AN XML-DRIVEN ARCHITECTURE FOR INSTRUMENTATION COCKPIT DISPLAY SYSTEMS

Abstract

Designing and implementing an instrumentation cockpit display system presents many unique challenges. The system must be easy to use, yet highly customizable. Typically, these systems require an experienced programmer to create graphical display screens. Furthermore, most current display systems do not provide for bi-directional communication between the instrumentation system and the display system. This paper discusses an architecture that addresses these issues and other common problems with cockpit displays. This system captures data from the instrumentation system, displays parameters, and returns calculated parameters and status information regarding pilot actions to the instrumentation system. Unlike traditional systems, the configuration of the graphical presentation of the cockpit display can be done by a non-programmer. All communication between the instrumentation system and the cockpit display system is done transparently using XML. The usage of XML in this system facilitates real-time form previewing, cross-platform compatibility, and seamless transitions between project management, graphical configuration, and engineering unit conversions.