Functionally Integrated Aircraft Instrumentation for the Next Generation Commercial Helicopter

An Integrated Instrumentation Display System (IIDS) was designed to meet the aircraft instrumentation requirements of Federal Aviation Regulation, Part 27, certification of commercial light helicopters. Criteria were defined that would allow an assessment of selected functions for integration into one unit. The goal was to provide a compact instrumentation system to monitor and display the performance of various aircraft subsystems. An aircraft subsystem monitoring feature provides a means to acquire knowledge of the health of the aircraft subsystems. Engine performance can be monitored in real-time, which allows aircraft operators to better schedule repair/overhaul activities. Also, maintenance personnel can transfer collection of aircraft operational information to a ground based computer for determining trending and maintenance actions. Vibration monitoring is provided to the helicopter user with a simple and convenient means of acquiring the information needed to minimize vibration caused by mass and aerodynamic imbalance in the rotor and NOTAR fan system. The display consists of color, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels which allows the flexibility of integrating the specified sensor data and caution/warning information onto a display packaged as one unit.