Boeing Signs Rockwell Collins for Touchscreens on 777X

Boeing has chosen Rockwell Collins to supply touchscreens for all five flight deck displays on the new Boeing 777X, the avionics maker confirmed Wednesday. The contract marks the first time an aircraft maker will equip a commercial airliner with touchscreen forward flight displays. Although Boeing in June identified Rockwell Collins as the avionics supplier involved in testing the touchscreen technology on the airframer’s EcoDemonstrator test bed, it said it continued to “define requirements” and that it wouldn’t confirm the supplier until late summer.

“Touchscreens are everywhere in our lives and we applaud Boeing for taking the bold step to embrace this next evolution in flight deck technology for an advanced aircraft like the 777X,” said Rockwell Collins executive vice president and chief operating officer for Commercial Systems Kent Statler. “A touch-controlled flight deck environment makes it easier for pilots to manage information and do their jobs, and speeds up the process to complete tasks.”

The 777X touchscreen flight displays will feature multi-touch controls, meaning two pilots can touch the same screen at the same time. In addition, the touchscreens will use resistive technology (firm touch versus light) for avoiding unintentional interaction with the displays. The touchscreen bezel will provide bracing features for operation during turbulence.

During a briefing in Seattle ahead of July’s Farnborough Airshow, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of product development Mike Sinnett called touchscreens “a really great example of trying to understand what the [customer] requirements are and convey those requirements in a flight deck design.” But despite the seeming ubiquity of the technology in everyday computing devices, aerospace engineers still must consider technological hurdles specific to airplane design. Sinnett explained that although no requirements exist that “drive” the use of the touchscreen, the challenge for engineers centered on simultaneously maintaining standards associated with image quality, chromaticity and off-axis viewing angles.

“The requirements that drive the viewability of the display and the requirements that allow for good touch in some cases are mutually exclusive,” said Sinnett. “For example, the best touchscreens are the ones where if you get a fingerprint on them you can wipe it off really easily. One of the problems with devices that clean so easily is that there’s a lot of reflectivity in those devices.”

Manufacturers must adhere to strict anti-reflectivity standards written to ensure pilots can read the displays without distraction from seeing reflections of their white shirts in them, for example. The technology continues to improve, however, said Sinnett, who cited Boeing’s introduction of the technology in the electronic flight bag on the 787.