least initially, is that production will ramp up or Boeing 747: the company’s 103-inch-di- to bring digital music, talk and news to conduction electron-emitter displays (SED) fairly slowly and prices will be very high. But agonal (that’s more than 8.5 feet) plasma TV business jet operators in Europe, the Middle seemed to cast some doubt about whether like most new technologies, once SED tele- made its debut as the industry’s biggest, sup- East, the Asia-Pacific and Africa. LCD and plasma screen TVs will continue visions start selling in larger numbers, prices planting the previous size champ produced WorldSpace has launched satellites for their dominance over this segment of the will fall. Once that happens, look for busi- by other manufacturers, measuring a mere each of its geographic regions and is con- industry for much longer. ness jet makers to begin offering SED televi- 102 inches. Samsung, meanwhile, intro- sion monitors on their cabin duced the industry’s biggest LCD television, options lists. measuring 82 inches diagonally. Also destined for the pas- When he wasn’t touting the new XBox senger compartment are high- 360 gaming console or the new Windows definition (HD) televisions and Vista PC operating system, Microsoft CEO corresponding high-definition Bill Gates focused his attention on on-de- DVD players to go with them. mand video, saying video subscription Two competing technologies services will do for HD entertainment con- have emerged to compete in tent what the corner video store did for the HD DVD market, with VCR sales. Of note, a number of manufac- Toshiba pushing traditional turers are now offering digital video HD DVD and Sony and its recorders with massive storage capacity partners promoting the so- that would allow business jet operators to called Blu-ray Disc format. download content from TV and the Internet Both formats use blue laser to play back later in flight. light to increase the capacity of Microsoft has reached an agreement with DirecTV to allow content to be down- loaded directly to special Media Center Edi- Microsoft CEO Bill Gates told tion PCs, and DirecTV announced it is CES attendees that on-demand launching a line of portable media players video will bring high-definition entertainment options to that will be capable of grabbing TV content the masses. for later viewing. J

24aaAviation International News • February 2006 • www.ainonline.com uContinued from page 22 it expects to reach the airline market on the Jetlab International, with the engaging compression and acceleration software. It One of the problems facing cabin- Boeing 787 Dreamliner in 2008. But Bruce motto “brain your plane,” isn’t selling mon- can also advise clients on issues such as refurbishment specialists is creating an en- Thigpen, the company’s senior director of itors or DVD players. Instead, the French whether their needs would be best served tertainment system that can be upgraded marketing for business and regional sys- company, which has offices in Toulouse, by setting up a virtual private network or easily as technology improves. Raytheon tems, says it is likely to appear even earlier the UK and the U.S., is selling expertise in by using a less data-hungry ISN link. Aircraft Services recently announced what in business airplanes. the existing and still-to-come in-flight com- By creating servers to run the commu- it believes is at least a partial solution. PGA Avionics, meanwhile, has deliv- munication and entertainment systems. nications, the company can incorporate It is called Max Entertainment and al- ered its first Paradize II advanced cabin- For example, Jetlab can maximize the software that will automatically sense the lows Beechcraft and Hawker operators to management system, now in service on an work rate of Swift64 by providing data data needs of users at any one time and choose option packages that include XM executive Airbus A330. According to the switch to the most cost-effective satellite radio, JetMap II moving map dis- company, based in Chateauroux, France, connection mode. For onboard plays, DVD players, flat-panel monitors, the system links all the airplane’s entertain- Internet connections, Jetlab can Sennheiser wireless headsets, wireless re- ment and light components to a single con- add firewalls and virus protec- mote controls and speakers. trol panel or handheld remote. Similar tion and can set up Web portals, According to Raytheon, factory-ap- systems are being developed for an execu- giving direct links to news proved installation of its retrofit packages tive Airbus A340 and two Airbus Corpo- sources and e-mail that reflect takes “substantially” less time than would rate Jetliners. customer preferences. installation of a typical, highly customized For the most part, all the in- system. What’s more, installation may be Assessing Cabin Electronics novations, upgrades and new done concurrently with a routine inspec- Customer knowledge today about of- products are good news for cus- tion or maintenance. Downtime may be as fice-in-the-sky communications technol- tomers. If you have the money, little as nine days for installation of a com- ogy seems similar to the level of un- there isn’t much you can’t buy. plete system in a King Air. derstanding people had But that comes with the admo- Passengers on today’s business aircraft of personal computers nition that today’s technology is want to remain connected, but they don’t nec- 15 or 20 years ago. They tomorrow’s junk. essarily want all the wires and plugs that know they need it, but On the other hand, tomorrow is Flight Display Systems’ new widescreen monitor provides come with it. they don’t necessarily a viewing area of 10.2 inches. The monitor gives viewers much closer than it used to be. And the Rockwell Collins is looking closely at a know why or exactly the option of displaying a split screen, so they can follow challenges of size, weight, power and wireless, handheld audio-video control that what will fill that need. the flight track and watch a movie at the same time. logistics are being rapidly solved. J

www.ainonline.com • February 2006 • Aviation International Newsaa25