General aviation light transport aircraft avionics: Integration and system tests

Avionics of current day aircrafts is termed as modular integrated full glass cockpit. Unlike lot of dials and gauges, the pilot will interact with Multi Function Displays (MFD). This means that the systems are coupled with multifunction displays, communication and navigation radios with control units, multi-mode interactive instruments for control and navigation, recording and fault management systems, airframe and health monitoring diagnostic capability. Pilot Vehicle Interface (PVI) is important measure of good avionics and cockpit layout, which implies the optimization of man machine interface, enhancement of economy and safety of flight operations. The paper presents the avionics architecture of a 14 seated Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) for general aviation, which has the multi role commuter capabilities. LTA is a twin turbo-prop, multi role aircraft, with air taxi and commuter services as its primary roles. The avionics is built on the digital communication mode for both command and control with current requirements of TCAS, digital Autopilot and AMLCD multipurpose glass displays. The LTA Avionics suite is grouped into six major groups based on the functionality: Display system, Communication System, Navigation system, Recording System, Radar System and Engine instruments and other cockpit displays. The paper also covers a details about the extensive tests carried out to prove the avionics design in terms of functionality, inter-operability, interference and compatibility. Various practical integration and flight-test issues, methodology and details of the scenarios is presented in the paper.