Barco’s Defense & Aerospace division signed a memorandum of agreement with GE Aviation to collaborate on a new family of cockpit displays for helicopters. The new family will feature an open system design, which facilitates development of third-party applications for display system functionality.
“We are a tier 3 supplier,” said Steven Luys, v-p of strategic marketing, defense and aerospace for the Kortrijk, Belgium-based technology company, “and we offer our products to systems integrators. We offer the best display to fit the application.”
On exhibit here at Farnborough (Hall 1 Stand A13) are a variety of Barco products, including the 15.4-inch LED-backlit LCD that Barco is supplying to the Chinese Aeronautical Radio Electronics Research Institute (CARERI) for the Comac C919 program. The C919 cockpit features five of the big DHA-3138 Barco display head units (i.e., the glass without electronics), which feature WSXGA+ (1680 by 1050 pixel) resolution and high brightness and excellent contrast when viewed from any angle. The contract with CARERI covers 7,500 DHA-3138 displays for 1,500 airplanes from 2014 through 2030.
Barco displays are found on a variety of aircraft and with different levels of integration. The DHA-3138 is the display head only, and the integrator–CARERI–will supply the electronics that run the display. In the Pilatus PC-12, by contrast, Barco supplies its 10-inch smart displays incorporating electronics, knobs and buttons directly to Honeywell, which is the system integrator for the PC-12’s Honeywell Primus Apex flight deck. The new Pilatus PC-24, which rolls out August 1 in Stans, Switzerland, will feature four 12-inch Barco smart displays.
“We don’t try to compete with customers,” Luys said, referring to the system integrators that Barco supplies. “We’re offering the best displays, very lightweight display heads, high quality front ends and fully integrated smart displays. [We build] at the level that they want, and we try to be as reliable as possible.”
Better Backlights
Other Barco technological advantages include the capability to build its own LED backlighting systems, which adjust brightness as the LEDs age, and also integrated night-vision imaging system compatibility (NVIS). Including NVIS capability into the displays avoids having to install a filter over the display, which makes the normal day mode more appear yellowish. “We have a separate LED backlight for day and night,” Luys explained. “This makes us independent of filters.”
Meanwhile, Barco is working on projected-capacitance touchscreen displays. This type of display is the same that is used by Apple for its mobile devices and thus will be a familiar interface for pilots. While projected-capacitance displays are prone to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues, he said, “We made the displays so there is no interference.” Barco also adds an additional sensor in the touchscreen so that the user must positively push against the glass to elicit an input. This will allow pilots to wear ordinary gloves while using the display. The amount of pressure needed to force the input is adjustable by the system integrator.
The move to install more touchscreens in cockpits is likely going to mean the disappearance of the ordinary and bulky control display unit (CDU) with its many alphanumeric characters, buttons and knobs. “This is the virtualization of CDU real estate,” said Luys.
The virtual display still offers pilots a keyboard, albeit virtual, but nonetheless somewhat familiar. “Touch will trickle into cockpits,” Luys concluded, “and it is here to stay. It’s an unstoppable trend.”
