Rockwell Collins has announced a new version of its touch-screen Pro Line Fusion avionics system for the turboprop and light business jet market. The system will be available for new airplanes and as a retrofit for airplanes equipped with Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line 21 avionics suite. With all the Pro Line 21 equipped airplanes on the market, the retrofit could become an enticing option for customers looking to upgrade to touch screen technology.
The processors for this version of Fusion are integrated behind the screens. These embedded displays, as Rockwell Collins calls them, have eliminated the need for a separate space for the processors, which made the initial version of the Fusion system hard to integrate into smaller airplanes.
In addition to the touch screen capability, the avionics can be operated with a keypad and a joystick or mouse-like trackball controller without the need for the pilot to look down.
Keeping with Rockwell Collins focus on eyes forward operation, synthetic vision can be displayed on the touch screen PFD as well as Rockwell Collins head-up guidance system, the HGS 3500, which was announced earlier this year. The HUD can be integrated with any Pro Line Fusion system.
Aside from the HUD option and the multitude of features that pilots have come to expect from new avionics systems, Pro Line Fusion offers automated weather detection and analysis, a new one-touch emergency mode and access to Rockwell Collins Ascend flight information solutions.
Pro Line Fusion was certified by Transport Canada for the Bombardier Global 6000 in June. FAA and EASA certification are expected later this year. Rockwell Collins calls the system “fully scalable” and current customers have chosen anywhere from three- to five-screen configurations, often with a HUD on each side of the cockpit. Certification for the turboprop and light jet version of Pro Line Fusion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2013.
