Touch-Screen Navigation, Com Panel, ADS-B Compliant Transponder
In The Package
Avidyne introduced a full line of panel-mounted,
plug-and-play avionics for general aviation aircraft at EAA
AirVenture on Monday. Avidyne’s new avionics stack includes
the IFD540 FMS/GPS/ Navigation/ Communication system with touch
screen user interface, the AMX240 stereo Audio Panel with Marker
Beacon, the AXP340 Mode S Extended Squitter (ES) Transponder, and
the attitude-based DFC90 Digital Autopilot.
Each of these products is designed to be a plug-and-play
replacement for previous generation avionics systems, while adding
significant performance, ease-of-use, and safety enhancements. The
IFD540 is a plug-and-play replacement for the popular GNS530 series
navigators, the AMX240 is a plug-and-play replacement for the
GMA340 and PMA8000 series audio panels, the AXP340 is a
plug-and-play replacement for existing KT76A/KT78A transponders,
and the DFC90 is currently certified as a plug-and-play replacement
for the STEC55X autopilot.
“Pilots and industry experts around the world have
continually cited Avidyne as the ‘ease of use’ winner
over our competitors in virtually every product category where we
have had head-to-head evaluations, and these new panel-mounted
products will set the bar even higher for innovation and overall
ease of use,” said Patrick Herguth, Avidyne’s Chief
Operating Officer. “Installation is always a significant cost
contributor with any avionics upgrade, so we decided early on to
offer plug-and-play solutions that can reduce the overall cost of
acquisition and enhance value for many of our customers.”
Dan Schwinn
“We are applying our leadership in innovation to develop
panel-mounted avionics that really improve the flying experience
for pilots, just as we changed the market with our
radar-replacement MFDs in the late 90s, and with big-glass PFDs in
the early 2000s,” said Dan Schwinn, Avidyne’s President
and CEO. “Avidyne’s new panel-mounted avionics line
comes as a result of significant investments in core
next-generation integrated avionics technologies—built on our
versatile peer-to-peer data bus backbone that will allow us to be
very competitive in this market for years to come with
gamechanging, safety-enhancing products that pilots love to
fly.
While there was no announcement concerning touch-screen
capability for installed R9 avionics, Schwinn said that the IFD540
is essentially a miniaturized R9, and that "the technology would be
going back and forth" with a lot of cross pollination between the
R9 and IFD540 products.
Schwinn said that while recent uncertainty revolving around the
FAA has already caused the certification date on all of the new
products to slide, the agency's stamp of approval is expected to
come in 2012. "We just have to pull it through the knothole," he
said.