CBL Systems Corporation Receives Production Order From Raytheon Aircraft for Fiber Optic Flight Data Acquisition Systems

Business Wire, June 19, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

HOPKINTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2001

CBL Systems Corporation, a leading developer of fiber optic distributed sensing and control solutions for the aviation industry, announced today that it has received orders from Raytheon Aircraft Company for follow-on production of its fiber-optic networked Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU) system for the Beech 1900D commuter airliner. The DFDAU system is the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified use of fiber-optic networks for flight data acquisition applications on production passenger airliners.

CBL, which stands for Control By Light, will provide 27 digital flight data acquisition systems for Beech 1900D-aircraft, Raytheon Aircraft Company's 19-passenger commuter aircraft that serves regional airlines, special mission operators and corporations. Installation of the system will take place at Raytheon Aircraft's Wichita, Kansas, facilities.

"We are very proud of Raytheon's confidence in our people and technology, and are pleased to expand our relationship together," said Brian D. Morrison, president and CEO of CBL Systems Corporation. "There are significant untapped opportunities for the application of distributed fiber optic networking on modern aircraft which can lead to improved flight operations and information accuracy and reliability while helping manufacturers cost-effectively meet higher standards of safety and performance. We look forward to working closely with Raytheon and other aircraft manufacturers as the proven benefits and enhanced safety features of fiber optic networking versus traditional copper wiring become more widely known throughout the worldwide aviation industry."

The Control By Light system enables airline operators of the Beech 1900D to quickly and cost effectively meet expanded FAA requirements for 88-parameter digital flight data recording on passenger aircraft, and significantly expands digital flight data recording capacity on new passenger aircraft. Recent FAA regulation requiring installation of upgraded digital flight data recorders by July 2001 called for an increase in specific areas of flight information - called data parameters - up to 88 parameters for newly manufactured aircraft and from 11 to 18 to 34 parameters for older aircraft.

The DFDAU system for the Beech 1900D consists of seven identical DFDAUs linked together by a state-of-the-art fiber optic network. The system provides detailed and accurate recording of pilot actions and aircraft responses during a flight by gathering information from data acquisition units that are interconnected by optical fiber rather than traditional shielded twisted pair wiring.

Each system captures physical parameters about pilot actions and aircraft responses from over 160 aircraft sources, including altitude, gyros, navigation and flight instruments, autopilots, Global Positioning System (GPS), Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), flight surface position sensors, engine sensors, cockpit controls, position and force sensors, as well as the de-icing, warning and other critical systems. Data is then translated into a standard protocol, and all information is sent to the flight data recorder via ring-configured optical fiber networks, which were selected due to their built-in redundancy and their total immunity to electromagnetic interference and electrical noise.

CBL's products provide a continuous, redundant optical network path with extensive built-in diagnostics, and continue to provide flight data despite localized damage to any link or part of the system. The system reduces cumbersome wiring and offers improved signal fidelity and reliability.

In addition to its use on new aircraft such as the 1900D, Control By Light's DFDAU system is being applied to retrofit of existing passenger aircraft, where it provides enhanced data acquisition and recording capabilities with substantial cost and complexity savings for owners and operators of older aircraft as well. Earlier this year, Continental Express and Trans States Airlines became the first airline operators to order the CBL system for retrofit aircraft applications, because of its reliability, affordability and expandability. Continental Express is installing the Control By Light systems on its fleet of Aerospatiale ATR-42 planes, a 46-seat "jet-like" twin turboprop aircraft used by the regional carrier for short-haul routes. Trans States is installing the system on its ATR-42 and ATR-72 aircraft. Discussions with manufacturers and operators of other large aircraft such as Boeing 737's are underway.

Headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, CBL Systems markets its Control By Light(TM) products worldwide through distributors and systems integrators in the United States, Europe, Japan and China. Additional information about CBL Systems can be found at www.controlbylight.com.