Reprinted from Avionics® Magazine, March '05:

" FedEx will install IEEE 802.11b wireless routers from Avionica Inc. on its fleet of nearly 100 Boeing 727 freighters this year. Nineteen DC-10s will be fitted with the routers over the next few years. One of tlie many uses of this technology will be to send flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) data over a secure radio link into the cargo carrier's FOQA servers, which are accessible to authorized persons on the FedEx secure global network.

FedEx will use the FOQA data to profile flights and customize pilot training, says Robert Bouchard, the company's senior adviser-aircraft development. Flight safety is the driver, he says.FOQA software can inform carriers of areas in which flight crews may require specific training, such as difficult approach, takeoff and landing procedures at certain airports.

Instead of downloading data manually onto PC cards every eight weeks or so,FedEx now can download it automatically via Gatelink, at 11 Mbits/s, every time an aircraft approaches a wireless- enabled gate. This provides a near-instantaneous safety snapshot of each flight.

Fedex has added IEEE 802.11b wireless capability at 27 of its destination airports and plans to equip several more sites.

It also plans to transition to 802.11g, which moves data at 54 Mbits/s.

The SecureLINK router, the up to 2-Gbyte miniQAR (quick access recorder) that feeds it, and a WiFi antenna that transmits the FOQA data to the gate, are manufactured by Miami-based Avionica, whose affiliate, Avionics Support Group, received a supplemental type certificate (STC) on the configuration in late January.

Along with FOQA, FedEx will apply the Avionica technology in the B727 to its electronic flight bags (EFBs), which now can be updated automatically. All of the carrier's B727s are equipped with Class 2 EFBs. The electronic process also adds a level of assurance, Bouchard explains. The end-to-end solution tells the company what's on each device and when the data was delivered. The carrier, therefore, always knows when the information needs to be updated.

The SecureLINK router provides seven hard-wired Ethernet ports, allowing airlines future growth, says Stylian Cocalides, Avionica Vice President. To support the FOQA application, the miniQAR receives flight data from the digital flight data acquisition unit. FlyBE, a UK-based regional carrier, also is installing the Avionica equipment".

Avionica, Inc. specializes in complete flight data management solutions. Products include secureLINK, the airborne wireless Ethernet router, the miniQAR, the world’s first miniature quick access flight data recorder, the RSU, a handheld flight-data recorder monitoring and download tool, and AVSCAN.flight, a commercial and military flight data analysis tool.