Story ID: 459
Rockwell Collins Offering Full Cabin Integration
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: The acquisition of B/E Aerospace added many new capabilities to the Rockwell Collins cabin interior offerings.
Word Count: 797
Rockwell Collins has doubled the size of its NBAA exhibit space, this year occupying a 9,000-sq-ft booth. The display highlights not only avionics capabilities but also the integration of cabin technologies enabled by last April’s acquisition of B/E Aerospace. All of the new technologies are on display at the Rockwell Collins booth (N4000).

“The biggest of these integrated solutions is Smart Cabin,” said Scott Gunnufson, vice president sales, marketing and customer support, commercial systems. “The integration is moving full-speed ahead, and we’re now working across all our business units to explore opportunities to deliver extraordinary and integrated solutions. “When operators upgrade their avionics, they can get new interiors from the same source,” he said. “Reaching into the cabin is a logical extension with dealers and OEMs.”

The Smart Cabin effort will include ways of applying new technology to seats and galley and lavatory equipment. Interior lighting will adjust to each phase of flight, with full color accent lighting in upwash and downwash configurations and encapsulated into different shapes to fit the cabin’s characteristics.

“We’re investing in new ideas, new technology and new services, all to bring more value to business aviation customers,” Gunnufson said.

Three new seating systems are on display this year, showing the capabilities of the Miami seat manufacturing operation that came with the B/E Aerospace acquisition.

The new Aurora design offers an “intuitive tilting system, similar to an office chair,” said Chuck Barresi, vice president and general manager, executive aircraft seating, interior systems. “It will cradle you and put you in a relaxed and comfortable position.” The Aurora seat’s pedestal base helps the passenger into and out of the seat. “It’s representative of a trend toward task-oriented seating,” he said, which fits with the move to large aircraft with distinct zones. “Our mission is to develop seats for each zone,” he added.

The UCT NG 2.0 seat has been a best seller and now incorporates a new ergonomically designed backrest. “It was formed through studying the sitting position of hundreds of occupants at the Winston-Salem commercial seating group,” said Barresi. “It allows us to provide a higher level of comfort at a lower weight.” This seat also features a pedestal that is integrated into the seat and can also be built into the aircraft structure, instead of mounting on a floor track.

The Advanced Technology Seat is the first with heat delivered to the armrest, using flexible thin heating elements that are encased in the upholstery, he explained. “It also has active venting that can wick away heat, so it is a heating and cooling seat.” The temperature-control features can be manipulated via a mobile device app.

Rockwell Collins is now offering the PulseOx emergency passenger oxygen system, another product from the B/E Aerospace deal. With oxygen stored in the passenger service unit, PulseOx metes out oxygen at a rate corresponding to the passenger’s breathing cycle and the cabin altitude, lowering the total amount needed. With the units located near each seat, PulseOx eliminates large bottles and plumbing, helping lower the weight of the total emergency oxygen system by hundreds of pounds. This is the same system installed on Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s.
CMS and Entertainment
At its cabin management and entertainment development facility in southern California, Rockwell Collins is adding new technologies to its Venue cabin management system (CMS), which recently hit the 1,000-installation mark since entry into service in 2007.

“Venue is the backbone of all our offerings in terms of CMS and entertainment and the gateway to connectivity,” said Taylor Prosba, director, business jet cabin solutions. “In California, we’re focusing on big strides in CMS and entertainment. How do we link all the different pieces? We want to make sure that passengers have access to trip planning, entertainment and being able to update that. We’re really focused on this.”

What has made Venue successful, he explained, is the capability to keep adding new features to the Venue backbone, which is scalable from small business aircraft to the largest twin-aisle VVIP airliner-based jets. Capabilities include wireless on-demand entertainment, airborne internet connectivity and the Rockwell Collins Airshow moving-map system.

A recent new feature is an exclusive agreement with West Entertainment for a wider selection of DRM-protected movies and TV episodes, which will add to the more than 1,000 shows already available for Rockwell Collins Stage customers. Many of the new shows will be available in 4K resolution. “This is content that keeps people excited and wanting to keep the service,” said Prosba.

New technologies planned for Venue include Bluetooth connectivity and larger, higher-resolution displays.