Avionics News June 2013 - 72

THE HISTORY OF AVIONICS
Continued from page 70

nology, combined with GPS, instantly made
other forms of navigation obsolete. The first
to go was Omega in 1997. LORAN-C, a
system which, at times, could rival GPS

accuracy, lasted into this century, shutting
down in early 2010.
Throughout the last 20 years of the 20th
century, systems were popping up and going
away. Microwave landing systems came
and went. Mode S transponders came and
stayed. Multifunction moving-map displays

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avionics news

•

june

2013

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came, but now are becoming swallowed
up into integrated avionics suites and into
iPad applications.
The later part of the 20th century also
brought changes to the corporate landscape, as smaller companies were gobbled up by larger ones and larger companies shed subsidiaries. Cessna shed
ARC. S-TEC started in 1978, employing
several former Century Flight Systems
Employees. King was purchased by
Bendix, which in turn, was purchased
by AlliedSignal, which merged with
Honeywell.
As King became a smaller part of a
much larger company, some engineers
began to look for a way out. Gary Burrell
and Min Kao left King and started
Garmin in 1989. Today, Garmin enjoys
a market position similar to that of King
in the 1970s.
Collins merged with Rockwell
International in 1971. Eventually,
Rockwell Collins abandoned the panelmounted avionics market in favor of its
Pro Line systems aimed for the corporate jet and transport-category aircraft
market.
During the merger mania, Narco had
a revival after introducing the digital
series of systems, which included an
MK-12D. The revival didn’t last long
into this century, as Narco closed its
doors in April 2011.
This century has been marked with
great leaps forward in processing power
and display technology. Steam-gauge
instruments are rapidly disappearing,
as companies like Aspen Avionics,
Cobham and Garmin continue to introduce amazing instrumentation systems for small aircraft. Honeywell and
Rockwell Collins are doing the same
for larger airplanes. Speaking of instruments, no historical narrative would be
complete without mention of altimetry
improvements, which allowed RVSM to
become part of our lexicon.

Avionics News June 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News June 2013