Integrated modular avionics onboard of small airplanes — Fiction or reality?

Integrated Modular Avionics begins a core part of aircraft electronic installations on military airplanes. Based on more available and powerful electronics this concept is introduced also in to the area of civil aviation despite of more demanding certification process. Modern electronics penetrate also into ultra-light class of airplanes that are more accessible to flying public. Accidents of small and ultra-light airplanes were analyzed in order to identify ways to improve flight safety of this category of airplanes. Proposed solutions and the main findings are introduced here together with the development, evaluation and various test results. This paper presents a set of tools that allow rapid development of IMA functions and of Synthetic Vision Information System displays. System evaluation is illustrated on an IMA function performing online search for the most suitable place for landing under emergency situations. This function is also used during standard approaches to cope with high accident rate occurring during landings. It is called Safe Landing Advisory function. The function provides guidance to a pilot and navigates him to the selected safe landing place, which is evaluated by data from different sources but the final decision to use or not use the advisory service still lays on pilot. The function was evaluated with help of our custom Ground Proximity Warning System, an airplane online tracking system and a Traffic Collision and Avoidance System. Evaluation was performed with help of a free flight full-motion simulator and during a glider contest in the Czech Republic.