Silicon Valley Tech ‘Disrupts’ Avionics

Ryan Reed, customer support and communications specialist for uAvionix, showed the company's thumbnail-sized Ping ADS-B transceiver at Sun ’n’ Fun 2017. Designed for drones and still in R&D, the tiny component is intended to sit quietly until it senses an aircraft inside its five-mile bubble. At that point it will begin transmitting, letting the aircraft know the drone's position. Once the “threat” passes, the ADS-B output goes silent again, reducing clutter and "noise” in the system.

“That’s just one possible solution for the problems we expect in 2020 when everyone is [ADS-B] equipped, UAS and manned aircraft alike,” said Reed.

uAvionix produces transceivers, transponders, ADS-B receivers and a TSO’d WAAS GPS for UAS, and has a 60-gram ADS-B IN/OUT transceiver for experimental and LSA aircraft designed to meet the performance requirements of TSO-C154c. Its Echo line of products, including a mode-S transponder with ADS-B 1090ES OUT, range in price from $500 to $1,699, including Wi-Fi and wired or wireless integration with legacy mode-C/S transponders. The equipment is designed for remote mounting, and works with both Grand Rapids Technology and MGL EFIS at this time.