Microlighters

MGL Avionics has started shipping the new Stratomaster XTreme EFIS.



Price in South African Rands is R6813.00 and this includes the VAT.

Pictures and full details, manual and a PC based simulator are available for download from http://www.MGLAvionics.co.za

The XTreme takes over from several older, discontinued instruments like the Stratomaster UL, Flight and Extreme and even the Ultra (which is still alive and kicking).

Based on a sunlight readable 4.3" color display and very attractive looks and feel this EFIS includes some heavyweight features including a built in GPS. This unit makes an ideal instrumentation system for most microlight class aircraft due to its size, modest power needs, robustness and interesting, less obvious features.
It can even give you an artificial horizon based on GPS flight path measurements so there is not need for an expensive AHRS (gyros) for most applications - but if you need you can connect either SP-4 or SP-5 AHRS.

All the usual functions are there, full primary flight panel and even "black box style" flight recording directly to an SD card. Full house, RDAC based engine monitoring can be added at very little extra cost (RDAC suitable for a Rotax is as little as R852.00 incl. VAT). Like our bigger EFIS systems, the software can easily be updated by the user using free downloads from our website so you can follow the development path of this exciting new instrument.

As usual, developed and produced right here in South Africa, and used all over the World.

Rainier
CEO MGL Avionics

<censored> <censored> <censored> ...

If I had realised it would take so long to finish the Raven, I could have had this baby in, instead of the Horizon...

Does it fit in a standard cutout and can it work without the AHRS? What is total cost with probes for 4 cylinder engine? Am hoping it will replace the A/H so I don't need the Vac pump any more.... Costs almost same as this just to O/H it every 4 years.... . Can 1 use any probes? I already have 4 Cht, EGT etc...

Oh goody!

Just as I was tempted to buy the new Garmin GPS............

Time to upgrade from my Skydat!

RV4ker wrote:Does it fit in a standard cutout and can it work without the AHRS? What is total cost with probes for 4 cylinder engine? Am hoping it will replace the A/H so I don't need the Vac pump any more.... Costs almost same as this just to O/H it every 4 years.... . Can 1 use any probes? I already have 4 Cht, EGT etc...

Yes it can be used without a gyro based AHRS.
Let me explain as this is a bit unusual.

The XTreme (as with our larger EFIS panels) is able to estimate your attitude based on your path through the air as measured by the onboard GPS. It works out a bank and a pitch angle from this, assuming that you fly a normal aircraft (yes, trikes qualify too) and not a UFO from the planet Zork (which does not need wings).
This works very well as long as the pilot understands what he is seeing on the screen. For this reason a little bit of text appears on the screen: "GPS Flightpath - No Attitude".
This system cannot show if you're upside down. It will show a "nose down" attitude if you are close to stall (since that is where you are going - DOWN). Bank angle is related to the rate of turn and your airspeed - that is pretty convincing and even if you are slipping the resulting bank angle error is hardly noticable.

So, is this a replacement for a gyro based AHRS ?

The answer is: It depends on your mission.

If I am flying mostly VFR and just need something to keep me upright in the event I get surprised by having to go through a bit of cloud, I'll go to the satellite page and make sure I've got plenty of those birds above me and I would then confidently use the GPS based attitude to guide me. No problem, it's just as good for this as a normal AHRS and it has one important advantage - it does not drift so it is more stable if I experience turbulence in the cloud. It has disadvantages, sure it has - if the turbulence gets so bad that I end up in uncontrolled flight and am tumbling, the GPS based attitude is useless. But to be fair, the gyro based attitude is not going to save you either as it will very quickly go wrong as maximum turn rates are exceeded and measurement errors build up quickly.

This new attitude system is as good as any other in the hands of a pilot that understands the principle it works on and it is just as valuable as tool in the cockpit as an altimeter. This is not an idle statement, I have personally tested this back to back with a gyro based AHRS in the same aircraft at the same time. It works and it works very well.

This system in fact has another aspect to it:
It serves as a backup to any other gyro based system giving a completely independent view on your attitude. This makes it extremely valuable as a cross check source for a gyro based system including dual AHRS systems if you need a tie-breaker.

If you go on the net and search a bit for this kind of thing, you will find some scathing attacks on GPS based attitude systems (which, as far as I can tell where first used at Nasa), one interesting page I found from a maker of gyro based AHRS systems. This is ironic since a lot of the modern gyro based AHRS systems actually use GPS based attitude to aid and correct errors in the gyro based system (look for example at Crossbow AHRS systems, many of the aided systems are used in expensive, certified systems) - all we did is take it one step further...

The bottom line for our typical microlights/LSA is: No need for an expensive gyro system (unless you really want it), you can have a fancy EFIS system that does not have to hide behind anything out there for a price that is simply outstandingly good.

Rainier
CEO MGL Avionics

Does it have any map (or other 'normal' gps) capabilities?

justin.schoeman wrote:Does it have any map (or other 'normal' gps) capabilities?

....................and is it helicopter friendly?

Whirly.

justin.schoeman wrote:Does it have any map (or other 'normal' gps) capabilities?

Hmm, reading the user manual, it doesn't look like there is support for waypoints, routes and moving map display. Seems, the GPS data is used for clock update, speed, attitude, etc. calculations only (50 channels, wow!). Rainer, can you please confirm? Maybe I'm missing something.

It is sure a sexy package at the price, with or without moving map GPS, though! (I need to do something about the instruments on my Windlass and I'm seriously thinking now - buying individual instruments would cost a lot more and wouldn't provide a fragment of the functionality ...)

Cheers,

V.

justin.schoeman wrote:Does it have any map (or other 'normal' gps) capabilities?

No, not yet.
This is scheduled for the first firmware update soon (free download from our website and easy install).

We are not yet certain about maps but it is likely that a basic moving map system will be available. Of course, normal GPS navigation (direct-to, routes etc) is a given and it will also be compatible with our navidata format so you should be able to use our navidata files, those from Easyplan, PocketFMS and (very soon) Jeppesen.

Rainier

whirly wrote:

justin.schoeman wrote:Does it have any map (or other 'normal' gps) capabilities?

....................and is it helicopter friendly?

Whirly.

Yes, except for Rotor RPM.
This however will be added as soon as our next generation engine monitoring modules are available (in development now) as these have an input for a Rotor RPM sensor.

Rainier

rainier wrote:

whirly wrote:

justin.schoeman wrote:Does it have any map (or other 'normal' gps) capabilities?

....................and is it helicopter friendly?

Whirly.

Yes, except for Rotor RPM.
This however will be added as soon as our next generation engine monitoring modules are available (in development now) as these have an input for a Rotor RPM sensor.

Rainier

How long do we have to wait for Rotor RPM , want to put a Unit in my Gyro?

rainier wrote:
No, not yet.
This is scheduled for the first firmware update soon (free download from our website and easy install).

Holy-moly, more than full-house instrumentation AND GPS for under R7000 in a single package! I'm off to measure my pod and see how I could fit this baby now! (Erm, over the weekend that is ...)

Rainer, could you please give an idea of the pricing of sensors/probes?
- would I need the RDAC for RPM, EGT and CHT or are there separate probes?
- fuel flow
- compass?

rainier wrote: We are not yet certain about maps but it is likely that a basic moving map system will be available. Of course, normal GPS navigation (direct-to, routes etc) is a given and it will also be compatible with our navidata format so you should be able to use our navidata files, those from Easyplan, PocketFMS and (very soon) Jeppesen.

I would be happy if I could scan a map and calibrate the image in the GPS (aka OziExplorer and other early moving map implementations). Of course, Garmin map format support would be first prize

Cheers,

V.

I'm hoping that our new RDAC units will be available in 3-4 months from now. They actually have been developed a while back but we put them on hold to make R&D time available to develop our new autopilot servos (which took a lot longer and a lot more money than I ever thought they would).

Rainier

Jabi430 wrote:How long do we have to wait for Rotor RPM , want to put a Unit in my Gyro?

V wrote:Holy-moly, more than full-house instrumentation AND GPS for under R7000 in a single package! I'm off to measure my pod and see how I could fit this baby now! (Erm, over the weekend that is ...)

Rainer, could you please give an idea of the pricing of sensors/probes?
- would I need the RDAC for RPM, EGT and CHT or are there separate probes?
- fuel flow
- compass?

I would be happy if I could scan a map and calibrate the image in the GPS (aka OziExplorer and other early moving map implementations). Of course, Garmin map format support would be first prize

Cheers,

V.

Yes, engine monitoring requires any one of our RDAC units (starting at R852 inclusive of VAT for a Rotax unit) and of course probes as needed. Using the RDAC keeps things neat.
Fuel flow is part of the RDAC, you would need a flow sender or a wire to the fuel injectors (in case of an injected engine).
Dito for compass - if you need, you can connect an SP-2 magnetic sensor (R1472.00 including VAT).

As for the moving maps.
Raster maps (as you describe above) are the most likely solution for the XTreme as I think the vector maps may be a bit hard on the poor processor in there - likely to take too much time for the drawing. The Rasters should be OK and are of course well proven on our instruments. You use our "MapMaker" program to georeference any map image.

Garmin maps are a no-no. I think they will send the marines after me if I touch those maps

Rainier

Hi Rainier,

thanks for the info! I'm into serious planning mode now - hopefully the 'junction' part of my existing, smallish t-pod will be big enough to accommodate the device.

rainier wrote: Raster maps (as you describe above) are the most likely solution for the XTreme as I think the vector maps may be a bit hard on the poor processor in there - likely to take too much time for the drawing. The Rasters should be OK and are of course well proven on our instruments. You use our "MapMaker" program to georeference any map image.

Great news! I was about to start looking into upgrading my 10 years old Magellan ColorTrak and there I didn't even have moving map support. I found the solution now ...

rainier wrote: Garmin maps are a no-no. I think they will send the marines after me if I touch those maps

Oops, yes, you're right. The map formats are somewhat open - lots of folks are doing their own maps and free converters into Garmin format. However, actually using the format in a device is a totally different story.

Having said that, the source code of their Linux-based devices is available, because it's GPL. As long as the application that uses it is GPLd, the legal side should be fine.

Cheers,

V.