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Greek SME offering high precision and affordable flying information devices for avionics, working on tablets and smart phones is looking for companies with flight equipment, pilot supplies and manufacturers of light aircrafts or drones

Country of Origin: Greece
Reference Number: TOGR20180226001
Publication Date: 26 February 2018

Summary

An experienced Greek SME working in avionics sector offers high precision and affordable avionics flying information devices that work on tablets and smart phones. The company is looking for collaborators working with avionics, flight equipment, pilot supplies and manufacturers of light airplanes or drones for commercial agreement with technical assistance. Manufacturers of light airplanes or drones are sought for technical cooperation agreement.

Description

The Greek SME is a high tech avionics R&D company. Operated by aviation enthusiasts with background in fields related to computer science and robotics, it utilizes the latest technology to produce low cost avionics for light airplanes. With a clear focus in R&D, the company’s vision is to bring state-of-the-art sensor fusion technology in the avionics domain and to create new avionics devices with unprecedented accuracy and robustness.



Although existing tablets and smartphones already carry built-in sensors that were a focal point in the early days of the modern smartphone re-emergence, they have since remained mostly dormant or are utilized for simplistic gaming. The company has developed novel algorithms that allow these basic and sometimes faulty sensors to yield results of such accuracy that they rival even the aircraft cockpit sensors of the past. The company is currently offering three innovative products. 



The first product is an Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) for light airplanes, which runs on mobile devices using their internal sensors only (gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, barometers and GPS). The system makes use of digital filtering methods and state-of-the-art stochastic models in order to track the attitude of an airplane with accuracy and robustness. For correct operation, the device must have access to data from (at least) the following sensors: three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer, three-axis magnetometer, GPS and/or airspeed sensor. If any of these sensors is not available, a notification is shown on the screen. The same notification appears if, during the flight, a sensor stops functioning e.g. the GPS. This is to let the pilot know that he cannot fully trust the indication. Depending on the available hardware, the electronic flight system can either use the internal sensors of the mobile device (smart-phone or tablet), or the sensors of an external sensor box provided by the company. Features include:

• Artificial Horizon (AHRS) / Ground speed 

• Altimeter / Vertical speed (via barometric pressure sensor, if available, or via GPS) 

• Turn coordinator 

• Slip ball 

• Compass 

• True course indicator (via GPS) 

• Deviation from true track indication 

• Indicated Air Speed / True Air Speed / Outside Air Temperature (via external sensor box provided by the company) 



The second product is an external sensor box, which comprises high quality sensors for accurate and reliable measurement and presentation to the pilot of all flight parameters. Depending on the model, it comprises of 3 axis gyroscopes, 3 axis accelerometers, magnetic compass, outside temperature sensor, GPS, ADS-B ( Automatic Dependent Surveillance is a technology in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite navigation and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it traffic and weather receiver). The sensor models come in two versions, the first connects to the tablet via Wi-Fi and the second which connects to the tablet both via WiFi and a special USB cable. 



The third product is a system, comprising of a device, a tablet (or dedicated display) and an external Bluetooth pilot device. This system is currently under the final phase of development and under certification. The above system addresses all general aviation airplanes, older and newer, which have analog instruments (steam gauges) and would like to upgrade to the new glass cockpit technology but they are not willing to pay the high cost associated with such upgrade, which in some cases could be higher than the cost of the airplane itself. The system is a much more affordable, yet fully functional and reliable alternative.



The company is looking for companies dealing with avionics, flight equipment and pilot supplies for a commercial agreement with technical assistance. The company would like also to work with manufacturers of light airplanes or drones under a technical cooperation agreement.

Advantages and Innovations

The system of the Greek company provides high functionality, high accuracy and the option to modernize a large number of older airplanes that have obsolete navigation and flight information systems. 



The main innovation of the system is the advanced external sensor box offered which can provide almost all the vital information needed by the pilot. 



It is very important to mention the achievement of the Greek company to provide an accurate sensor for the speed of the airplane in such a compact size. 



Another innovation of the system is that it uses advanced algorithms which enable the system to work properly even if the system is being reset for any reason. The usual EFIS cannot provide this immediately and therefore the safety of the proposed system is higher than any conventional competitor.   



The system is very functional. The pilot could see all the vital flight information in his tablet or mobile phone.  



The system is very affordable and proven in hundreds of airplanes flying today with it.



The system is extremely light and this enables it to be used in all the new designs of light planes such as the electric ones and the drones.

Stage Of Development

Already on the market

Requested partner

The Greek company is looking for two types of collaborators. 



The first case includes the interested companies which are dealing with avionics, flight equipment and pilot supplies. In this case, the Greek company is looking for a commercial agreement with technical assistance in order to provide the system and assist the collaborator in technical issues. 



The Greek company is also looking to work with manufacturers of light airplanes or drones under a technical cooperation agreement. In this case, the Greek company would like to provide the EFIS and the sensor box for being used by the airplane or drone manufacturer. The system can be developed further in order to include the information needed by the manufacturer (for example, to display the remaining power available from the batteries).