Electronic flight instrument system

This thesis describes basic concepts in research and development of a simple electronic flight instrument system, which displays piston engine data to the pilot. The main purpose is to build a functional prototype and acquire knowledge, which will enable us to further develop the system. The second chapter presents fundamentals of electronic flight instrument systems used in large commercial aircrafts. A detailed description of basic approaches to system implementation used by two of the biggest airplane manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing is given. Chapter three describes hardware components of the prototype and graphical interface. System housing is the only component that was custom built, while all the integrated circuits were available on the market. The ideas for designing the graphical interface were based on similar products made by different manufactures. Description of software can be found in chapter four. In addition to the explanation of the main functions, the chapter also describes techniques used to implement certain parts of the software. Users who intend to use or modify the source code will find all the necessary information in this chapter. The last chapter summarizes all of the findings together with recommendations for further development. This will include completion and improvement of the prototype. The main goal is to develop a system which would enable us to successfully meet the global market demands