Indian firm develops vital avionics software

NeST Avionics Ltd, the Bangalore-based upcoming IT firm, has developed a specialised avionics software to analyze the entire data of flight operations from take-off to landing.

Developed for the first time in India in the private sector, the proprietary software provides one-stop solutions to monitor flying trends and produce analytical reports for civilian and military aircraft.

As a subsidiary of the Rs 600-crore (Rs 6-billion) Kochi-based NeST technology group, the company has tied up with Jet Airways, to deploy its avionics software in its fleet for improving crew performance, identification of adverse trends or risks, and timely maintenance of aircraft for ensuring safety.

Company's managing director N Jehangir told rediff.com on Friday that the flagship avionics product, FliSafe, was used and validated by the leading commercial airliner (Jet) to record and analyze over 450,000 hours of flight data.

"FliSafe's flight operations quality assurance tool is the fastest data analysis software in the world market, capable of analyzing over 100 hours of flight data in less than 2 minutes," Jehangir claimed.

NeST's another product, FliSave, developed in collaboration with a domestic airliner, combines data inputs from the aircraft's 'black box' with any crew management software to enhance data output and save about 80 per cent of cost per aircraft annually.

Approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, NeST Avionics caters to a wide range of aviation clientele, including civil, defence, and aerospace firms, the world over.

"Aviation safety has become critical with onboard cameras that have potential to transmit continuous pictures via satellite. Our products are geared to improve safety and efficiency of cockpit and cabin crew by monitoring the flight operations from the ground throughout," said company's president Jayachandran.

The company has also tied up with the US-based SimAuthor Inc., to integrate its FliSafe to the latter's 3D flight visualization software, FlightViz, and market the unique software product in India, South East Asia, Middle East and Europe.

FlightViz is a state-of-the-art aircraft and simulator data visualization and communication system, designed to create interactive, high fidelity, real-time 3D depictions of flight data.

"The integration offers airlines a complete tool and ground data replay system to monitor the safety, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of flight operations, including the proficiency of pilots," said product engineer Vinod Gopalakrishnan.

Within eight months of commencing its operations, the company has started licensing its avionics products to major domestic/foreign airlines and aviation/aerospace organisations.

Among them are the Indian Air Force, UB Air, Jagson Airlines, Royal Amiri Flight (UAE), Yemen Air, the Airports Authority of India, DGCA, and the Centre for Airborne Systems, Bangalore.

The company has so far invested Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) in setting up its avionics software development center with a 40-member team. To expand its operations and market the products, it is investing another Rs 5 crore during the current fiscal year (2003-04).

For the first year of full operations, it has set a revenue target of Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) from licensing its avionics modules.