Airship designers at Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT) in Friedrichshafen, Germany, needed engine indicating and crew alerting system (EICAS) displays and processing units for three Zeppelin NT lighter-than-air inflatable airships. They found their solution from Barco NV in Kortrijk, Belgium.

Barco will provide ZLT with the Barco CHDD-268 cockpit head-down display, which has sunlight-readable AMLCD and LED backlight technology, and the PU-2000 multi-capability processing unit.

The Zeppelin NT is a class of semi-rigid airships used for research missions for environmental observations and troposphere research. The Zeppelin NT can stay aloft for as long as 24 hours. ZLT will deliver the three Barco avionics-equipped Zeppelin NT airships to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Barco officials say.

Executives of ZLT and Goodyear together are funding and developing a new cockpit display system to be installed in the instrument panel of the new Zeppelin NTs, which will replace nearly all the hardware items of the 10-year-old display system. The redesign of the Zeppelin NT's instrument display panel will upgrade the existing I-Panel to a modern glass cockpit with two off-the-shelf EICAS display units and two dual EFIS displays for primary flight display.

The Barco EICAS display will indicate airship data, such as fuel status, water ballast, and parameter limits. The display can add and remove information indicated on the screen, and make adjustments to key parameters, such as fuel quantity and water ballast.

FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Barco online at www.barco.com or ZLT at www.zeppelinflug.de, or the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. at www.goodyearblimp.com.

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