Civil Aerospace: Commercial Avionics Industry

Commercial avionics refers to cockpit electronics and airborne equipment, although it doesn't include antennas, recorders, or other passenger-only cabin systems. Avionics is referred to denote the electronic systems that are utilized in aircraft, spacecraft as well as artificial satellites. The modern-day digital avionics/aircraft systems are intricate in their own ways and this makes commercial avionics a specialized industry. There are four main products manufactured in this subsector:

Commercial Avionics Products:

Communications: This subsector includes communications, flight controls, and flight management equipment

Navigation: This subsector includes aircraft sensors and navigation equipment and systems

Surveillance: This subsector includes data management equipment and surveillance systems

Avionics Integration: This includes avionics integration systems

Commercial Avionics Products Categories:

• Communications
• Flight Controls
• Displays
• Flight Management
• Aircraft Sensors
• Data Management
• Integrated Avionics
• Navigation
• Surveillance Systems

Importance of Aircraft Avionics in the Aviation Industry:

The term aircraft avionics was first used in the earlier half of the 1950’s in the USA to denote the system that depends on as well as an exploit, the electronic technology in the aviation segment. The services in this regard consist of software and hardware engineering, mechanical avionics design and development, control systems and instrumentation engineering, engineering analysis, automated test equipment, manufacturing engineering, simulation software development, technical publications, and manufacturing.

Few other selected important features include Flight Warning Systems, Flight Control Systems (FCS), Flight Management Systems (FMS), Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) Systems, Engine Control, Communication, Hydraulic Systems, Landing Gear Systems, Electrical Power Systems, Environmental Systems, Electronic Flight Instrumentation System (EFIS), Engine Testbeds, Fire Protection System, Simulators, Ground Support Equipment and the like.

Industry Analysis & Industry Trends:

Avionics market of almost $105 billion combined for forward-fit and retrofit market segments is forecasted in 2020. Markets will witness a shift toward larger wide-body aircraft deliveries during the forecast period with narrow body replacements from Airbus and Boeing entering service between 2020 and 2025.

The growth in the individual parts of integrated modular avionics (IMA), glass cockpits, and enhanced awareness devices will go a long way in shaping the future of the market. For instance, both 787 and A350 use IMA, opening up a new window of opportunity for component manufacturers. Glass cockpits are also the expected configuration among new air transport aircraft and are becoming a regular fitting in new business and general aviation aircraft. Glass cockpits are now the standard, even in piston aircraft. Enhanced vision systems, synthetic vision systems, and heads-up displays are also making inroads into the market. Avionics manufacturers have to rely on newer technologies for growth opportunities. Older aircraft could need significant hardware changes to comply with the 2020 U.S. implementation date of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and the related Required Navigation Performance programs.