Though not as flashy as all the intricate features, payloads, and stats that aircrafts may have, it is well known that safety should be one of the most important factors to any avionics endeavor. An innovative aviation accessories manufacturer that develops hardware solutions for pilots and strives to push the boundaries of flight technologies designed an innovative HUD (Head-Up Display) as part of an effort to help make flying simpler and safer. The new HUD is a smart in-flight display system that includes a projection unit, clear glass display combiner and a display processer unit, allowing pilots to see critical flight data in the same line of sight as outside terrain. To complete the new HUD, the manufacturer needed reliable data acquisition (DAQ) and control hardware.
The HUD project had a number of constraints that needed to be addressed by these new systems in order to effectively deliver on the device's mission. One such constraint was the physical makeup of the hardware. The HUD itself needed to be small, lightweight, and rugged enough to be easily mounted in light military aircraft and jets. Naturally, this meant that the DAQ and control systems needed to exhibit these traits as well- something UEI's equipment excels in. While being compact, the hardware still needed to have all the functionality of larger legacy HUDs used in business and commercial aviation in order to carry out the precise data collection needed to carry out its complex tasks.
UEI’s hardware and software tools were integral to the HUD's design and made it easy to iterate over the design process, including prototyping and production. The completed HUD includes a lightweight and compact UEI COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) PowerDNA Cube chassis.
UEI offers a variety of rugged chassis to help with your DAQ and Control Needs:
 | The DNA-PPC9 7-slot PowerPC Data Acquisition and Control I/O Cube |
 | The DNA-FPPC5 3-slot, Fiber Optic I/O, Data Acquisition and Control Cube with PowerPC CPU with 20 km range |
 | The DNA-FPPC8 6-slot, Fiber Optic I/O, Data Acquisition and Control Cube with PowerPC CPU with 20 km range |
 | The DNA-PPC5 3-slot, Ethernet-based I/O, Data Acquisition and Control Cube with PowerPC CPU |
 | The DNA-PPC8 6-slot, Ethernet-based I/O, Data Acquisition and Control Cube with PowerPC CPU |
The chassis acts as an avionics bridge, routing all avionics signals from native aircraft equipment to the HUD’s processing system, then directing them to various displays, including modern tablets and the projection unit. The result was a system that weighed less than two pounds and met all of the design requirements. UEI's hardware and software proved to be not only technically advantageous, but financially advantageous as well: using UEI COTS products rather than custom hardware allowed the manufacturer to price the HUD at $10,000, with all the functionality but a fraction of the price of legacy HUD systems.
To learn more, read UEI's Avionics Heads-Up Displays Application Story.
 | Application Story: United Electronic Industries and Avionics Heads-Up Displays HUD (Heads-Up Display) was created in an effort to make flying simpler and safer. The new HUD is a smart in-flight display system that includes a projection unit, clear glass display combiner, and a display processer unit, allowing pilots to see critical flight data in the same line of sight as outside terrain. UEI helped simplify and improve the prototyping and production of the HUD utilizing UEI COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) hardware and software. Read about the complete solution |
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