OSHKOSH, Wisconsin - It's one thing to play a flight simulator on your iPhone, but it's another to use your iPhone as a heads-up display inside a cockpit. But Levil Technology is doing just that by offering a portable, wireless attitude and heading reference (AHRS) device that connects to an iPhone to accurately display pitch, roll, yaw, and heading information for an airplane.
The tiny AHRS-G Mini fits in the palm of your hand and packs gyros with a zero drift rate. Once attached to a level surface inside the cockpit, it sends the attitude data to an iPhone, iPod, Android or Windows Phone 7 device, providing a range of data for pilots.
The AHRS does not need to be re-calibrated during flight, according to Levil. It may not be a transparent heads-up display like those found in airliners, but having the information near your line-of-sight with a window mount isn't bad for the price – less than $1,000.
Many companies in the aviation industry have welcomed mobile devices into the cockpit, and airlines have embraced iPads to replace maps, manuals and flight planning, while some small airplane makers have mounted iPads directly into the panel of an airplane. The gyros built into these mobile devices provide similar information as the AHRS-G mini, but the accuracy is far from adequate for aviation use.
Even with the dedicated AHRS unit, the Levil system is not certified and cannot be used as a primary flight display in an airplane. Though it does serve as a great backup, or even a main display, assuming you still have the certified instruments required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The $795 device works with a range of different apps that display aircraft attitude and heading information, including some with synthetic vision allowing pilots to see terrain at night or through the clouds. Levil also offers a $995 version that can be connected to an airplane's air speed indicator and altimeter to display accurate air speed and altitude information based on the atmospheric pressure sensors (pitot/static) outside the airplane.
Photo: Jason Paur/Wired
