Link
Looks very similar to the Avidyne “Connected Cockpit” product, except of course this only works with Garmin gear.
I’m not certain this will be very useful to owners of the GTN750, but it will provide a much improved user experience to GNS530/430W users – for a fraction of the price of a GTN.
Of course half the features only work in the US, but that’s true of Garmin Pilot itself.
Interesting!
It took me a while to find out how exactly they are adding wifi capability, and it appears to be the GDL59
Garmin have obviously been waiting for Avidyne to get close with the IFD440/540 boxes, which according to reports from the USA appear to contain a wifi access point internally. Whether that wifi AP will be enabled in the initially certified IFD boxes, I have no idea.
The most useful thing appears to be the ability to use a wifi client (e.g. a smartphone) to enter a flight plan. I can’t see a reference to a phone app, so it’s not clear whether they use a browser (which would be the smart thing) or force the use of an app (which will limit the whole thing to Iphone owners, possibly with Android support).
which will limit the whole thing to Iphone owners, possibly with Android support).
More likely iPad, as their App already runs on that one (don’t know if it’s also iPhone compatible, as is ForeFlight).
If you have the GNS boxes, you can use Voiceflight voice entry for the flight plan, which is going to be way faster, although VF force you to spend some $25/month on some Jepp database if you want Europe.
This seems to be Bluetooth based.
The app is the Garmin Pilot, which as alluded to by 172driver, is now available in Europe. But you still won’t get ADS-B traffic and weather of course.
Innovation will now accelerate. Interestingly, modular aircraft may become more advanced than G1000 if a decent AP comes to market.
As I understand it Garmin Connext is done by the following apparatus, which cost about 500/ 1000 USD IIRC :
This connectivity is made possible by* Flight Stream 110 or Flight Stream 210*, which are small, Bluetooth wireless gateways that are easily installed and connected to Garmin avionics.
http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2014/07/garmin-introduces-wireless-cockpit-connectivity.html#.U9ABM0Cv-So
Now we only need them to open the interface so Skydemon and others can communicate with the on board avionics – as if that is ever going to happen.
Would be a nice job to reverse engineer that interface……..
Another bit of info here
Would be a nice job to reverse engineer that interface……..
I am sure it is crypto protected (a secure hash over the data, at least). They did this on the crossfill protocol on the GTN boxes, and on the GNS “W” boxes after a certain firmware version number, to prevent 3rd party add-ons such as Voiceflight.
How much is the Garmin Pilot app?