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Quick, tell me what Avionics is? Even if you do not truly know what it is all about, you probably guessed that it had something to do with airplanes. Avionics is a contraction of the two words Aviation and Electronics. Formerly Avionics was all about military application; in the 40's most of the operating systems which were involved in aircrafts were either mechanical, electric, radio-frequency based, or magnetic in nature, and the subsequent invention of radar in detecting enemy planes during World War II ushered in the development of a whole new category of electronic navigational devices. Though avionics took birth with the birth of the airplane, this field really took off in the 1970s when electronics took off. Foreseeing the vast potential for this relatively new field of technology, industry specialists took the applications from the military into the area of civilian aircraft development. Avionics is currently becoming an increasingly versatile field, with its applications bleeding out from the aerospace industry, and into commercial shipping, and naval and terrestrial vehicle navigation, where the need to quickly process data in real-time is ever more urgent. Avionics accounts for a significant component of the expense on aircraft purchase and research and this field has evolved from being an auxiliary part of an aircraft, to the essential reason for its existence. The field of Avionics is now of paramount importance in aircraft engineering. This is because Avionics is the brain of the aircraft. This system is primarily located in the cockpit of the aircraft, and operates autonomously under the supervision of the pilot. Aircraft avionics can be broken down into different fields, each with a specialized purpose of its own. Avionics is about communication, security, monitoring, navigation and more. But communication remains an important component of Avionics. This also involves onboard communication means, like public address systems and intercoms. Navigation is crucial for determining the precise position and direction of the aircraft above the Earth's surface, such as the Global Positioning System. Certainly anyone would expect the display in aircrafts to be highly robust. These provide user-friendly systems of determining aircraft altitude and heading, both for the pilot and the aircrew. Aircraft flight control systems are used to take off the burden from the pilot at crucial situations, such as during the landing maneuver or while hovering; these tasks are usually done by the system in order to minimize the chances of pilot error. It might seem right out of science fiction, but collision avoidance Avionics work. And they protect the aircraft on ground as well as in air. Weather systems are used to gauge weather patterns on the aircrafts flight path, and allows the pilot to consider evasive options in case the results are unfavorable; currently, satellite systems have been of great assistance to navigation, as the aircraft can assess weather conditions which are too far away to be detected by in-flight systems. In the airline business, what is commonly referred to as the aircraft management system is the sum total of many different avionic systems. Its tasks include monitoring the status of the engines, to measuring minute changes in pressure. When you try to sum up all the parts, you are left with the aircraft management system. Avionics enthusiasts should read about Aircraft Alarm and Signal Systems Avionics, Attenuator Avionics Devices, and also about Dividers Avionics.
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avionics, aircraft, electronics, aircraft management system,
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