Flight Management System, Inertial Navigation System and Electronic Flight Bag in Aviation Operations

This article discusses the history, usage, advantages, disadvantages and future improvements of Flight Management System (FMS), Inertial Navigation System (INS) and Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) in Aviation Operations.

Running head: AVIATION OPERATIONS
Aviation Operations
Name of the Student:
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1AVIATION OPERATIONS
a) Brief history of the topic
- Flight Management System (FMS) refers to the fundamental component of the modern
avionics of airliner. They are able to compute every relevant aspects of a whole flight by
making use of performance databases and navigation that are stored in the unit and in the
pilot entered data (Ramasamy et al., 2014). It allows the airplanes to hook up the autopilot
and then maintain the heading in a few feet. On the other hand, Inertial Navigation System
(INS) refers to the navigation aid which makes use of motion sensors for tacking the
orientation, position and the velocity of a vehicle without the need for the external references
(Wang et al., 2015). It covers the portable electronic display hardware that are intended
primarily for the flight deck and the cabin usage. It is to note that Electronic Flight Bag
(EFB) has got its name from the earlier pilot’s flight bag that is quite heavy documents bag
which the pilots carry to the cockpit. It is the replacement of those documents in a format that
is digital.
b) Where the topic is used
- FMS is basically used in the airplanes and there are many different manufactures of the
FMS. It is followed by the pilots for the purpose of navigation right after the take-off, but it is
to note that the decision to fly is completely up to the pilot. The INS has an enormous variety
of applications comprising of the navigation of the aircraft, strategic missiles, and spacecraft
and in ships (Liu, Geng & Pahlavan, 2015). EFB could host the purpose built software
applications for automating the other functions that are normally conducted by hands like
performance take-off calculations. It is also to note that the EFB is the replacement of the
documents in digital format. Also, the Electronic Flight Bag is a main step toward enabling
the air transport system for all airplanes.
c) A brief description

2AVIATION OPERATIONS
- Flight Management System (FMS) is a much specialised computer system which
automates a huge range of in-flight tasks, decreasing the workload on the flight crew to the
point which the modern civilian aircraft do not carry the traditional navigators of flight
engineers. Inertial Navigation System (INS) on the other hand, is a very long range of
navigational aids. It supplies aircraft velocity (3D) and position fix (3D). It takes the
measurements from the takes measurements from gyros and accelerometers and then feeds
them into navigation computer which keeps a track of its acceleration. Furthermore, the
electronic flight bad (EFB) refers to an electronic information management device which
assists the flight crew as in performing flight management tasks in more easier ways and also
efficiently, that too, with less paper (Haddock & Beckman, 2015).
d) Advantages and disadvantages of the technology
- FMS improves navigation, aid fuel efficiency and reduce the crew workload. It allows the
pilots more time to assess and make the necessary decisions. The disadvantages of FMS is
there is often data entry error as it is dependent on the pilot input. With the same, there is a
potential of misinterpretation data entry. Also, there is a loss of situational awareness. On the
other hand, the significant advantage of INS is that integration of data lead to long-
wavelength errors. It provides a precise and continuous positioning of a moving platform
(Chen et al., 2018). It is a very self-contained airborne system which does not need any
external BAV source. With the same, it is mechanically very simple to realise. However, it
also possesses many disadvantages as well. Some of them are in this case, the errors are
generated by the non orthogonaility of accelerometers and the Gyros might suffer from the
EMI. Furthermore, the main advantages of the electronic flight bad (EFB) is- a) faster access
to better information b) it is the world’s best user interface that increase pilot satisfaction c)
there is comparatively less weight carried means more fuel savings.

3AVIATION OPERATIONS
e) Future improvements in the technology
- FMS should be optimised for the Air Traffic Management functionality as well as must
deliver more improved fuel efficiency along with reduced direct operation cost (Gardi,
Sabatini & Ramasamy, 2016). With the same, there should be reduced pilot workload and
much improved safety. The EFB should not be introduced with the pull and push of any FAR
or proposed rule. They must be tablet based and should maximise the aircraft in the in-flight
data connectivity by means of satellite communication systems and the Aircraft
Communications Reporting and Addressing system. It would be smarter, safer and much
more secure. It is to note that the tablets could now function as full scales EFBs and would
provide a much clearer and real time picture of the flight. The new system would also receive
the required certification as well. Furthermore, the performance of INS should be improved
more by making use of magnetometer with the Vehicle Dynamic Constraints.

4AVIATION OPERATIONS
References:
Chen, Q., Niu, X., Zuo, L., Zhang, T., Xiao, F., Liu, Y., & Liu, J. (2018). A railway track
geometry measuring trolley system based on aided INS. Sensors, 18(2), 538.
Gardi, A., Sabatini, R., & Ramasamy, S. (2016). Multi-objective optimisation of aircraft
flight trajectories in the ATM and avionics context. Progress in Aerospace
Sciences, 83, 1-36.
Haddock, K. N., & Beckman, W. S. (2015). The effect of electronic flight bag use on pilot
performance during an instrument approach. Collegiate Aviation Review, 33(1), 1-13.
Liu, G., Geng, Y., & Pahlavan, K. (2015, February). Effects of calibration RFID tags on
performance of inertial navigation in indoor environment. In Computing, Networking
and Communications (ICNC), 2015 International Conference on(pp. 945-949). IEEE.
Ramasamy, S., Sabatini, R., Gardi, A., & Kistan, T. (2014). Next generation flight
management system for real-time trajectory based operations. Applied Mechanics and
Materials, 629, 344-349.
Wang, B., Ren, Q., Deng, Z. H., & Fu, M. (2015). A Self-Calibration Method for
Nonorthogonal Angles Between Gimbals of Rotational Inertial Navigation
System. IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics, 62(4), 2353-2362.