Thales Unveils New Connected Functionalities on Avionics 2020 Future Cockpit for Helicopters

On the opening day of the HeliExpo 2017 exhibition, Thales has unveiled the newest connected functionalities equipped on its Avionics 2020 for helicopters, designed to display open world information alongside information coming from the secured avionics, in an integrated manner. This makes Avionics 2020 the world’s first fully connected cockpit for helicopters.

Avionics 2020 is Thales’s next generation helicopter avionics suite, founded on the principles of natural and direct hands-on interaction using full touchscreen functionalities and interfaces structured to be task oriented and ease flight crew operations.

The cockpit was designed around Thales’s belief that current cockpit architecture is fast reaching the limit of the complexity that can be equipped on-board. Avionics 2020 results from partnerships with researchers, scientific institutions and world class experts, to refine understanding in human-machine interface (HMI), ergonomics and neural decision making, and apply it to the aerospace industry. The result is is a cockpit perfectly suited to the needs of both civil and government helicopter operators.

It can fulfil a myriad of missions and is built around an open architecture which allows operators to choose systems and functionalities, even from third parties, making it extremely scalable and customisable. And thanks to Thales group’s advanced positioning in all aspects of connectivity, the connected systems unveiled this year, which integrate open world information with secure avionics, are designed to make the pilot’s mission easier, safer and more efficient, and provide the right information to the right people at the right time.

The cockpit will now displays open world information on the crew field of view and integrates it seamlessly with information from secure avionics to reduce crew workload. As an example it will allow Helicopter Operators to develop Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) programmes, detect unusual behaviours to build adequate action plans to increase fleet efficiency and safety, and reduce operating costs.

In the air, for specific missions like Emergency Medical Services (EMS) it will enable telemedicine, through voice conferencing & live transmission of patient telemetry data from helicopter to hospital specialists. Provide connexion for live information about the accident zone (obstacles, best landing zone...) and obtain real time information on the hospital dispatch to directly fly to the right place.

Enhanced functionalities for Homeland Security and Search and Rescue operations will include “Over The Air” video downlink to share Live Airborne video from helicopter to Command Centre, to optimise Rescue /Police /Security forces coordination, using either 4G or Iridium networks.

For Ground crews engine and systems data will be accessible in real time thanks to automatic upload of avionics databases. This will eliminate misreported events, lowering the risk of unexpected incidents or extra costs.

During routine shuttle flights, passengers of VIP, Corporate Transport or Oil &Gas helicopters will get on board connectivity for IFE and Office-in-the-sky capabilities thanks to standard Wi-Fi protocols.

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Thales will provide cyber protection of Avionics 2020 especially during downloading/uploading of Software apps and data.

“At HeliExpo 2017, the helicopter market may be seeing the beginning of the end of traditional cockpit architecture. Pilots and operators require more mission orientated systems and ask relevant information to be displayed when needed and in a mission friendly way. Connected Avionics 2020 is their future. Thales cockpit can turn any platform into a customized aircraft for a particular mission that can be reconfigured during flight when mission changes. Open world architecture liberates the operator’s need to stick to one particular mission Apps supplier and opens up the market to competition and innovation, which is where Thales excels.” Christian Bardot, Thales Vice President, Helicopter Avionics.

About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 62,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of €14 billion in 2015. With over 22,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its unique international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world.