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How can Aspen get their Connected Panel approved - ever?

It seems they have reverse engineered the Garmin crossfill interface and protocol. That this is possible has never been a secret but nobody thought one could overtly sell a certified product that does it. Garmin don't like that and are trying to break it, and they are clearly not going to support such 3rd party connections via their STCs.

Incidentally STEC are doing to same to Avidyne and forcing Avidyne to develop their own servos.

Also you have a handheld device which is not TSOd (the Ipad) connecting directly to TSOd panel mounted avionics.

I am not saying Connected Panel is a bad product. I am just wondering how they ever thought they would get this approved, for an aircraft with an ICAO CofA.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

VoiceFlight have done the same years ago and also got an STC. In the firmware update 5.00 for the GNSx30 that was released a couple of days ago, Garmin (deliberately) broke that interface.

A user from another forum got this:

From Garmin: when the RS 232 format was reformatted to work with the GTN interface this adversely caused the voiceflight system to no longer work. This was never an approved interface with our system under our STC for the 232 interface, so was not addressed in this S/W.

Microsoft is forced to sign the regular €1b check to the EU for such behavior. Time to investigate Garmin.

Looks like the war is on btw Garmin and Aspen (Avydine). Recent release of new Garmin GNS430 software disables certain functionality e.g X-filling. I am curious how this will evolve as connected panel is based in interfacing with other boxes.....The partnership with Avydine comes at no surprise....

EBST

Looking at some US forums, there is a huge hoohah in the USA over Garmin's changing of their (undocumented) crossfil protocol.

This locks out Voiceflight, Aspen, and everybody else who has tried to hook into it.

It is suspected that Garmin has put in digital signatures or whatever onto the data passing along.

Not suprising, but IMHO dirty

OTOH Garmin stuff generally works well so the all-Garmin pilots are OK if they stay where they are.

I am getting TCAS (Avidyne 605) installed in December. It is well known that the pressure altitude serial data (ARINC) output of the GTX330 is incompatible, due to a mysterious reason, with the Avidyne box. This is a pity because one now has to wire up a load of Gray code wires from the back of the KEA130A altimeter, all the way to the Avidyne box in the back of the aircraft. Garmin have been asked but they won't discuss it, and neither do Avidyne.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
4 Posts
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