Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) Systems have gradually entered the Flight Deck environments of Air Transport and General Aviation aircraft to support ‘paperless cockpit’ needs.
The EFB delivers information management capabilities as an open computing and touch screen-based display in the cockpit.
As reflected by the Air Transport Association (ATA) Spec 2200, which defines Information Standards for Aviation Maintenance, there is a generic need for Aircraft Systems that support methods of storing, updating and retrieving digital information traditionally provided on paper: Chapter 46 of this document classifies such needs in terms of Flight Deck Information Systems, Maintenance Information Systems and Passenger Cabin Information Systems.
This article outlines how the EFB system capabilities may evolve along with aircraft maintenance information systems to deliver further levels of information management capabilities to pilots as well as flight operations data integration benefits.
The way EFBs and related systems capabilities are evolving is summarized in the following sections.
A description of how these relatively new cockpit systems can support a wider range of software applications follows.
In such a configuration, the EFB systems described become a more integral part of an advanced cockpit as an ‘Information Management Display’ supported by a novel and cost effective system and Operator modifiable software architecture.