Tail-Mounted Satcom Antenna
Chelton Inc., Lewisville, Texas, has released what it claims is the world’s smallest and lightest Inmarsat-approved, multichannel Aero-H/H+ and Swift64 antenna. The HGA-6000 is a high-gain antenna (HGA) designed specifically for mounting in the tail radome on business jets and airliners.
The 11-pound (5-kg) system includes the HGA-6000 antenna and the DAU-7050 diplexer/low-noise amplifier. It is, according to Chelton, the only HGA system to have a built-in beam steering unit (BSU) that can interface with any Inmarsat-approved satcom with ARINC 741 compatibility. This includes systems by EMS Technologies, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and Thrane & Thrane.
Since the HGA-6000 can take steering commands directly from the satcom systems, there would be no need to install a remote antenna control unit or a separate BSU, saving time and money, according to the company.
The HGA-6000 is the only HGA small enough to fit inside the Bombardier Challenger 300’s radome. The unit is also small enough to be co-located under some factory tail radomes with a DBS (TV) antenna. Visit www.cheltonsatcom.com.
Cabin Surveillance
Avionics Support Group Inc., Miami, will offer a network video unit (NVU) for airlines that have or plan to install electronic flight bags (EFBs). According to the company, the NVU will seamlessly integrate with any Windows-based EFB, permitting pilots to monitor cabin and cargo areas in real time. Visit www.asginc.net.
Testing PC Card
New from AIM-USA, Valley, Neb., comes the APM429 card. Designed for ARINC 429 use in the laboratory or field tests, the card combines "hot plug" capability with a rugged, screw-locked connector between the PC card and the ARINC 429 bus. The low-power (3-watt) unit has 1 Mbyte of memory and a 400-MHz reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor. Visit www.aim-online.com.
PCI Mezzanine Card
The new PrPMCQ2 from Radstone Technology, Woodcliff Lake, N.J., offers a low-power solution for defense and aerospace applications. The PCI mezzanine card is built around the 450-MHz Freescale MPC8280 PowerQUICC II processor. Visit www.radstone.com.
Stripper and Twister
New from the Eraser Co., Syracuse, N.Y., comes the C100S rotary wire stripper and twister. It can process solid and stranded wire, Teflon, PVC and nylon. Visit www.eraser.com.
Embedded Controllers
National Instruments, Austin, Texas, has announced three Pentium-III based embedded controllers for VXI systems. The VXIpc-874B and VXIpc-875B are two-slot, C-sized controllers with Pentium III, 1.4-GHz processors, while the VXIpc-771 is a single-slot controller with a Pentium III, 1.26-GHz processor. Visit www.ni.com.
Single Board Computer
New from Thales Computers comes the 1-GHz version of the PowerEngine7 single board computer (SBC). Available in convection- and conduction-cooled versions, the SBC features single or dual IBM PowerPC 750GX processors. The SBC has 512 Mbytes of synchronous dynamic RAM and up to 128 Mbytes of flash memory. Visit www.thalescomputers.com.
Electronic Flight Instrument System
Blue Mountain Avionics, Copperhill, Tenn., has released the third generation of its EFIS/Sport system. The electronic flight instrument system is suitable for visual flight rules and instrument flight rules. The EFIS/Sport also can be used as the primary instrument system. Visit www.bluemountainavionics.com.
Switch Matrix
Dow-Key Microwave, Ventura, Calif., has released a CANbus-based switch matrix system. It has an Ethernet control interface, an operating bandwidth of 2 to 32 MHz, and is built as a 6-by-12 full fan-out switch matrix. Visit www.dowkey.com.
Power Over Ethernet
From Pulse Engineering Inc., San Diego, comes its line of StarMagnetics power-over-Ethernet (PoE) products. These discrete magnetic components work at temperatures ranging from -40 degrees to 85 degrees C. Visit www.pulseeng.com.
LAAS-Capable MMR
Rockwell Collins recently received the industry’s first technical standard order (TSO) approval for a multimode receiver (MMR) with local area augmentation system (LAAS) functionality. The GLU-925 MMR includes LAAS and GPS landing system, as well as ILS and global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Visit www.rockwellcollins.com.
PXI Digitizers
Acqiris, Monroe, N.Y., has released two 3U single-slot PXI digitizers, the DC140 and DC135. The digitizers are PXI- and CompactPCI-compliant and are designed for telecommunications, automatic test equipment and radar applications. Visit www.acqiris.com.
TC Reference Junction
New from Hades Manufacturing Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y., comes its multichannel, thermocouple reference junction for temperature measurements. It accepts up to 16 thermocouple inputs and lowers system costs and space requirements. Visit www.hadesmfgcorp.com.
Relay Multiplexer
The P580 relay multiplexer is the latest test and measurement module for PXI platforms from KineticSystems Co., Lockport, Ill. The double-width, 3U unit is designed for data acquisition systems, calibration systems and automatic test equipment. Visit www.kscorp.com.