| Avionics is an exciting field. When you have watched | | | | specialized purpose of its own. Avionics started with |
| movies where they show the cockpit, you must | | | | communication. There are many more aspects to |
| have noticed the large number of controls and | | | | avionics, but it is still highly focused on communication. |
| displays. That is what Avionics is all about. Avionics is | | | | This also involves onboard communication means, like |
| a contraction of the two words Aviation and | | | | public address systems and intercoms. Navigation is |
| Electronics. Formerly Avionics was all about military | | | | crucial for determining the precise position and |
| application; in the 40's most of the operating systems | | | | direction of the aircraft above the Earth's surface, |
| which were involved in aircrafts were either | | | | such as the Global Positioning System. Certainly |
| mechanical, electric, radio-frequency based, or | | | | anyone would expect the display in aircrafts to be |
| magnetic in nature, and the subsequent invention of | | | | highly robust. These provide user-friendly systems of |
| radar in detecting enemy planes during World War II | | | | determining aircraft altitude and heading, both for the |
| ushered in the development of a whole new | | | | pilot and the aircrew. Aircraft flight control systems |
| category of electronic navigational devices. As the | | | | are used to take off the burden from the pilot at |
| vacuum tubes gave way to integrated circuits, the | | | | crucial situations, such as during the landing maneuver |
| field of avionics truly took birth in the 70s. Foreseeing | | | | or while hovering; these tasks are usually done by |
| the vast potential for this relatively new field of | | | | the system in order to minimize the chances of pilot |
| technology, industry specialists took the applications | | | | error. Avoiding collisions is possible with Avionic |
| from the military into the area of civilian aircraft | | | | systems designed specifically for that purpose. |
| development. Avionics is currently becoming an | | | | Weather systems are used to gauge weather |
| increasingly versatile field, with its applications bleeding | | | | patterns on the aircrafts flight path, and allows the |
| out from the aerospace industry, and into commercial | | | | pilot to consider evasive options in case the results |
| shipping, and naval and terrestrial vehicle navigation, | | | | are unfavorable; currently, satellite systems have |
| where the need to quickly process data in real-time is | | | | been of great assistance to navigation, as the |
| ever more urgent. Be it money spent on research in | | | | aircraft can assess weather conditions which are too |
| the field of aircrafts, or money spent to buy aircraft, | | | | far away to be detected by in-flight systems. The |
| most of it goes into avionics and this field has | | | | different systems that talk to each other are |
| evolved from being an auxiliary part of an aircraft, to | | | | cumulatively called the Aircraft management system. |
| the essential reason for its existence. The field of | | | | Its tasks include monitoring the status of the engines, |
| Avionics is now of paramount importance in aircraft | | | | to measuring minute changes in pressure. I would like |
| engineering. This is because Avionics is the brain of | | | | to think of the avionic aircraft management system |
| the aircraft. This system is primarily located in the | | | | as the heart and the brain of an aircraft. |
| cockpit of the aircraft, and operates autonomously | | | | Avionics enthusiasts should read about Adapters for |
| under the supervision of the pilot. Aircraft avionics | | | | Measurement and Test Equipment Avionics at the |
| can be broken down into different fields, each with a | | | | site for Avionics parts. |