Design of a Lean Avionics Rig for Efficient System Integration and Human Factors Testing

Small OEM often tend to use prototype aircraft in order to test avionics software and hardware integration. This approach is frequently justified by limited allocation of manpower and budget, with the consequence of exposing the program to the risk of increased costs and schedule impacts. Kopter has developed an avionics test rig with the objective of reducing the development risk on one side, and on the other side being compatible with the effort and budget constraints of a small OEM. The result is a rig where standard and commercial off the shelf components have been integrated together by Kopter in a lean way that grants flexibility and modularity, as necessary for an small OEM. The avionics test rig has demonstrated to be able to support testing of software for safety of flight clearance, design of the SH09 cockpit and familiarization of flight crew with the new G3000H avionics suite before first flight.