Battery Tester
Concorde Battery Corp., West Covina, Calif., introduced the BC-5000 Battery Capacity Tester (Concorde P/N 4163). The company said the tester, which weighs 10 pounds and measures 12 inches long, 9 inches wide and 10 inches high, has been market tested and approved for use by various aviation maintenance technician groups and private pilots. The BC-5000 is made to test airworthiness and capacity for 12 volt and 24 volt lead acid aircraft batteries, the company said. The portable tester is powered by the individual battery and accommodates a range of batteries with capacities from 10-50 Ah. Visit www.concordebattery.com.
Support Package
Data Device Corp., of Bohemia, N.Y., enhanced its LabVIEW support package for Mil-Std-1553 and ARINC 429 data bus applications that use the National Instruments’ LabVIEW Graphical Programming Platform. The BU-69093S0 LabVIEW package provides three different levels of Virtual Instruments. The package consists of front panels, block diagrams, connector panels and user samples. Visit www.ddc-web.com.
New ARINC Offices
ARINC’s Asia Pacific division opened two new sales and service offices at Mumbai and New Delhi in India. The offices bring the company’s representation in the Asia Pacific region to a total of 11 countries. ARINC opened its Asia Pacific division headquarters in Singapore in 2003. Visit www.arinc.com.
Pricing Model
Approach Systems Corp., of Orem, Utah, revamped its Web site and pricing model, which will allow the company to better manage its customer database. Approach Systems is re-writing how Approach Plate and APIC applications are priced. Customers no longer have to pay for a yearly subscription; they can purchase database and application for less than 10 percent of the yearly price. Visit www.approachsystems.com.
Power Supply
Mid-Continent Instruments, Wichita, Kan., introduced an emergency power supply using Lithium Nanophosphate technology. The MD800 Series provides power for standby equipment during aircraft power loss or interruption, the company said. The MD800 Series Emergency Power Supply, which weighs 4.5 pounds, has a 4.6 amp-hour battery system that uses the same mating connector and mounts in a standard 1/4 ATR rack. Visit www.mcico.com.
Iridium Transceiver
Avidyne Corp. introduced the MLX780, an Iridium-based transceiver that provides worldwide airborne telephone and two-way datalink weather capability. In addition, the company announced an upgrade program that allows existing MLX770 datalink-only customers to add airborne telephone capability. The MLX780 is a single-channel Iridium transceiver. It provides WSI’s InFlight weather data products for display on Avidyne’s Entegra and EX500 multifunction displays. The transceiver is designed to interface to third-party handsets, telephone dialers and audio panels. It weighs 3.6 pounds and is contained in a 6 inch by 11 inch by 3 inch box. Visit www.avidyne.com.
Mini Radios
FreeWave Technologies, of Boulder, Colo., released two additions to its MM2 family of tiny form factor radios: the MM2-M13 and the MM2-MU. The MM2-M13 operates in the 1.3 GHz band; the MM2-MU operates in the UHF band. FreeWave Technologies said the radios are ideal for applications such as sensors and UAVs. The radios provide the same features and functionality as FreeWave’s full-size military/government band radios. The MM2-M13 is backward compatible with FreeWave’s P Series family of radios. The MM2-MU family is backward compatible with the company’s F series wideband family of radios. Other features include 2-watt transmitter power; increased operating voltage to 8-32 VDC; and the ability to operate as a slave/repeater. Visit www.freewave.com.
Simphone Dealers
TrueNorth Avionics, of Ottawa, Canada, added eight dealers to represent its Simphone airborne telecommunications products. They are: Haggan Aviation, of Englewood, Colo.; Airborne Maintenance, Inc., Ronkonkona, N.Y.; Mid-Canada Mod Center, Mississauga, Ontario; Goderich Aircraft, Inc., Huron Park, Ontario; Southeast Aerospace, Inc., Melbourne, Fla.; Aerodynamics, Inc., Waterford, Mich.; Gore Design Completions Ltd., San Antonio; and Jet Aviation locations in Basel and Geneva, Switzerland. Visit www.truenorthavionics.com.
Office Relocation
CAST Navigation LLC relocated and expanded its Tewksbury, Mass., office. The new address is One Highwood Drive, Suite 100, Tewksbury, Mass., 01876. The telephone number is 978-858-0130. The company said the relocation within the corporate complex puts sales, research and development and manufacturing in a state-of-the-art facility. Visit www.castnav.com.
Blu-Ray Player
Flight Display Systems, of Alpharetta, Ga., released a Blu-ray disc player specifically designed for aircraft. Customers can upgrade their aircraft with an HD Blu-ray player as a replacement unit, the company said. Flight Display’s system includes HDMI and composite output, making it backward-compatible with older LCD and plasma monitors. It includes a wireless IR remote and a RS485 port for interface to other cabin management systems. Visit www.flightdisplay.com.
‘PosiBand’ Contact
Positronic Industries, Springfield, Mo., introduced the "PosiBand" closed entry contact, describing it as a significant improvement over legacy contacts used in D-Subminiature connectors. The PosiBand overcomes weaknesses associated with the "split tine" and sleeve approach, and separates the mechanical and electrical function of the contact system. The base contact provides a true closed entry feature and enhanced elecrical stability, according to Positronic. PosiBand contact resistance is 3 milliohms for size 20 contacts and 4 milliohms for size 22 contacts. Visit www.connectpositronic.com.
Ramp Test Set
Aeroflex added IFF test modes 1, 2 and TACAN as standard features to the IFR 6015 Ramp Test Set, a battery-powered portable unit designed to test the operation of aviation transponder modes 1, 2, 3A/C/S. The additional capabilities enable the 6015 to emulate several different TACAN test sets, including AN/ASM-663 and AN/ARM-184. It supports all TACAN channels and includes RF level-control for track sensitivity tests. The IFR 6015, which weighs 8 pounds and has an average battery life of about six hours, comes with a detachable directional antenna that may be hand-held or mounted on the test set or tripod. Visit www.aeroflex.com.
Air Data STC
Sandia Aerospace, Albuquerque, N.M., received FAA-TSO approval for its SAC 7-35 Airdata Computer. The SAC 7-35 is TSO’d as an Altitude Encoder and provides Gilliam Grey Code for legacy transponders and RS 232 Pressure Altitude outputs for modern designs. The SAC 7-35 supplies digital fuel flow information to navigation systems that have fuel flow displays. Also included in the SAC 7-35 is Sandia’s Altitude In-Flight Monitoring, which alerts the pilot when he or she deviates more than 100 feet from the selected altitude. Vist www.sandia.aero.
Push-Button Switch
APEM Components, of Haverhill, Mass., introduced a 16mm push-button switch. The switch has tactile and snap acting contact mechanisms, with gold or silver plated contacts and with NO, NC and NO/NC electrical functions. It is rated for 500,000 cycles at 250 VAC and at 1 million cycles for low-level applications. The switch is customizable for a variety of applications with 10 actuator colors, five LED colors, a round or square bezel and five termination options. Visit www.apem.com.
Inmarsat Partner
Satcom Direct, of Satellite Beach, Fla., announced that it has been chosen as a distribution partner for Inmarsat SwiftBroadband services for corporate, government and military aviation. Visit www.satcomdirect.com.
Sensor Simulator
PCB Piezotronics, of Depew, N.Y., introduced an ICP sensor simulator, Model 401B04. It accepts test signals from a voltage function generator, and allows test engineers to make sure the entire measuring chain of cable, ICP or IEPE signal conditioning and data acquisition system is set up properly and ready to take measurements. Visit www.pcb.com.
Protocol Converter
The PCU100 Lynx Protocol Converter from Agilynx, Billerica, Mass., is to be installed on two C-130s by Marshall Aerospace U.K., as part of a Royal Netherlands Air Force C-130 fleet modernization program. The PCU100 transfers data between Mil-Std-1553B and ARINC 429, and provides 28VDC compatible Input/Output discrete interfaces. Data can be reformatted, rescaled and time-tagged. The converter supports eight 429 inputs, four 429 outputs, 16 Discrete inputs, four Discrete outputs and a 1553B dual-redundant bus. Visit www.agilynx.com.
HMI Toolkit
Quantum3D, of San Jose, Calif., issued a new release of "IData," its Human Machine Interface (HMI) toolkit. IData version 3.0.4 adds a DO-178B certified widget library, ARINC 661 capabilities, 3-D user interface capabilities and digital mapping features. Applications for unmanned vehicles, first responders, helicopters, in-flight entertainment and synthetic vision can leverage these new capabilities. Visit www.Quantum3D.com.
EMI Hood
Positronic Industries released an EMI aluminum hood (backshell) for aerospace applications. Features include a cable opening large enough to accommodate high-density wire bundles using twisted, shielded pairs and up to six ground points inside the hood sized and spaced for use with ring terminals up to 0.250 inch diameter. The hood also has a thumb grip, two styles of locking systems, square shape to facilitate wire routing and harness assembly, captive jackscrews. Visit www.connectpositronic.com.