Appareo introduced its 4K UHD AIRS-400 airborne image recording system this week at the Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Dallas. It records cockpit audio/video and offloads data via cellular networks.
Suitable for implementation of a flight data monitoring (FDM) or flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) program, the AIRS-400 captures ambient audio, intercom audio, 4K ultra-high-definition video, and flight data from internal inertial measurement units (IMUs) and a WAAS GPS receiver. The AIRS-400 weighs 11 ounces and records altitude, latitude/longitude, groundspeed, vertical speed, attitude data (pitch, roll, yaw), rates of rotation, and acceleration data. Options include Arinc 429 input and ED-155 audio and RS-422 output.
Appareo is also developing the RDM-500 crash-hardened storage module, which meets or exceeds ED-155 survivability standards. The AIRS-400 includes its own internal crash-hardened memory that can store “two hours of video and audio, more than 200 hours of IMU flight data, and 100 hours of Arinc 429 data,” according to Appareo.
A removable SD memory card is available for offloading data, but the AIRS-400 is equipped with cellular connectivity that can transmit data when the aircraft is on the ground. Once captured, the flight data can be analyzed using Appareo’s FDM/FOQA software tools, including its EnVision web-based software. Appareo said installation and setup of AIRS-400 takes just one day.