Avionics

Avionics means "aviation electronics". It comprises electronic systems for use on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft, comprising communications, navigation and the display and management of multiple systems. It also includes the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to meet individual roles, these can be as simple as a search light for a police helicopter or as complicated as the tactical system for an Airborne Early Warning platform.

The term avionics was not in general use until the early 1970s. Up to this point nstruments, radios, radar, fuel systems, engine controls and radio navigation aids had formed individual (and often mechanical) systems.In the 1970s, avionics was born, driven by military need rather than civil airliner development.

Military aircraft had become flying sensor platforms, and making large amounts of electronic equipment work together had become the new challenge. Today, avionics as used in military aircraft almost always forms the biggest part of any development budget. Aircraft like the F-15E and the now retired F-14 have roughly 80 percent of their budget spent on avionics. Most modern helicopters now have budget splits of 60/40 in favour of avionics.

The civilian market has also seen a growth in cost of avionics. Flight control systems (fly-by-wire) and new navigation needs brought on by tighter airspaces, have pushed up development costs. The major change has been the recent boom in consumer flying. As more people begin to use planes as their primary method of transportation, more elaborate methods of controlling aircraft safely in these high restrictive airspaces have been invented. With the continued refinement of precision miniature aerospace bearings, guidance and navigation systems of aircrafts have become more exact.

Navigation is the determination of position and direction on or above the surface of the Earth. Avionics can use satellite-based systems such as GPS and WAAS, ground-based systems such as VOR or LORAN, or any combination thereof. Older avionics required a pilot or navigator to plot the intersection of signals on a paper map to determine an aircraft's location; modern systems calculate the position automatically and display it to the flight crew on moving map displays.