Portable Terrain Adviser
Garmin International, Olathe, Kan., has unveiled the GPSMAP 296, a portable aviation device that outputs topographic maps and terrain advisory alerts on a 480X320-pixel, 256-color, 3.8-inch-diagonal TFT transflective display. The device includes sectional, chart-like topographic data, an obstacle database for the U.S. and a transparent navigation arc view for course, speed and distance information. A universal serial bus connector allows faster data transfer. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack provides 5 to 15 hours of use, depending on backlight setting. Terrain cautions are presented in yellow to indicate ground proximity of 500 to 1,000 feet and red to indicate ground proximity of 100 feet or less. Alerts will pop up as digital thumbnail images in the lower left-hand corner of any page. Visit www.garmin.com.
Self-Laminating Labels
Tyco Electronics, Harrisburg, Pa., has announced self-laminating labels for marking and identifying wires and cables. The labels employ thermal transfer technology, which uses a translucent vinyl film substrate with a permanent acrylic adhesive. Visit www.tycoelectronics.com.
Real-Time Operating System
Green Hills Software’s memory-protected real-time operating system (RTOS), Integrity, is now available for PowerQUICC III MPC8560 and MPC8540 integrated communications processors. Freescale Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Motorola Inc., produces the processors, which combine a high-performance processor core with high-performance input/output. Visit www.ghs.com.
ADS-B Testing
The IFR ATC-601 ramp test set from Aeroflex Inc., Wichita, Kan., now supports enhanced surveillance and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) testing capabilities. The new version 3.0 software allows surveillance and ADS-B testing to RTCA DO-260 and ICAO Annex 10, Vol. 3, Chapter 5, Amendment 77. The test set already performs the transponder test required by the revised FAR 91.172 and Part 43, Appendix F, for Mode S, A and C transponders. Visit www.aeroflex.com.
Mil-Std-1553 Interface Card
Andor Design, Syosset, N.Y., offers its PCI301 dual-redundant Mil-Std-1553 interface card with a half-size PCI form factor. It was designed as an auto indexing, dual-ported static RAM interface. Visit www.andordesign.com.
Glow-in-the-Dark Cords
Retractile cord manufacturer, Autac Inc., of North Branford, Conn., has introduced cords that, after one hour of exposure to light, glow for up to eight hours. The cords can be used with onboard telephones and microphones or to plug in external appliances and machinery. Visit www.autacusa.com.
Transponder Test Set
Carlstadt, N.J.-based Tel-Instrument Electronics Corp. has introduced the TB-2X family of ATC/DME test sets. The TB-2100 model is used to test Mode A, C and S transponders, as well as DME equipment. The TB-2000 supports Mode A and C transponders and DME. Both models feature color liquid crystal displays (LCDs) with touch-screen parameter selection, two separate radio frequency channels for testing Mode S diversity, user storage and ATCRBS testing. Visit www.telinst.com.
Thermal Wire Stripper
Eraser Co., Syracuse, N.Y., now offers the HTS1 and HTS2 handheld thermal wire strippers for stripping extruded wires with solid or stranded conductors. The HTS1 is used for wires from 0.5-inch OD to 43-AWG and the HTS2, for wires from 18 AWG to 43 AWG. visit www.eraser.com.
Forward Scatter Sensor
All Weather Inc., Austin, Texas, announced at the Texas Airports Conference a new forward scatter visibility sensor designed to ensure measurement accuracy independent of environmental effects. The 8364-E’s design features four sensor heads, measuring both direct and scattered optical energy. The architecture allows the unit to measure not only fog, snow and rain but haze, smoke, dust and sand. Two infrared emitters and two solid state photodetectors perform two direct and two scatter measurements for each reported visibility measurement. Visit www.allweatherinc.com.
Recording System
A new recording/reproducing system by Heim Data Systems, Belmar, N.J., provides modular signal interfacing and interchangeable media cartridges, for a modular approach to PCM telemetry, avionics bus and sensor data acquisition tasks in harsh environments. The D5000 unit features a 256-megabit/s total system data rate and a choice of tape, rugged disk and solid state drive media. The D5000 mainframe has three signal module slots, accommodating future D-Series signal interface modules. Visit www.heimdata.com.
PMC Multiprocessor Board
Dy 4 Systems, Kanata, Ontario, has announced the PMC-106 symmetric multiprocessing, dual PowerPC processor board. The product features one or two Altivec-enabled Motorola MPC7447 processors operating at up to 1 GHz, each with 64 kilobytes (Kbytes) of L1 cache and 512 Kbytes of internal L2 cache. The PMC-106 also provides 256 megabytes of double-data rate SDRAM, providing 2 gigabytes/s of peak memory bandwidth. Visit www.dy4.com.
DMC-M Connector
DMC-M series connectors meeting the requirements of EN4165 are available from Deutsch Ltd., East Sussex, England. The modular rectangular connector can weigh up to 50 percent less than comparable circular connectors, the company says. The devices are constructed from aluminum shells—although composite versions are also available—and can receive modules from size 8 through size 22. Contacts and modules are removable, and both pins and sockets can be located in the same shell. Visit www.deutschltd.com.
Rubidium Frequency Standard
Novatech Instruments Inc., Seattle, has introduced the 2965AR rubidium frequency standard. It can be used as an external reference for lab instruments or as a time base for radar systems. The unit’s atomic time base provides stability of 5X10 -11 per month. It combines a 50-MHz direct digital synthesizer along with 10-MHz and 5-MHz outputs. The product uses an auto-adaptive disciplining algorithm, requiring no user intervention or tuning. Visit www.novatech-instr.com.
Interruptible Radio
The Air-Scan V radio now available from Sporty’s is a desktop-sized model with "aviation interrupt." Pilots can listen to AM or FM while the unit scans up to five preselected aviation channels for activity. When a signal is detected, the radio interrupts the program, and when the transmission ends, it resumes the original AM or FM broadcast. Visit www.sportys.com.
Design and Analysis Software
A new version of Lambda Research’s TracePro opto-mechanical design and analysis software has been announced. Version 3.2 of the 3D virtual prototyping system offers an updated irradiance viewer, for creating design variations and saving results as text files. It also offers integrated healing husk, reverse ray tracing, scheme editor, ACIS R12 kernel, enhanced graphics, new computer-aided design (CAD) import and export translators, and a photo-realistic rendering feature. Visit www.lambdares.com.
AFDX Data Bus Tools
The first of a series of bus analysis and test tools from Condor Engineering is expected later this year. The Condor BusTools/ AFDX will support monitoring, test, analysis and simulation of network traffic on the new avionics full duplex switched Ethernet interconnect developed by Airbus for the A380. Features include viewing of AFDX at multiple levels from a single graphical user interface, configuring and viewing of message structures using functional data sets, monitoring bus activity with an "instant-on" traffic sorter, configuring and viewing virtual links and AFDX port traffic, viewing port messages in engineering units, multiple-window displays, triggers and filters, and logging data to disk. Visit www.condoreng.com.
Diplexer
Integrated Microwave, San Diego, Calif., has announced the UNI band diplexer with center frequencies of 5260 and 5743 MHz. Insertion loss is greater than 1.3 dBa with 2 percent pass bands. Stop band performance is greater than 70 dBc on the low side of the bands and greater than 50 dBc on the high side, to 16 GHz, and greater than 43 dBc to greater than 20 GHz. Unit dimensions are 2.1 by 0.5 by 0.21 inches (5.3 by 1.3 by 0.5 cm). Visit www.imcsd.com.
Digital Autopilot
A new digital autopilot from Chelton Aviation Corp. provides smooth roll, pitch and heading stabilization. Vertical modes include selected pitch angle stabilization, altitude hold, automatic glide slope capture and tracking. Lateral modes include selected roll angle stabilization, and automatic capture and tracking of heading, VOR/localizer, back course and GPS or Loran courses. Visit www.chelton.com.
Audio Equalizer
Honeywell has introduced an enhanced digital audio equalizer for business jet cabins. Part of the company’s Ovation integrated cabin system, the equalizer balances music and movie audio to provide clear audio in high ambient noise environments. Visit www.honeywell.com.
Multifunction Display
L-3 Communications Display Systems now offers its PVI-600 multifunction display, its first product developed specifically for the commercial marketplace. Incorporating LED backlighting, it is intended as a radar indicator replacement.Visit www.l-3com.com.
Pentium Boards
Concurrent Technologies and Thales Computers will collaborate in developing a new family of Pentium M-based VME processor boards, which will be produced in commercial, extended-temperature and rugged versions. The ruggedized products are due out later this year. Visit www.thalescomputers.com and www.gocct.com.