Story ID: 
Virgin America Picks Nexis EFBs
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: Astronautics EFBs are installed in more than 1,000 aircraft
Word Count: 694
Although tablet-based electronic flight bags (EFBs) are replacing paper charts in many business aviation and airline cockpits, there is still a robust market for Class 3 certified EFBs, and these are especially important for displaying new features that are part of the NextGen transformation of the National Airspace System. Many cockpits still are equipped with older avionics that cannot display NextGen features such as ADS-B in Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) and other applications, and certified EFBs remain a viable solution for these aircraft.

Milwaukee, Wis.-based Astronautics Corp of America has been manufacturing Class 3 certified EFBs since its first-generation system flew on Boeing’s 777 in 2003 for launch customer KLM. That EFB’s LCD was lit by cold-cathode fluorescent bulbs, but Astronautics soon fielded its generation-2 EFB with modern LED backlighting. These systems are installed on Boeing 737s, 777s, 747-8s and the 787.

More than 1,000 aircraft fly with Astronautics EFBs, according to Jason Shuler, product line manager for airborne servers and computing. The latest system is the Astronautics Nexis Flight Intelligence System, which features a touchscreen and solid-state data storage instead of a rotating hard drive. Virgin America’s Airbus A320 fleet is the launch customer for Nexis. The first installation took place last August, and the entire 50-plus A320 fleet will be fully equipped with Nexis systems in March next year.

“Our EFBs not only have intuitive user interfaces using the latest technology such as touchscreens [and] high-contrast LCDs but also have the benefit to fully integrate into the aircraft’s avionics,” said Astronautics president Chad Cundiff.

Shuler pointed out another benefit of dedicated certified EFBs such as the Nexis unit: the Nexis display is driven by a permanently installed server, which is hard-wired to the display so there are no security issues with data traveling wirelessly.
NextGen Applications
The key NextGen features that play on the Nexis EFB are SafeRoute applications, which Astronautics developed in partnership with Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS), a joint venture of L-3 Communications and Thales. SafeRoute software supports NextGen features enabled by ADS-B in capability, such as the CDTI display of aircraft broadcasting their positions via ADS-B out. Other NextGen features include In-trail Procedures, which allow properly equipped aircraft to fly with closer spacing over areas without radar coverage; Merging & Spacing, which adjusts speed instructions to aircraft to maintain optimum spacing and prevent conflicts when flight paths merge near fixes or when approaching airports; and Surface Area Movement Management, which displays own-ship position and positions of other aircraft on airport diagrams.

“[Nexis] is bringing CDTI to the cockpit,” Shuler explained,” with own-ship position on en route charts and maps, and support for NextGen and [Europe’s] Sesar. It allows operators to move in those directions without large-scale changes to the aircraft.”

Astronautics is taking advantage of the processor power available in the Nexis system by developing experimental features that could be a great benefit for pilots. Shuler demonstrated a wind-shear display that depicts the location and likely effects of wind shear. He also demonstrated an experimental wake vortex display, which warns the pilot about danger zones in relation to nearby vortex-generating aircraft. Another experimental feature is integration with maintenance logbook systems. “Nothing is stopping us from moving in that direction,” Shuler said.

Adding the Nexis EFB to an aircraft with airborne Internet connectivity could allow pilots to access certain external websites. The operator can limit access, for example, to weather or flight-tracking or internal company websites.

After the flight, a Datacom button on Nexis allows pilots to send pertinent flight information to operational headquarters. This could be set up to send critical data sooner, if appropriate connectivity is available.

The Astronautics EFB system is an open-architecture design, which means that developers can create their own applications to run on Nexis. “We provide the full software development kit for third parties and operators to develop their own apps,” Shuler said. “We don’t know everything people are going to want to do five years from now, and we have the capability to be flexible.”