CAST Researches Synthetic Vision

The US government and the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) are pursuing voluntary safety upgrades that will involve virtual reality. This technology, synthetic vision, is expected to be applied to commercial airliner flight decks in the next five years. Synthetic vision is a three-dimensional rendering of runways, terrain, and obstacles that will provide pilots with a sunny day virtual view of their flight path ahead.

This technology is currently served as standard fare for new general aviation, business jet cockpit displays, and portable devices but has not found its way into modern jetliners. The system utilizes optical flow of elements in a scene which provides a sense of orientation, motion, and ground closure rate in comparison to legacy blue-over-brown displays.

In addition to providing a sense of aircraft movement, synthetic vision systems will also be able to provide energy awareness which includes a flight path vector, flight path acceleration and speed error indicator. These features can assist in eliminating attitude excursions that may lead to setbacks and loss-of-control accidents.

The Commercial Aviation Safety Team was founded in 1998 as an initiative to reduce the fatality rate in the commercial aviation industry by 80 percent by 2007. The CAST model has proven to be very successful in the United States. Since implementing these safety enhancements, the fatality rate in the commercial aviation industry has decreased by 83 percent over the past decade in the United States.

The CAST model:

• Identifies the top safety areas through the analysis of accident and incident data.
• Charters joint teams of experts to develop methods to fully understand the chain of events leading to accidents.
• Identifies and implements high-leverage interventions or safety enhancements to reduce the fatality rate in these areas.

Members of CAST include (but not limited to): EASA, FAA, NASA, TCCA, DOD, ALPA, APA, NATCA, Airbus, Boeing, GE Aviation, ATAC, AAPA, and IATA.

Via our proprietary website Aviation Sourcing Solutions, ASAP Semiconductor is a leading distributor of CAST member companies products. Prospective customers can browse our inclusive inventory of hard-to-find obsolete and current aviation parts at www.aviationsourcingsolutions.com. If you are interested in a part, please feel free to contact our knowledgeable sales staff at sales@aviationsourcingsolutions.com or 1-714-705-4780 for a quote.