Chapter 17

EFIS
Electronic Flight Instrument System

A long w ith digital e lectro nics a nd G PS na viga- EFIS is ofte n cal led the "glass cockpit" because
tion, the Electro nic Flight Instrument System changed T V screens replace mechanical and e lectromechani-
the face o f the flig ht deck. The term EflS orig ina lly cal instruments. Dozens of old "steam ga uges" are now
described an a irline system (that first ro lled out w ith re placed by an EF IS d isplay tha t is rap idly changi ng
the Boe ing 767 in 198 1) but today it identifi es elec- fro m about a ha lf-dozen separate screens to "wall-to-
tro nic instrume nts fo r a ircraft of a ll s izes . wall " glass.

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 Replacing Old Instruments

Aerospace Display Systems

Electronic instruments are also designed as direct ability of these solid-state devices is much greater than
replacements for old electromechanical equivalents. that of mechanical types.
In these two examples, the instruments are LCD The instrument on the left is a torque indicator used
that provide both analog and digital read-outs. Reli- in military helicopters. The one on the right is a verti-
cal torque indicator for commercial helicopters

Electronic in sh·uments bring many benefits. They Instead of spreading information over different in-
e liminate hundreds of gears, bearings, pointers, rotat- strume nts on the panel, EFlS overlays them into a
ing drums a nd other frag il e mechanica l components. sing le, easy-to-understand image, fo r example; a map
A ny instrument is easily duplicated on the screen by display can a lso show thun derstorms, high terrai n and
programming its image. nearby aircraft.
An EFTS di splay may be dec luttered to show only
EFIS Pictorial Display information required for that phase of the flig ht. l f
there's an "exceedance," mea ning a system is develop-
ing a fa ult, it automaticall y appears to warn the pilot.
Because there is a lmost no limit to w hat can be
s hown as an image on a screen, EFIS brought in new
generations of symbols that are pilot-friendly. The first
systems simpl y created pictures of instrume nts they
rep laced, but it became apparent the re were better im-
ages. For example, pilots fly an ILS (instrument land-
ing system) by keeping two needles centered ; one for

An example of how EFIS presents an easy-to-

read pictorial view. This environmental con-
trol system was once a collection of knobs and
gauges on an overhead panel. Now it's in the
instrument panel. At a glance, the pilot sees
how bleed air flows from the engines (lower
left and right) and is distributed for control-
ling temperature in the cockpit and passenger
cabin, including position of valves.
Also shown is bleed air from the APU (aux-
iliary power unit) and from an external source
ijust below center of screen).
This presentation is more useful for trouble-
shooting the system in flight than consulting
a paper manual.

Honeywell. Primus Epic

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the loca lizer to rema in on the runway centerline, the had narrow viewing angles and low reso lut ion. Dri ven
other a glidcslope for vertical guida nce. ln a series of by the large market in portable PC's, the tech no logy
experiments by NASA, the " highway in the sky" was advanced rapid ly and a ll new EFIS systems are flat
developed. The pilot a ims the airpla ne at a rectang le pane l.
(o r hoop) on the screen and flie s through it. Additional
There is much retrofitting of old aircraft to re-
hoops appea r in the dis tance; if the pilot keeps fly ing
place their electromechan ical instrume nts w ith EFl S.
through them ( li ke threading a needle), the a irplane
It's happened in most major transport aircraft in "de-
rema ins on the loca lize r, gl ideslope or othe r 3-dirnen-
sional path. rivative" models , usuall y shown by a " dash number;"
fo r exam ple; the Boeing 737- 100 first rolled out in
The origi na l technology for EFIS was the hea vy 1967 with conve nti onal instruments . It is now up to
g lass cathode ray tube. F lat pane l L CD 's of the I 970's 737-900, w ith recent gene rations equipped with EFIS.
were not ready fo r aviation ; they were monochrome,

Transition from Electromechanical to EFIS

This EFIS screen is a "Primary Flight
Display" and combines many early
instruments into a single screen. The
top half was once the artificial hori-
zon. One of the first improvements
was the addition of "command" bars-
·-the V-shape near the middle of the
screen. Driven by the flight control
system (autopilot), the bars helped
guide the pilot fly manually or en-
abled him to observe commands of
the autopilot. At this stage, the in-
strument was called an "ADI, " for at-
titude director indicator.
When EFIS appeared, all the same
functions were pictured on a video
screen. This called for a new name,
EADI, for electronic attitude director
indicator. At the same time, several
other instruments were added to the
image; air speed indicator, altimeter,
vertical speed indicator and others.

The lower half of the screen was once

the horizontal situation indicator
(HSI). When the electromechanical
instrument is shown on an EFIS
screen it is known as an EHSI, the
" E" is for electronic.

When the two major flight instru-

ments---ADI and HSl---are placed one
above the other and connected to the
autopilot, they are known as a " flight
director."

The trend in EFIS, however, is to com-

bine those instruments onto one
screen, as shown here, and call it a
"Primary Flight Display."

The system in the illustration is the

Honeywell Primus EPIC, a flat panel
measuring 8-in by 10-in.

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Three-Screen EFIS

The future of instrument panels is shown

in this "Smartdeck" by L3 Communica- Primary Flight Display
tions. It is " wall-to-wall" glass, with three Attitude Engine Power
10.5-inch panels that display information Heading Selected Heading
once required by three separate instru- Altitude Selected Course
ments. Airspeed Autopilot/Flight Directo
Panels like these are usually inter- Vertical Speed Navigation
changeable, with their function determined LateralNertical Path Timer
by how their software is programmed. This
permits "reversionary modes," meani ng
that any display on one panel can be
switched over to another. Multifunction Display
The panels are arranged as Primary Radio Management Charts
Flight Displays for captain (left) and first Aircraft Systems Runway Diagrams
officer (right). In the center is the multi- Engine Instruments Wind Direction/Speed
function display. Because the multifunc- Checklists Ground Track
tion display typically displays engine in- Moving Map Caution/Warning
struments and warnings it is also called Flight Plan Geographic Overlays
EICAS, for engine instrument and crew Terrain Lightning/Weather
advisory system. Datalink (Traffic/Weather) Traffic Information
The Primary Flight Display is mainly
for controlling the attitude of the airplane
and for navigating.

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EFIS Architecture

AIRDATA AIRDATA + Pitot

Pitot + ATTITUDE ATTITUDE + Static
Static + HEADING REF HEADING REF

MAGNETOMETER
2

ADF ADF
1 2

GPS 1 GPS2

RADIO RADIO

FLIGHT DIRECTOR FLIGHT DIRECTOR

AUTOPILOT

FLIGHT
MANAGEMENT
COMPUTER

An EFIS system requires inputs from various sources, temperature, pressure, altitude, airspeed and others. It
as shown in this system known as " MAGIC," for Meggitt also eliminates "spinning iron" gyro's for aircraft attitude
Avionics new Generation Integrated Cockpit." and heading. It's done with solid-state devices contain-
Because the electronics are digital, any analog sig- ing almost no moving parts.
nals from outside must go through the Data Acquisition Note how the instrument panel is divided into to nearly
Unit {DAU). Signals from engine sensors and fuel probes, identical halves; for captain and first officer {co-pilot).
for example, are converted to digita l format. The DAU This provides the safety of redundant systems, which are
can also store data for engine trend monitoring, which powered from different sources. In a typical EFIS a dis-
ca n detect faults before they ca use a failure. play on one side of the panel can be switched and viewed
The Air Data Attitude Heading Reference System o n the other side.
{ADAHRS) replaces conventional sensors for measuring

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 Multifunction Display: MFD
One MFD, like this Apollo MX-20 displays a wide variety
of navigation, weather and traffic information.

The 360-degree compass rose is a horizontal situ-

ation indicator. The red, yellow and green areas
are terrain warnings.

This screen shows weather radar images and

works with several makes of radar sets.

Weather shown here is not from aircraft radar, but

signals from NEXRAD, a nation-wide system of gov-
ernment ground radars. The pilot may select
weather images from any area of the country.

Horizontal Situation Indicator with waypoints along

the route. Also shown is nearby traffic; targets
appear as small blue arrowheads.

Navigational charts for enroute and approach phases

of flight. When the airplane lands, the chart changes
to a taxi diagram.
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EFIS on the B-747-400 ~
CAPTAIN'S DISPLAY LEFT EFIS CONTROL PANEL EICAS DISPLAY
TRANSFER PANEL Enables the Captain to select SELECT PANEL
Switches displays among different modes in the Navigation Controls the two EICAS
various screens. Useful Display; a full compass rose for (Engine Indication and Crew
in the event of a display approach, a full rose and expanded Alerting System) screens in the
failure. VOR display, a map and an expanded center position. Pilot may select
plan view. engine performance, electrical,
maintenance and fuel system \
displays.

FIRST OFFICER'S POSITION

The co-pilot has most of the
The Captain may switch various sources between same control panels on the right
left, right and center screens. This includes the side of the instrument panel,
Flight Management Computer, Flight Director as shown by similar colors.
and air data.

AIRPLANE SYSTEMS
INSTRUMENT PANEL
AUXILIARY POWER UNIT (APU)
AUTOPILOT
COMMUNICATIONS
DOORS
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
SYSTEM (ECS)
ELECTRICAL
ENGINES
FIRE PROTECTION
FLIGHT CONTROLS
---1l INTERFACE
UNIT
FUEL
HYDRAULICS
ICE/RAIN
FLIGHT RECORDER
INDICATING/RECORDING
LANDING GEAR
NAVIGATION
CENTRAL MAINTENANCE
PNEUMATICS --~~~~~ COMPUTER

Information from airplane systems is applied to an EICAS screens. The interface also sends some of
interface unit. The data is digitized and symbols that data to the flight data recorder and the central
generated for displaying images on the EFIS and maintenance computer for storage.

126
 Airbus A-320 Flight Deck
SIDESTICK
CONTROLLER

A feature of the A-320 is the absence of control yokes for captain and
The A-320 began flying in 1988 as a twin first officer. Yokes are replaced by two sidestick controllers, as found in
medium-range transport. Because EFIS fighter aircraft. This gives a wide, unobstructed view of the instrument
panels are interchangeable , fewer panel.
spares are required for maintenance. It is also "fly-by-wire," where the sidesticks drive computers that, in
turn, control actuators for rudder, ailerons, elevator and spoilers. Safety
is assured by operating each sidestick through five computers, each
with different software, microprocessors and manufacturers.
The advantages of fly-by-wire: large mechanical linkages and cables
are eliminated, less weight, built-in test and flight envelope protection
(which prevents excessive control inputs). It also provides " gust load
alleviation," which senses turbulence, then operates aileron and spoiler
to relieve strain on the wingtips. This enables a lighter, longer wing for
better fuel economy.

PRIMARY
FLIGHT
NAV
DISPLAY ELECTRONIC
I PRIMARY
FLIGHT
NAV
DISPLAY
DISPLAY CENTRALIZED DISPLAY
~ IRCRAFT \
MONITOR
SYSTEM
(ECAM)

CAPTAIN FIRST OFFICER

MULTI- MULTI-
(Co-Pilot)
I
PURPOSE PURPOSE
CONTROL& CONTROL&
DISPLAY DISPLAY
UNIT UNIT

The instrument panel of the A-3 20 has six main lem of returning a unit to the shop and finding nothing
J
CRTdisplays, all physically interchangeable. This elimi- wrong (a major cost item for the airlines).
nates 75% of conventional instruments. The engine thrust levers are controlled by FADEC (Full
The two screens in the center (ECAM) monitor engines, Authority Digital Engine Control). It adjusts fuel and
flap and other settings, and system malfunctions. power setting for best efficiency. Weighing less than the
The two multipurpose displays at the bottom have built- conventional (hydro-mechanical) system, FADEC also
in test equipment (BITE) that show malfunctions, diag- provides engine protection (from exceeda nces) and
nostic data and failed components. It reduces the prob- health monitoring.

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