On Jun 20, 12:27*pm, Jim Logajan wrote:
Le Chaud Lapin wrote:

That very same computer could communicate flight plan to ground, store
minute details of entire flight on hard disk and automatically move
them to home computer for recap....

Glass panel systems are already on the market that have those capabilities
today (except the "auto move" stuff), such as Dynon products:

http://www.dynonavionics.com/

Whatever capabilities you think aren't there yet, you can rest assured that
avionics makers are already working on fully integrated systems.

Great! I am going to go out on a limb and speculate that this tendency
toward more electronics, not only in the cockpit, but throughout the
aircraft, will continue.

On Jun 20, 5:16*am, Dylan Smith wrote:
Control electronics does exist for GA, it's called an autopilot, and
they've been around for a long time (some more sophisticated than
others). Some engines are also available with FADEC.

These systems are massively expensive, and there is much redundancy.
For example, the entire radio stack could be eliminated by a software
radio, which controls fed through LCD monitor.

That's already being done. I think you need to review what is already
available.

Someone posted that link above almost a year ago.

*The software radi
costs $1000. *The computer would be one of same 2 computers used for
other functions.

The software development costs for such systems run into the millions of
dollars but the number of unit sales is, at best, under a hundred thousand
- I suspect more typically a few thousand units. Add in the hardware costs
and such equipment can rarely be sold for under a couple thousand.

Only millions?

Under the assumption that a PAV could be driven by a general consumer,
as outlined by NASA/CAFE/PAV program, millions, or even hundreds of
millions, would be an agreeable cost.

As far as hardware, I would use commoditized components ( $1000
PC's). The sensors and actuators would be separate. Dynon might have
to sell their units as high as they do because of low volume - they
are not selling aircraft, but systems that a pilot might integrate
after aircraft is bought. I would instead focus on the entire system,
designing to avoid, as much as possible, predisposition toward
particular accessory vendor.

The idea would be that user chould be able to use $30 Logitech headset
if s/he so chooses (actually 2, since they are so cheap), Viewsonic 15-
inch LCD panel, Bose or Infinity sound system. With computers so
cheap, it would not be unreasonable to have quad-redundancy: 4
motherboards per PAV.

Yes, I am sure many experimentalists are and have been doing this for
a long time, but there is the burden of the initial design of the
aircraft. If the intial cost of the aircraft is $50,000, then no
matter what is done, the final cost, after these accessories, will be
some amount $50,000.

What I am saying is that the entire system, from the outset, should be
designed to be low-cost, with the components interchangeable, so that
the net cost, with a more-than-modest set of accessories, is
$50,000, from the start.

-Le Chaud Lapin-