Planar display bright and rugged enough for new GPS
Engineers at II Morrow Inc. in Salem, Ore., needed a rugged customized display for their Apollo GX55 moving-map global positioning system. A small graphics electroluminescent flat-panel display assembly from Planar Systems Inc. of Beaverton, Ore., met their needs.
"We selected Planar`s EL display for several reasons including its readability, wide viewing angle, high brightness, and Planar`s capability to design a custom display to suit our needs," says Russ Schmidt, II Morrow project leader. "Planar provided the features and performance necessary for our GX55 GPS. The GX55 is used in the aircraft cockpit and therefore requires a rugged graphics display to meet our customers expectations. Other displays we evaluated, including LCD and LED, did not have the performance or the features we needed."
Characteristics of Planar`s EL flat panel display technology includes drive schemes that extend display brightness and life, improvements in contrast and readability in bright ambient light, reduced power consumption, improved packaging to reduce size and enhance shock and vibration resistance, extended reliability of as long as 100,000 hours, color capability, and reduced costs.
The Apollo GX55 moving GPS system is for general aviation aircraft to provide the pilot with navigational information. The data provided includes the location of the aircraft, bearing and distance to waypoints, ground speed and track angle, a moving map display featuring airport and navigation aid locations, and airspace boundaries relative to the aircraft position. - J.M.
For more information on Planar contact Jerry Vieira by phone at 503-690-1100, by fax at 503 690-1493, by mail at Planar America, Inc., 1400 NW Compton Drive, Beaverton, Ore., 97006-1992, by email at [email protected], or on World Wide Web at www.planar.com.
