Avionics

Unit IV: Electronic Flight Instrument System

Contents
 Display Units
 Presentation, failure and annunciation
 Display of air data

The Electromechanical Instrumented Flight Deck

Includes:

 Magnetic Compass
 Tachometer
 Fuel Gauge
 Oil Pressure
 Clock
 Turn and slip indicator

Piston Engine Aircraft – Primary Flight Instruments/Basic Six Configuration

Includes:

 Gyro artificial horizon top centre

 Airspeed top left
 Vertical Speed top right
 Direction Indicator bottom centre
 Altimeter bottom right
 Turn and Bank Indicator bottom left
  Gyro Artificial Horizon - Is an instrument used in an aircraft to inform the pilot
of the orientation of the aircraft relative to Earth's horizon. It indicates pitch and
bank and is a primary instrument for flight.
 Airspeed indicator - It is an instrument used in an aircraft to display the craft's
airspeed, typically in knots, to the pilot.
 Vertical Speed Indicator – It is one of the flight instruments in an aircraft used to
inform the pilot of the rate of descent or climb. Unit – feet/min.
 Direction Indicator – It is a compass that assists an airplane pilot in flying a
predetermined course by direct reading and comparison of two indicators one of
which is set for the desired heading while the other shows the actual heading so
that when the two indicators point alike the airplane is flying the desired course.
 Altimeter – It is an instrument for determining altitude attained, especially a
barometric or radar device fitted in an aircraft.
 Turn and bank Indicator – It is an airplane instrument that coordinates the rate of
turn with the degree of bank to help the pilot avoid a slip or skid

Basic T Configuration

 The primary flight instruments had evolved considerably.

 The arrangement of the instrument cluster had matured from the ‘basic six’
configuration to the ‘basic T’ now universally adopted on all electro-
mechanically instrumented civil transport aircraft operating today.

 Airspeed Indicator - It is an instrument used in an aircraft to display the craft's

airspeed, typically in knots, to the pilot.
 Attitude Direction Indicator - The attitude indicator (also known as an artificial
horizon) shows the aircraft's relation to the horizon. From this the pilot can tell
whether the wings are level (roll) and if the aircraft nose is pointing above or
below the horizon (pitch).This is a primary instrument for instrument flight and
is also useful in conditions of poor visibility.
 Altimeter – It is an instrument for determining altitude attained, especially a
barometric or radar device fitted in an aircraft
 Vertical Speed Indicator – It is one of the flight instruments in an aircraft used to
inform the pilot of the rate of descent or climb. Unit – feet/min.
 Horizontal Situation Indicator - It is an aircraft flight instrument normally
mounted below the artificial horizon in place of a conventional heading
indicator. It combines a heading indicator with a VHF omni-directional range-
instrument landing system (VOR-ILS) display.
 Radio Magnetic Indicator - The RMI is a navigational aid providing aircraft
magnetic or directional gyro heading and very high frequency omnidirectional
range (VOR), GPS, and automatic direction finder (ADF) bearing information.
Remote indicating compasses were developed to compensate for errors in and
limitations of older types of heading indicators.

Airspeed Indicator
 Altimeter
Display Systems
Flight deck instruments/displays can be categorized into three types:

 Primary flight instruments providing information on the ability of the aircraft to

sustain safe and controlled flight.
 Navigation instruments providing information about the aircraft position with
respect to its surroundings in order for the aircraft to be safely directed from its
point of origin to its destination.
 Engine instruments and systems providing information about the aircraft systems
to assure the continued safe function of the aircraft for the duration of the
intended flight.

Electronic Flight Instrument System(EFIS)/HDD

 An electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) is a flight deck instrument display

system that displays flight data electronically rather than electromechanically.
 An EFIS normally consists of a primary flight display (PFD), multi-function
display (MFD), and an engine indicating and crew alerting system (EICAS)
display.
EFIS Architecture

Typical EFIS Architecture

1. Data collector/concentrator which

(a) Acquires the data to be displayed from the other on-board systems,
(b) Selects the most appropriate data sources,
(c) Performs data integrity checks.

2. Display management processor which

(a) Determines the display mode, submode, and elements to be displayed,
(b) Translates the above information into graphics data and commands.

3. Symbol/graphics generator which

(a) constructs the symbology and graphics comprising: alpha-numeric characters in
a range of font styles and sizes, special symbols, pointers, and icons, lines of
various widths and styles, circles, ellipses, and arcs of various widths and styles,
area shade infill.
 4. Display unit which comprises
(a) The display device itself ,
(b) Display device electronic support circuits

Primary Flight Display

 The display unit that replaces the ADI is called the primary flight display (PFD).
 If a separate display replaces the HSI, it is called the navigation display.
 The PFD displays all information critical to flight, including calibrated airspeed,
altitude, heading, attitude, vertical speed and yaw.

 The PFD is designed to improve a pilot's situational awareness by integrating

this information into a single display instead of six different analog instruments,
reducing the amount of time necessary to monitor the instruments.
 PFDs also increase situational awareness by alerting the aircrew to unusual or
potentially hazardous conditions — for example, low airspeed, high rate of
descent — by changing the color or shape of the display or by providing audio
alerts.

Multi Function Display

 The MFD (multi-function display) displays navigational and weather

information from multiple systems.
 MFDs are most frequently designed as "chart-centric", where the aircrew can
overlay different information over a map or chart.
 Examples of MFD overlay information include the aircraft's current route plan,
weather information from either on-board radar or lightning detection sensors or
ground-based sensors.
  The MFD can also be used to view other non-overlay type of data (e.g., current
route plan) and calculated overlay-type data, e.g., the glide radius of the aircraft,
given current location over terrain, winds, and aircraft speed and altitude.
 MFDs can also display information about aircraft systems, such as fuel and
electrical systems.
 As with the PFD, the MFD can change the color or shape of the data to alert the
aircrew to hazardous situations.

Engine Indications and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) / Electronic Centralized

Aircraft Monitoring (ECAM)

 It displays information about the aircraft's systems, including its fuel, electrical
and propulsion systems (engines).
 EICAS improves situational awareness by allowing the aircrew to view complex
information in a graphical format and also by alerting the crew to unusual or
hazardous situations.
 For example, if an engine begins to lose oil pressure, the EICAS might sound an
alert, switch the display to the page with the oil system information and outline
the low oil pressure data with a red box.
Color Codes for EFIS system

 MAGENTA The color used for an aim, the aircraft has to reach. For example the
speed on top of the speed-strip at the left, the selected altitude at the right or the
two bars in the middle, the flight director, which guides the plane how to fly,
simplified said.
 GREEN Every variable that is set to a specific value, is displayed in green. For
example on the left, the numerous numbers at the speed strip, are v-speeds for
flaps, gear, rotation and so on. Or also the BARO, which shows the selected
QNH. On-side approach and navigation data, On-side commanded data,
Selected active route/flight plan.
 WHITE Things in white is just information. Like at the bottom right, there is
only a reference to the standard QNH or at the bottom center of the artificial
horizon you can see the radar altitude (RA). Scales and associated figures, Held
DME distance display
  RED Red is as always the warning color. In this picture this is the two red,
dotted lines at the top and bottom of the speed-stripe. They indicate minimum
and maximum airspeed. Or the big PULL UP message, saying the pilot he has to
pull up the plane because of immediate danger of terrain or an excessive sink-
rate.
 Yellow Cautions or abnormal source, Cross-side navigation data, Cross-side
commanded data, Cross-side selected active route/flight plan.
 Cyan On-side non-approach navigation data (LNAV)
 Orange Selected heading/DME HOLD annunciation

Introduction – Cockpit Display System

The cockpit display systems provide a visual presentation of the information and data from
the aircraft sensors and systems to the pilot (and crew) to enable the pilot to fly the aircraft
safely and carry out the mission. They are thus vital to the operation of any aircraft as they
provide the pilot, whether civil or military, with:

 Primary flight information,

 Navigation information,
 Engine data,
 Airframe data,
 Warning information.

The military pilot has also a wide array of additional information to view, such as:

 Infrared imaging sensors,

 Radar,
 Tactical mission data,
 Weapon aiming,
 Threat warnings.

The pilot is able to rapidly absorb and process substantial amounts of visual information
but it is clear that the information must be displayed in a way which can be readily
assimilated, and unnecessary information must be eliminated to ease the pilot’s task in
high work load situations.

A number of developments have taken place to improve the pilot–display interaction and
this is a continuing activity as new technology and components become available.
Examples of these developments are:

 Head up displays,
 Helmet mounted displays,
 Multi-function color displays,
 Digitally generated color moving map displays,
  Synthetic pictorial imagery,
 Displays management using intelligent knowledge based system (IKBS)
technology,
 Improved understanding of human factors and involvement of human factors
specialists from the initial cockpit design stage.

1. Head Up Displays

 A head up display basically projects a collimated display in the pilot’s head up

forward line of sight so that he can view both the display information and the
outside world scene at the same time.
 The pilot is thus able to observe both distant outside world objects and display
data at the same time without having to change the direction of gaze or refocus
the eyes.

 The advantages of head up presentation of essential flight data such as the

artificial horizon, pitch angle, bank angle, flight path vector, height, airspeed and
heading.
 The pilot is thus free to concentrate on the outside world during maneuvers and
does not need to look down at the cockpit instruments or head down displays.
 In combat situations, it is essential for survival that the pilot is head up and
scanning for possible threats from any direction. The very high accuracy which
can be achieved by a HUD and computerized weapon aiming system together
with the ability to remain head up in combat have made the HUD an essential
system on all modern combat aircraft.
HUDs are now being installed in civil aircraft for reasons such as:

• Inherent advantages of head-up presentation of primary flight information

• To display automatic landing guidance to enable the pilot to land the aircraft safely
in conditions of very low visibility due to fog, as a back up and monitor for the
automatic landing system. The display of taxi-way guidance is also being
considered.

Basic Principle

• The pilot views the outside world through the HUD combiner glass (and
windscreen).
• The combiner glass is effectively a ‘see through’ mirror with a high optical
transmission efficiency so that there is little loss of visibility looking through the
combiner and windscreen.
• It is called a combiner as it optically combines the collimated display symbology
with the outside world scene viewed through it.
 Civil HUD Architecture
Civil HUD optical configuration
 • The display symbology generated from the aircraft sensors and systems (such as
the INS and air data system) is displayed on the surface of a cathode ray tube
(CRT).
• The display images are then relayed through a relay lens system which magnifies
the display and corrects for some of the optical errors which are otherwise
present in the system.
• The relayed display images are then reflected through an angle of near 90◦ by the
fold mirror and thence to the collimating lens which collimates the display
images which are then reflected from the combiner glass into the pilot’s forward
field of view.
• The virtual images of the display symbology appear to the pilot to be at infinity
and overlay the distant world scene, as they are collimated.
• The function of the fold mirror is to enable a compact optical configuration to be
achieved so that the HUD occupies the minimum possible space in the cockpit.

Advantages of HUD in Civil Aircraft

• Increased safety by providing a better situational awareness for the pilot to

control the aircraft by the head up presentation of the primary flight information.
• The HUD can also provide a flight path director display which allows for the
effect of wind shear from a knowledge of the aircraft’s velocity vector, airspeed,
height and aerodynamic behavior.
• The HUD can also increase safety during terrain, or traffic avoidance maneuvers.
• Ground proximity Warning Systems (GPWS), Traffic Collision Avoidance
Systems (TCAS) data displayed on HUD increases safety.
• HUD used for displaying taxiway guidance helping aircraft during landing,
during night time and harsh weather conditions.
• HUD is used to monitor the automatic landing system.
• Display of conformal (contact analogue) information overlaid on the real world.
• Flight parameter data presented in a relatively small field of view, which
improves data cross-checking.
• Improved situational awareness, especially in wind shear and terrain/traffic
avoidance maneuvers.
1. Helmet Mounted Display
• The advantages of head-up visual presentation of flight and mission data by means
of a collimated display.
• The HUD, however, only presents the information in the pilot’s forward field of
view, which even with a wide Field of View (FOV) HUD is limited to about 30◦ in
azimuth and 20◦ to 25◦ in elevation.
• Significant increases in this FOV are not practicable because of the cockpit
geometry constraints.
• The pilot requires visual information head up when he is looking in any direction
and this requirement can only be met by a helmet mounted display (HMD).

Comparison b/w HUD and HMD FOV

• HMD can comprise a simple helmet mounted sighting system which displays a
collimated aiming cross or circle and some simple alphanumeric information,
with a typical FOV of around 5◦.
• An addressable LED matrix array is generally used as the display source,
enabling a very light weight and compact HMD to be achieved. The helmet
mounted sight enables targets to be attacked at large off-boresight angles.
• In its most sophisticated form the HMD can provide, in effect, a ‘HUD on the
helmet’.
• This can display all the information to the pilot which is normally shown on a
HUD but with the pilot able to look in any direction (attitude information is
referenced to his line of sight (LOS)).
• The HMD can also have a wider FOV ranging from 35◦ to 40◦ for a fighter
aircraft application to over 50◦ for a helicopter application.
• It should be appreciated that the FOV moves with the head, unlike the HUD, and
a larger FOV reduces scanning head movement in an HM display.
 • The HMD also enables a very effective night/poor visibility viewing system to
be achieved by displaying the TV picture from a gimballed infrared sensor unit
which is slaved to follow the pilot’s line of sight.
• The pilot’s LOS with respect to the airframe is measured by a head position
sensing system.
Failure and Annunciation
i. Annunciator Panel
ii. Warning lights
iii. Aural Warning
a. Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) or EGPWS
b. Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS)
iv. Engine-indicating and crew-alerting system (EICAS) or ECAM

Annunciator Panel
• An annunciator panel, aka the Centralized Warning Panel (CWP), is a group of
lights used as a central indicator of status of equipment or systems in an aircraft,
industrial process, building or other installation.
• Usually, the annunciator panel includes a main warning lamp or audible signal to
draw the attention of operating personnel to the annunciator panel for abnormal
events or conditions.
• In the aircraft industry, annunciator panels are groupings of annunciator lights that
indicate status of the aircraft's subsystems.
• The lights are usually accompanied with a test switch, which when pressed
illuminates all the lights to confirm they are in working order.
• More advanced modern aircraft replaces these with the integrated electronic Engine
Indicating and Crew Alerting System or Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitor.

Warning Lights

An aviation annunciator panel will have a test switch to check for burned out lamps.
Indicator lights are grouped together by their associated systems into various panels
of lights.
Lamp colours are normally given the following meanings:
Red: Warning, this systems condition is critical and requires immediate
attention (such as an engine fire, hydraulic pump failure)
Amber: Caution, this system requires timely attention or may do so in the
future (ice detected, fuel imbalance)
Green: Advisory/Indication, a system is in use or ready for operation (such
as landing gear down and locked, APU operating)
White/blue: Advisory/Indication, a system is in use (seatbelt signs on, anti-ice
system in-use, landing lights on)
Aural Warnings

Cockpit aural warnings include:

The fire bell, take-off configuration warning, cabin altitude, landing gear
configuration warning, mach/airspeed overspeed, stall warning, GPWS and TCAS.
Radio Altimeter Callouts
Automatic rad-alt calls can include any of the following:
2500 ("Twenty Five Hundred" or "Radio Altimeter"). 1000 500 400 300 200 100
50 40 30 20 10
"Minimums" or "Minimums, Minimums" "Plus Hundred" when 100ft above DH
"Approaching Minimums" when 80ft above DH "Approaching Decision Height"
"Decision Height"

Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS)

• It is a system designed to alert pilots if their aircraft is in immediate danger of flying

into the ground or an obstacle.
• The modes are:
Excessive terrain closure rate ("TERRAIN" "PULL UP")
Altitude loss after take off or with a high power setting ("DON'T SINK")
Unsafe terrain clearance ("TOO LOW – TERRAIN" "TOO LOW – GEAR"
"TOO LOW – FLAPS")
Excessive deviation below glideslope ("GLIDESLOPE")
Excessively steep bank angle ("BANK ANGLE")
Windshear protection ("WINDSHEAR")

Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS)

Various versions of TCAS have been fitted to the 737 since its introduction in the
1990's.
The early days of TCAS there were different methods of displaying the visuals.
For the Honeywell system their most popular method for non-EFIS airplanes was to
install an RA/VSI which was a mechanical VSI that had the "eyebrows" on the outer
edge directing the pilot to climb (green) or stay away from (red) and use the
separate Radar Indicator for the basic traffic display.
Even early EFIS aircraft had the RA/VSI
TCAS is now integrated at production into the EFIS displays.
The PFD/EADI will display advisories to climb, descend, or stay level since they
give the vertical cue to the pilot.
 The ND/EHSI provides the map view looking down to show targets and their
relative altitude and vertical movement relative to your aircraft.

Display of Air Data

• Air data, as the name suggests, involve the sensing of the medium through which
the aircraft is flying.
• Typical sensed parameters are dynamic pressure, static pressure, rate of change in
pressure, and temperature.
• Derived data include barometric altitude (ALT), indicated airspeed (IAS), vertical
speed (VS), Mach (M), Total Air Temperature (TAT), and True AirSpeed (TAS)
and Static Air Temperature (SAT).
• The simplest system provides ALT and IAS as a minimum, but modern jet aircraft
require Mach, VS, maximum operating speed, Vmo, maximum operating Mach,
Mmo, SAT, TAT, and TAS to satisfy the aircraft requirements.
• To avoid errors when the aircraft yaws and errors due to changes in the aircraft
angle of attack, static ports are located on both sides of the aircraft. There is
inevitably some error associated with the less than ideal positioning of the static
ports this is known as ‘static source error’
• The evolution of the high-performance commercial and business jet aircraft of
today, together with an increase in traffic on congested routes, has significantly
influenced the design of the air data system in the following ways:
• By extending the dynamic range of the sensors involved with higher altitudes,
higher airspeeds, and greater temperatures.
• By increasing the use of air data on-board the aircraft, not just for navigation but for
engine control, flight control, and a whole range of other aircraft subsystems.
• The adoption of higher cruise altitudes has introduced a more severe environment
for equipment located outside the pressurized cabin.
• Increasing complexity, density, and functional requirements have also led to more
complexity within the cabin.
• Demand for reduced vertical separation minima requires higher accuracy of height
sensing and methods of maintaining height within strict limits.
• Temperature sensing involves positioning a probe in the airflow and sensing the
change in resistance associated with temperature.

• Use of Pitot and Static Ports

Typical Mechanical Altimeter Display

• By using the capsule arrangement shown, Total pressure is fed into the capsule
while static pressure is fed into the case surrounding the capsule. The difference
between these two parameters, represented by the deflection of the capsule,
represents the aircraft airspeed. This permits airspeed to be measured.
• In the centre capsule configuration, static pressure is fed into the case of the
instrument while the capsule itself is sealed.
• Here, capsule deflection is proportional to changes in static pressure and
therefore aircraft altitude.
• This allows aircraft barometric altitude to be measured.
• In the arrangement shown in the right of the figure, static pressure is fed into the
capsule. It is also fed via a calibrated orifice into the sealed case surrounding the
capsule. In this situation the capsule deflection is proportional to the rate of
change in altitude. This permits the aircraft rate of ascent or descent to be
measured.
• Determination of altitude from pressure measurements is based upon a standard
atmosphere in which pressure, density, and temperature are functions of altitude.
• As aircraft systems became more complex and more sophisticated propulsion
and flight control laws were adopted, the number of systems that required air
data increased.
• Therefore, the provision of air data in various aircraft navigation, flight control,
and other subsystems required a more integrated approach.
• The computation tasks involved the following:
• Conversion of the sensed parameters into a more useful form.
• Combination of two or more parameters to obtain a third parameter.
• To correct for known errors as far as possible.
• This led to the introduction of one or more Air Data Computers (ADCs), which
centrally measured air data and provided corrected data to the recipient
subsystems.
 • Initially, air data was provided to different systems by analogue signalling
means, but with the evolution of digital data buses in the late 1970s, data were
provided to the aircraft subsystems by this means, notably by the use of standard
ARINC 429 data buses.
• The most effective combination of ADCs is the Triple Air Data System (TADS)
which allows a majority voting technique to be used to isolate failures and use
the best available information.

Typical air data module (Honeywell)

• The advent of digital computing and digital data buses such as ARINC 429
meant that computation of the various air data parameters could be accomplished
in Air Data Modules (ADMs) closer to the pitot – static sensing points.
• Widespread use of the ARINC 429 data buses enabled these data to be rapidly
disseminated throughout all the necessary aircraft systems.
 • Virtually all civil transport aircraft designed within the last 15 years or so have
adopted the air data module implementation.

Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU)

• ADIRU supplies air data (airspeed, angle of attack and altitude) and inertial
reference (position and attitude) information to the pilots' electronic flight
instrument system displays as well as other systems on the aircraft such as the
engines, autopilot, aircraft flight control system and landing gear systems.
• An ADIRU acts as a single, fault tolerant source of navigational data for both
pilots of an aircraft.
• It may be complemented by a secondary attitude air data reference unit
(SAARU), as in the Boeing 777 design.
• This device is used on various military aircraft as well as
civilian airliners starting with the Airbus A320 and Boeing 777.

Fire Protection System

Typical zones on aircraft that have a fixed fire detection and/or fire extinguisher system
are:

1. Engines and auxiliary power unit (APU)

2. Cargo and baggage compartments
3. Lavatories on transport aircraft
4. Electronic bays
5. Wheel wells
6. Bleed air ducts

Fire Detectors – Small Aircraft

 To detect fires or overheat conditions, detectors are placed in the various zones
to be monitored.
 Fires are detected in reciprocating engine and small turboprop aircraft using one
or more of the following:
• Overheat detectors
• Rate-of-temperature-rise detectors
• Flame detectors
• Observation by crewmembers
Fire Detectors – Large Aircraft

The complete aircraft fire protection systems of most large turbine-engine aircraft
incorporate several of these different detection methods.

• Rate-of-temperature-rise detectors
• Radiation sensing detectors
• Smoke detectors
• Overheat detectors
• Carbon monoxide detectors
• Combustible mixture detectors
• Optical detectors
• Observation of crew or passengers

The types of detectors most commonly used for fast detection of fires are the rate-of-rise,
optical sensor, pneumatic loop, and electric resistance systems.

Classes of Fires

Class A—fires involving ordinary combustible materials, such as wood, cloth, paper,
rubber, and plastics.

Class B—fires involving flammable liquids, petroleum oils, greases, tars, oil-based paints,
lacquers, solvents, alcohols, and flammable gases.

Class C—fires involving energized electrical equipment in which the use of an

extinguishing media that is electrically nonconductive is important.

Class D—fires involving combustible metals, such as magnesium, titanium, zirconium,

sodium, lithium, and potassium.

Requirements for Overheat and Fire Protection Systems

 Fire protection systems on current-production aircraft do not rely on observation

by crew members as a primary method of fire detection.
 An ideal fire detector system includes as many of the following features as
possible:
• No false warnings under any flight or ground condition.
• Rapid indication of a fire and accurate location of the fire.
• Accurate indication that a fire is out.
• Indication that a fire has re-ignited.
• Continuous indication for duration of a fire.
• Means for electrically testing the detector system from the aircraft
cockpit.
• Resists damage from exposure to oil, water, vibration, extreme
temperatures, or handling.
• Light in weight and easily adaptable to any mounting position.
• Circuitry that operates directly from the aircraft power system without
inverters.
• Minimum electrical current requirements when not indicating a fire.
• Cockpit light that illuminates, indicating the location of the fire, and
with an audible alarm system.
• A separate detector system for each engine.