Barco introduces extremely lightweight avionics display

Global visualization expert Barco is proud to announce its new 12” primary flight display, designed for business jet cockpits. With a weight of only 2 kg (4.5 pounds), this display is the lightest in its class. The DU-1200, as the product is called, has been tailor-made for Honeywell's upgraded Apex cockpit suite for business aircraft, and will be available as of 2014.

Weight reduction is a key driver in today's cockpit design. Especially in business aviation, every kilogram counts in reducing the airplane's weight and fuel consumption. That's why leading cockpit designer Honeywell specifically asked Barco to design the lightest 12” display possible, without compromising on image quality and reliability. The challenge led Barco to design the DU-1200 (a variant of the Barco FDU-2108 range), which weighs only 2 kg (4.5 pounds). This is about half the weight of the display's predecessors and marks a major breakthrough in cockpit display design.

Weight as a design philosophy

“For the design of this unit, we considered weight reduction in every step of the design process,” Brecht Baert, Product Manager Avionics, explains. “We've taken every component and evaluated how we could make it lighter. It became a special philosophy that made us re-evaluate a number of components that we would never have considered changing otherwise. The result was so significant that it exceeded our initial expectations by far.”

As the DU-1200 has been tailor-made for Honeywell's upgraded Apex cockpit suite for business jets, this first model will use Honeywell's proprietary Fiber Channel interface. “At half the weight, along with demonstrated field reliability and optical performance, these displays give our customers the performance they expect in a state of the art integrated Avionics suite,” said Bob Estabrook, Honeywell Director of Primus Apex Programs.

A distinctive new feature

“The lessons learned in the development of the DU-1200 will be used for the design of all future Barco cockpit displays,” Brecht Baert continues. “This means that, together with high reliability and image quality, minimal weight will become an additional Barco trademark feature. With the release of this display, we again confirm our leading position in avionics display technology.”