Quote:
Originally Posted by rpellicciotti
I am excited to hear this because when we talked at Airventure last year, only the smallest of the screen would work in Portrait mode. If the Challenger will work in Portrait, that will make for an excellent panel upgrade.
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Well, last year we had not yet decided on the actual LCD panel module and had not designed the housing. Now that is all done. The LCD module is barely larger than the actual visible area so that means the Challenger housing can be quite small (relatively speaking of course). In the end, despite having a row of buttons below the screen the total vertical size is virtually the same as the current Odyssey EFIS. Even better, since we don't have to allocate a lot of space on the sides as there is only a row of rotary controls (also five of them, just like the Explorer) the width is much less than the Odyssey.
Coupled with that we are now using a MVA display which has no viewing angle restrictions in any direction (including vertical which is traditionaly a problem area). So that means putting the Challenger in portrait mode is not issue - provided you have enough panel space for this - it still is a mighty big panel.
In the past panels that do not have viewing angle restrictions also did not have a lot of light output. This is now also solved and we will be running this panel at around 1000 nits with a completely non-reflective surface (in fact a double layer non-reflective system, an industry first). This directly translates into great sunlight viewability even at much less than 1000 nits.
It uses exactly the same touch screen technology as the 8.5" Explorer. This is effectively a modern version of the old resistive screen - using only optical glass in the construction and a spacer gap that is measured in microns - completely sealed and able to operate at any atmospheric pressure right down to the vacuum of space (which it needs to do as it is going into a space ship - no kidding). The resistive type technology has the advantage that it is possible to measure contact pressure and velocity very accurately. This of course is the answer to the touch screen operating issue in the cockpit. We are not the only ones that have come to this conclusion in case you are wondering - there is at least one manufacturer that makes EFIS systems costing an easy million that is doing similar...
I have to admit that putting the Challenger on its side makes it look really good in the cockpit.
Rainier
CEO MGL Avionics
MGL iEFIS
Linear Mode
