All of the information provided here is for educational purposes only, and no warranty is made, expressed or implied, regarding its accuracy. Any use of this information is at your own risk. All avionics installations must follow FAR regulations and other applicable rules. These instruments are intended for use in experimental aircraft only.
While constructing a Cozy MKIV (see Orion link above) I investigated many avionics options, but the sophistication and prices of most options left a sour taste in my mouth. Avionics and engine subsystems are the two areas where current aviation market conditions (lack of competition, difficulty in certifying products, etc.) have the most visible impact. A simple radio stack cooling fan might sell for $60, despite the fact that it is identical to a device used in a computer that sells for $3. You basically have two choices - 1970s technology or thousands of dollars per device.
Since I started building my plane, technology has evolved a bit. I've also re-prioritized my goals based on evolutions in my concepts of "ideal" solutions. Where previously I had planned to develop 90% or more of a glass panel system myself, relying on "standard" gauges only as backups, I'll now try to develop 25% or less of this functionality myself.
I was also unhappy with traditional "steam" gauges. For various reasons, I had already made the decision to go all-electric (see the Aeroelectric Connection for details). The next step beyond this is the so-called "glass panel," a device that provides an electronic display of the same data as a traditional instrument panel but in a single device. Glass panels have a number of benefits:
There are commercial electronic flight information system (EFIS) devices available, but these can be fairly expensive; some run into the tens of thousands of dollars. There are also lower-cost options for experimental and private aircraft. One of these is Blue Mountain Avionics', EFIS/One, which sells for $12,000, a module that integrates the core flight instruments, a GPS moving map, and engine instruments into a single package. Blue Mountain also sells the EFIS/Lite for $4500, which includes just the core flight instruments. These products are certified for IFR operations. Also, Dynon Development sells the EFIS-D10 for $2300, which is similar in functionality to the EFIS/Lite. (If you don't intend to build your own glass panel I highly recommend these two options as I certainly would have chosen one or both in the same situation.)
On the other hand, if you are adventurous, you can also roll your own.
I've included a few links that have information you may find useful, and
you should also take a look at the Glass Cockpit groups on Yahoo!.:
Al Wick's Glass Cockpit Site
myglasscockpit.com
Jeff and Barbara Wilson's Design
Galileo is my effort at making a glass cockpit system. In a twist compared to other options, I will be distributing this information freely available. See the footer of each page for the licensing terms, but basically you can do anything non-commercial you like with it provided you attribute the original work, and you contribute your own changes so others may benefit. Upon request, I will also make hardware kits and components available, prebuilt and tested. My fees will only go to cover my time and materials making the components. The intent of this site is to provide the information freely to all visitors.
Overall Architecture
Galileo is composed of a distributed network of sensors and display panels.
Each display will typically show a different type of information, such
as engine instruments or GPS moving map, but they are also interchangeable;
if one panel fails, another may be switched (perhaps from a less essential
function) to display its data. Devices communicate via a Controller Area
Network (CAN) bus, a highly reliable communications bus that tolerates a
number of failure modes (such as short circuits) without bringing the
system down.
The most important feature in the design is modularity. It is not necessary to install the entire system for it to function properly. Budget-conscious builders could start with a single function, such as one display and one or two engine sensors, and then grow the system as budget and feature desires allow. Read more...
Sensors
A sensor is a data collector, periodically transmitting that data on the CAN
bus where display modules may collect and use it. However, sensors may also
receive data. For example, the pitch and roll trim control module is both a
data transmitter (indicating the current position of each trim servo) as well
as a data receiver (accepting trim movement commands from the autopilot). It
is easy to conceive of a complete fly-by-wire system using this architecture,
although Galileo is not this ambitious. Read more...
Displays
Display panels are moderately-sized sunlight-readable PDAs. All of the displays
run the same software, and can be switched to a different display mode at the
touch of a button. Because they are PDAs, they can also be brought into the FBO
for flight or weather planning, or brought home for data analysis (they record
the data they see). The data recording facility is invaluable during flight
testing, as it allows the pilot to "replay" each flight, looking for anomalies
(such as brief temperature spikes) that might not have been noticed otherwise.
Read more...
Software
Both sensors and display panels run various software modules that allow them
to do their work. Sensor modules are microcontroller-based (where required),
and thus use very small and efficient single-task programs. These are not
portable, but because they are so small rewriting them would be straightforward.
Display panels use Java-based applications, which not only allows them to be
ported to different displays but also allows the builder to install new
functionality by downloading and installing additional Java applications.
Read more...
Installation in Cozy MKIV #1147
As mentioned above, Galileo is modular, and may be scaled from a single
display and sensor providing a single function, to a network of sensors
and display panels providing a complete replacement for traditional
instruments. All information about the system is on the pages above.
The information listed below is specific to my installation in my Cozy
MKIV, for builders who wish to follow in my footsteps. Read more...