Session 5 At SOAR By Avembsys

        The fifth session started out rather late and before the guide coming in, one of our batch mates held the platform discussing about the different branching and looping statements in C programming. The class started with an initial discussion of various project ideas and the stage of the project being currently taken up. This discussion consumed a good amount of time with ideas being bounced back and forth and the students being interested in them.
      After this, we had a ppt presentation from the guide on AVIONICS i.e. Aviation electronics and the different components involved in a commercial and military aircraft. After this we discussed about the different safety estimates that are absolutely necessary for a plane to be commissioned for flight and also different certification agencies that are involved. The discussion then drifted towards the first Indian LCA Tejas and how this is a significant step for the Indian military.
     We then moved on to discussing the different avionics components in detail such as the navigation control, FMS, Military IFF and how crucial it is for the survival of the plane in a foreign airspace although I did not understand how this system is made tamper proof cause one thing that I have seen is that anything can be hacked, if given to the right people with right resources, anyways, moving on, we discussed about other devices included the weather radar installed at the nose, the DME, TCAS, ADF and I was astonished on the amount of redundancy for each of these components thus showing how important these installations are.
    We also discussed about the ELT or emergency location transmitter and the importance of 121.5 MHz frequency. We then moved on to the components involved in military aircrafts and after that, we further discussed about some other organizations that are involved in setting up standards for flight and I was astonished to find IEEE here as well!
     We then saw how coding is done in the industry based on Airbus standards and how detailed it is supposed to be when it is submitted. We also discussed about the EGPWS i.e. enhanced ground proximity warning system and its responsibilities on the plane, its modes and the warnings that it provides to the pilot and finally we talked about the TCAS system and how the surrounding planes are seen and classified on the screen.
     After this we ended the class after viewing the Tejas aircraft once again up close ( on the big screen ;) and also the certificate that was issued for India's First almost completely made Aircraft by CEMILAC. Although the class tended to be a little slower at the start it gained good pace as it proceeded. I am looking forward for the upcoming classes and the surprises that it holds...