Attitude and reference heading system from Rockwell Collins certified for CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft

Posted by John McHale
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, 20 May 2011. The AHS-4000 Attitude and Reference Heading System (AHRS) from Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is certified for use on the CRJ1000 NextGen airplane from Bombardier in Montreal.
Company officials say the system has embedded sensors to ensure low power consumption and high reliability, resulting in a 50 percent improvement in mean time between failure (MTBF) compared to older systems.
The AHS-4000 AHRS includes is a solid-state, gyro-based design that is impervious to magnetic abnormalities associated with flux valves and eliminates the need to perform compass swings.
Other features include: low-power fiber-optic gyro and triple-axis MEMS accelerometers increase accuracy and performance; multiple modes of operation include magnetically augmented ARINC 705 AHRS, GPS-aided or unaided free inertial; analog synchro interface for attitude and heading reference input data; and enhanced fault isolation reduces troubleshooting time.
CRJ700 and CRJ900 aircraft may also upgrade with the AHS-4000 AHRS, as it is certified on both airplanes.