DIGITAL AVIONICS

CREW INTERFACES
 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
 Cathode Ray Tubes are the corner stones of
displays in Modern Aircrafts.
 Reasons for using CRTs as display devices in
aircraft are:
1).Versatile Display Device: It overshadows the
functional limitations of traditional
Electromechanical Indicators.
 2). Excellent Reliability
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

3). Active Display

It emits light rather than reflecting ambient
light, provisions must be made to dim the CRT
during night flying.
Two Types of CRTs are:
1). Monochrome CRTs
2). Color CRTs
 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

• It’s application is in Military Aircraft Cockpits. Ex.

F/A-18, F-16.

• The F/A – 18 uses four Monochrome Displays, one

for the HUD.

• The F-16 uses five Monochrome CRT, one for HUD.

Why Monochrome CRT in Fighter Aircraft

• Ruggedness

• High Brightness
• It’s achieved through an optimum match of the
CRT phosphor and an optical band pass filter
covering the CRT face

• Ranging from 500 to 3000 foot candles.

 Continued …

Operates at about 23Kv accelerating Voltage.

To achieve the resolution of 200 lines per inch, it
uses laminar flow or dispenser cathode.
 High Contrast Display
Although the filter attenuates the light emitted by
the phosphor, this attenuation is more than
compensated for by the filter absorbing all other
wavelengths of ambient light.
 Color CRT
• It’s application in the Modern Transport such as
MD-80,MD-11,B-757,B-777,A-310,A-320,A-330 and
A-340.
• Limited application in High performance Military
Aircraft such as the F-15E, Euro fighter Aircraft and
the Dassault Rafale, because of a More Rugged
Design and the use of shock Mounts for Vibration
Isolation.
 Shadow Mask CRTs

• It can operate in ambient light levels up to 8000

foot candles, which corresponds to the brightness
of sunlight at typical aircraft-operating altitudes.
• Shadow mask color CRTs are not as bright as
monochrome CRTs because of lower phosphor
efficiency and screen blocking by the mask.
 Continued …
• Brightness levels up to 6000 fc can be achieved. This
brightness, coupled with filters similar to those used
in monochrome CRTs, produce a display that is
readable even when full sunlight is striking the CRT
face.
• Typical Resolution is 84 Red-Green-Blue(RGB) triads
per inch.
• It uses thin metallic mask to ensure the proper
alignment of each of three electron beams with its
matching phosphor.
Schematic of shadow Mask Color CRT
Shadow Mask Color CRT
 Shadow Mask Color CRT

• The gamut in which colours can be produced by a shadow-mask CRT is best

described in CIE u' v' colour space. By suitable combination of cathode drive
voltages, any colour can be produced within the triangle described by the
three primary colours:
Typical % of Luminance of primary color
Required to produce Desired Color
 Beam Penetration CRTs
• It offers an attractive alternative to shadow mask CRTs
in that they do not require a shadow mask to provide
colors.
• An electron beam from a single gun excites the
phosphor coating, which contain two layers.
• The outermost layer is a red phosphor that is excited
by low – energy (<10 kv) electrons, and the inner most
phosphor is a green one that requires higher-
energy(>10kv) electrons to excite it.
 Continued …
• Yellow to orange can be generated by simultaneous
excitation of the red and green phosphors.
• The net result is a color CRT whose ruggedness
matches that of a monochrome CRT and whose
spectrum is limited to three colors.
• A disadvantage is the requirement for rapid ,
precisely timed modulation of the beam voltage to
produce displays with adequate resolution and color
purity.
 Beam Indexing
• It is a Latent Technology that promises to provide
color capability in airborne CRTs .
• It doesn’t require a shadow mask. In a beam index
tube the face is lined with fine vertical stripes of four
phosphors :
• Standard Blue, Green , Red, one that emits Ultra Violet.
• The emission is detected with in the tube envelope,
and feedback is used to track the beam position so that
the beam current can be modulated to produce the
correct color.
 Continued …
• Proper choice of beam current , coupled with
precise knowledge of the beam location , allows a
complete range of colors, matching those of a
shadow mask CRT , but somewhat brighter than it
since the attenuating effects of the shadow mask
are not present.
• It’s attractive because of the simplified design and
ruggedness.
 Methods of Generating Image
• Stroke Generated Display (SGD)
• Raster Generated Display (RGD)
• Stroke Generated Display
• Stroke Generation of the image is an adaptation of
the method used in oscilloscope to generate the
trace.
• The electron beam is deflector to produce a
symbol like a waveform on an oscilloscope
 Advantages of SGD
• Sharpness
• High Brightness
• Improve brightness is achieved by using a
slower writing speed ( beam Velocity across the
CRT face)
• Because of this high brightness, stroke
generated images is used head up and helmet
Mounted display CRTs.
 Raster Generated Display
• It is well suited to displays requiring areas of
continuous tone such as an electronic attitude
display indicator where one color represent the
sky and another the ground.
• It is also suited to overlapping display elements
where a symbol must appear to be in front of the
background and not blended in .
 Disadvantage of RGD
• “Jaggies” which occur whenever a line in an
image crosses raster lines at a very shallow angle.
• Solution :
• This problem can be solved by dithering the line
between adjacent vertical display elements
coupled with careful modulation of the brightness
and by the use higher resolution CRTs.
 LUMINOUS FLAT PLANELS
• Advantages:
• Reduced volume
• Reduced rear panel clearance
• Use of reduced voltage level
• Uniform brightness
• No blurring near edges
 Light Emitting Diodes
• Low quantum efficiency
• Much of i/p power is dissipated as heat
• Reliability is high
• Uses three colors: red , green & yellow
• It lacks full range if colors
• It is widely used as switching legends
 ELECTROLUMINESCENCE
• 6-inch diagonal display
• Resolution 68 lines per inch
• Limitations
• Brightness
• Color availability
 GAS DISCHARGE
• Uses gas discharge phenomenon
• DC voltage is employed to improve brightness
• Efficiency is low(0.5 lm/w)
• Resolution:40 lines per inch
• At higher brightness level it dissipates significant
amount of heat
• Application:L-1011-500 FMS control/display unit
 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAYS
• Altering the anisotrophic structure of long organic crystal
by electric field, the optical properties are altered(the
crystals change from transmissive to reflective & vice-
versa)
• Advantages:
• Flat panels
• Solid state
• Compatible with digital drive circuits
• Can be matrix addressed
• Suffer no loss of image at edges
• Low power consumption
 LCD Contd.,
• First Generation: Passive
• Reflect, transmit or absorb the ambient light
• No heat dissipation
• Second Generation: Backlighted ,color
• Resolution & brightness are similar to CRT
• Lighter weight
• Reduced depth behind the panels
• Lower power
• High reliability
COMPARISON OF DISPLAY MEDIA
Features CRT LED EL Backlighted
LCD

Avg.Luminance(fc) 100 5 27 Determined by

backlighting

Resolution 200 100 68 200

Color Full Red,Green,Yell Red,Green,Yel Full
ow low

Viewing Angle ±80º ±80º ±80º ±50º

Power(W/in2 ) 5 8 0.6 2*10-6
MTBF(h) 3000-15,000 16,000 10,000 10,000

Temp. range(ºC) -20 to +70 -20 to +70 -30 to +100 -15 to +40

Rear Panel Clearance 19 in Few inches Few inches Few inches

 Multifunction Keyboard (MFK)
• Need : Cockpit have less space
• MFK has single panel of switches performing a
variety of functions depending on the phase of the
mission
• MFK depends on the display technology, so their
design uses the same principles and, in some
cases, it may be possible for a display to double as
a tactical input device
 Multifunction Keyboard (MFK)
• MFK can be implemented in several ways
• Light Emitting Diode - LED
• Liquid Crystal Display - LCD
• Cathode Ray Tube - CRT
 MFK using LED
• Designs using LEDs have arrays of standard-sized
pushbutton switches with legends built into
surface of the switches
• Legends are generated by small arrays of matrix
addressable LEDs in the switch cover.
• Colors can be used if desired
• Legends are changed as the mission phase
changes
 MFK using LCD
• Here the panel is a continuous smooth surface with
the individual switch function and area established
by the matrix addressed LCD
• LCD has graphical capability
• But some provision has to be made for lighting the
panel when the cockpit is dark
 MFK using CRT
• Two Methods to use CRTs as MFK
• Method I : CRT face to contain function labels
correlated with adjacent switches mounted in the
bezel surrounding the CRT
• Method II : Overlay CRT face with a touch-sensitive
screen. The CRT face contain various switch function
legends, and the corresponding function is selected by
touching that portion of the screen over the switch
label
Touch Screen
 Direct Voice Interactive System
• It’s a kind of Interface between the crew and a/c in
high work load situation in single crew member a/c
• F-16 routinely achieved 95% correct word recognition
and reduced to less than 80% under high g conditions
• Voice control is not suitable for time critical system.
• Categories :
• Recognition
• Speech recognition
• Synthesis
• Mature and proven performer
 Speech recognition
• Applied for non critical task such as requesting system
• Status, tuning radios, and requesting maps to be displayed on a CRT
• Not been used for urgent Inputs or critical task such as firing weapons.
• Problem with Voice Recognition :
• The words in the vocabulary are limited.
• Generating templates are time consuming.
• Microphone have the same electrical characteristics as the flight
microphone
• Difficult to stimulate the stress artificially
• Speaker independent Speech Recognition requires large amount of
memory ,and slow signal processing
 Three possible responses by the
system
• The most important figure of merit in a speech
recognition system is the fraction of correct word
recognitions.
• When a word is spoken, there are three possible
responses by the system: correct recognition,
confusion with a rhyming word, and rejection.
 Figure Explanation
• Node 1 is the master node
• Contains all the word that are permitted to be the first word in a
spoken sequence.

• Node 2 to 4 are secondary nodes contains second words on the

set of words based on the initial word and the syntactical rules.

• Ex: Comm1 refers radio ,so logic dictate that the words which
follow are numbers representing the frequency to which the
radio should be tuned
 Voice Synthesis System
• The most familiar application is the “Pull up, Pull up” message by
ground proximity warning system
• During high –workload, message should be brief and in a
telegraphic format.
• Message should be restricted to condition that require immediate
corrective action or have an immediate impact on the safety of fight
or will soon reach it’s condition if not corrected by the pilot.
• These warning should be preceded by a warning tone and have a
concurrent visual display.
• It include logic in the central processor to resolve conflicts between
simultaneously received messages.
• This resolution can be achieved by first in ,first out (FIFO) protocol.