Like other builders, I have avionics from several vendors in my -14A. My choices stemmed from cost, size, familiarity, capability, prior experience and other issues that everyone faces.
To date in the 325 hours on the airplane everything has worked together well. But a recent experience has led me to some concern about this mix and match setup. The trigger for it was the new software for Garmin?s GTN 650 (adding VNAV and along track offset) that is not seen by either my Dynon Skyview displays or the Dynon autopilot. Something needs to be done to make the two talk to each other. I am wondering what and by whom.
My question does not deal specifically with either Dynon or Garmin or with any other manufacturer. I mention them here only because they are the two players involved. I am wondering in general what degree of cooperation is required when a box manufactured by one company interfaces with a different box manufactured by another when a software upgrade is made by either of them.
Asked more directly:
1. In today?s software world, does Garmin have to actually give coding or other specific information to Dynon to make the interface work?
2. Or, is all necessary information automatically contained in the Garmin ARINC data that can be picked off and used by Dynon to implement the interface?
3. In the worst case, what if a manufacturer decides its upgrade is proprietary and thus only available to owners of its other boxes? Does this not penalize a customer who owns one box from them which interfaces with other boxes from other manufacturers?
You can substitute any company names you wish because this is a general question that is likely to occur in the future as more capability is added to different avionics.
My post is a shot in the dark to see if anyone familiar with this can address it. Is the concern legitimate?
To date in the 325 hours on the airplane everything has worked together well. But a recent experience has led me to some concern about this mix and match setup. The trigger for it was the new software for Garmin?s GTN 650 (adding VNAV and along track offset) that is not seen by either my Dynon Skyview displays or the Dynon autopilot. Something needs to be done to make the two talk to each other. I am wondering what and by whom.
My question does not deal specifically with either Dynon or Garmin or with any other manufacturer. I mention them here only because they are the two players involved. I am wondering in general what degree of cooperation is required when a box manufactured by one company interfaces with a different box manufactured by another when a software upgrade is made by either of them.
Asked more directly:
1. In today?s software world, does Garmin have to actually give coding or other specific information to Dynon to make the interface work?
2. Or, is all necessary information automatically contained in the Garmin ARINC data that can be picked off and used by Dynon to implement the interface?
3. In the worst case, what if a manufacturer decides its upgrade is proprietary and thus only available to owners of its other boxes? Does this not penalize a customer who owns one box from them which interfaces with other boxes from other manufacturers?
You can substitute any company names you wish because this is a general question that is likely to occur in the future as more capability is added to different avionics.
My post is a shot in the dark to see if anyone familiar with this can address it. Is the concern legitimate?