Page 6 - Volume 11 Number 6

function of the GPS and FMS and is not required, but budget dependent is a nice upgrade). As a legacy flight deck King Air owner of any model, options from the least expensive transponder swap-out to the high-end cockpit upgrade are all available options.
With almost 9,000 King Airs flying in any number of different avionics configurations and your specific piloting requirements, your shop is the best support mechanism in figuring out what options fit best. Whether sticking with your beloved OEM equipment for upgrades or opting for more advanced features, third-party solutions as replacements, the choices are abundant.
Typical OEM solutions provide ADS-B Out compliant- only upgrades. The costs associated are based on the dash number and mod status of your existing equipment. This can be as simple as a minimal cost service bulletin upgrade or as costly as full equipment replacements. From a Rockwell Collins standpoint, the simple rule of thumb is if you have any variation of TDR below a TDR -94 -007, these units will be required to be replaced with new TDR -94 -501s. It doesn’t matter if you have straight TDR -94s or TDR -94Ds (TCAS-II) applications, both apply.
Figure 1: WAAS GPS satellite position information is processed by all aircraft. The onboard avionics compile a host of information, including the GPS position, and transmit it airplane-to-airplane and airplane-to-ground.
The second segment of this process (inset) occurs once the ground station receives the information, processes the data and rebroadcasts throughout the local coverage area. TIS-B (Traffic Information Service-Broadcast) and ADS-R (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Rebroadcast) work together to transmit a comprehensive traffic awareness for aircraft in the terminal area.
the existing GPS-4000(). With minimal wiring between the transponders and GPS receivers this is one of the simplest options available. This upgrade doesn’t require additional pressure vessel penetrations for new antennae, and therefore no additional engineering costs.
Installing a stand-alone WAAS GPS receiver such as Free Flight’s 1203C to provide the position source is another way to meet the mandate with little to no effect on the OEM flight deck. If you find yourself in a place that upgrading the transponder is nothing more than a service bulletin but a GPS source is the issue, moving to a stand-alone GPS may be the way to go. Remember, these options are ADS-B Out only.
The same holds true for the GPS. A WAAS GPS
receiver is the backbone of the ADS-B as the position
source information. While there are various options, I
will talk about two here that are incorporated in OEM
applications. Upgrading to the GPS-4000S from Rockwell
Collins is an easy solution as a “slide in” replacement to such as the iPadTM and Android tablets.
Other third party ADS-B options include Garmin’s WAAS GPS systems (legacy GNSs or the new GTNs) and ADS-B transponders. These options offer feature rich ADS-B In applications that are available to both panel mounted displays and personal electronic devices (PEDs),
4 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2017