In 1976, Hubert Naimer a Swiss industrialist and business jet owner/pilot with numerous factories across Europe wanted a better way to manage the various navigation systems required to fly in Europe. He was frustrated that the state-of-the-art avionics in his Dassault Falcon 20 business jet which included a flight director and VOR/ILS/DME/ADF navigation aids resulted in an overabundance of switches and controls in the cockpit that required constant tuning and selection while flying the short, congested European airways. 

Ever the innovator, Naimer felt that some means of integrating all this information and flight planning requirements into a single control display unit would dramatically lessen a pilots workload, improve efficiency and increase safety. After much consideration, he mapped out his idea for the worlds first fully integrated flight management system (FMS); the next problem he faced, though, was how it would be developed, and who would develop it.  

Fortunately, at the time, Naimer was a shareholder, and sat on the board of directors, of Global Navigation Inc., a California-based company that had pioneered new methods of long-range navigation. (Since 1971, Global had developed a means of tapping into the United States Navys very low frequency [VLF] submarine communications network and was using it as a means of determining aircraft position. A few years later, Global added the capability to utilize the Navys new Omega radio navigation system, as well, thereby improving the navigational accuracy of its products, which soon began to dominate the market.) Having already installed and used Globals systems (he bought into the company after he got an early version of the companys GNS-200 VLF navigation system), he naturally went to Global with his idea.  

Global agreed to develop the FMS concept with funding and operational input from Naimer, but two years later, Global and its new owner, Sundstrand, decided to cancel the FMS development contract and focus on the VLF/Omega market, which Sundstrand had determined to be Globals future. Naimer, along with Global founders Karl Frudenfeld and Chuck Edmondson who had both been ousted from Global by Sundstrand suddenly found themselves adrift with a major product concept, but no development capability.

After suing Global to obtain the development engineering he had paid for, Naimer created his own company, Universal Navigation Systems, in 1980, with Frudenfeld and Edmondson as its first two employees. By 1982, Universal had debuted its first product, the UNS-1, the worlds first fully integrated FMS. The UNS-1 utilized VOR/DME (very-high-frequency omni-directional radio range/distance measuring equipment), and eventually VLF/Omega navigation sources, and had the scalability to utilize the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) that was then in its early development stages. Since then, the company, renamed Universal Avionics Systems Corp. in 1995, has carved out a remarkable niche in the high-end, high-quality avionics field, with over 20,000 systems installed in 11,500 aircraft of 150 different types, located in 115 countries.

When the U.S. Navy turned off the VLF and Omega systems in the mid-1990s, Global Navigation, which had designed its system software to sequentially capture Omega and then VLF signals, before accessing GPS or Loran (long range navigation) signals, disappeared into the annals of aviation history. 

Meanwhile, Hubert Naimer passed away in 2004 and Universal faced its own uncertain future, especially with increasing competition from larger companies. Fortunately, a new generation of management stepped up to steer 

the company.

Today, Universal is headed by Hubert Naimers son, president and chief executive officer Joachim (Ted) Naimer, who is a commercial-rated jet and helicopter pilot. A pilots input into the development of avionics systems was what created Universal in the first place, so when Ted succeeded his father, he guaranteed that influence would continue in the future. There are also now approximately 35 licensed pilots working for Universal in product design and customer support areas, ensuring the latest trends in aviation and aircraft systems are reflected in the companys product lines.

Another element of the companys continued success is staff longevity. Many at Universal have been with the company for decades, and its policy of promoting from within ensures the retention of in-depth product knowledge and fosters corporate loyalty. This has been especially beneficial in an era where personnel, particularly at the management level, seem to change employers every three to five years.

Of course, being an engineering- and solutions-driven company, its no surprise that unique products are the other component of Universals success. Here, avionics products are continually under development for all sectors of the aviation industry. Since introducing the UNS-1, Universal has added a number of impressive systems, including terrain awareness and warning systems, attitude and heading reference systems, radio control systems, and datalink systems. The company also continues to provide a number of firsts, including the first U.S. Federal Aviation Regulation Part 25 certified synthetic vision system, Vision-1; and the first combined crash recorder and Wide Area Augmentation System/satellite-based augmentation system (WAAS/SBAS) FMS. 

Our largest product is still the FMS line, remarked Dan Reida, vice-president, marketing and product support. And, The OEMs and the retrofit market are the largest customer bases. These original equipment manufacturers include airplane makers Cessna and Bombardier; and military and commercial helicopter builders AgustaWestland, Bell, Eurocopter and Sikorsky. Airline customers, meanwhile, include cargo operators DHL and Evergreen International Airlines; air carriers Air France, Qantas and ANA; and regional airlines American Eagle and Horizon Air. A number of operators include the Universal FMS as the core of their avionics retrofits.

Universal has truly become a product of choice for all types of aircraft operators and aircraft. Its products cover a retrofit market that ranges from older turbo-prop aircraft to newer corporate jets and helicopters, which means even older analog navigation systems have been interfaced directly into Universals solutions. 

One of the many unique and sought-after aspects of its UNS series is the ability to connect almost any type of signal directly to the FMS without the need for a data acquisition unit to modify it. Signal conditioning carried out within each control display unit (CDU) negates the requirement for additional boxes, simplifying the installation, reducing weight and increasing redundancy, as every CDU receives the same raw data from the source.

The rotary-wing market is an area where Universal is currently developing products to meet the unique needs of instrument flight rules (IFR) helicopters. No matter the make or model, vibration is a critical element in helicopters, compared to fixed-wing aircraft. Equipment designed for airplanes experience a marked decrease in serviceability if installed into a helicopter. (When I worked for a company with a fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and larger offshore helicopters, the identical radio in a Cessna Citation II had a failure rate that was 10 times higher when installed in a Sikorsky S-76. Likewise, the venerable Sikorsky S-61 will scramble the majority of instruments and avionics designed only to meet the kinder environment of the jet set.) As such, Universal is going the extra mile with its helicopter products.

We have certified the EFI-890R active-matrix color LCD flat-panel display to RTCA DO-160E standards, which meets the vibration requirements and environmental issues presented by the main helicopter models, explained Grady Dees, Universals director of technical marketing. One of the tests includes sine-on-random-vibration testing, using extremely robust test equipment designed and built specifically for certifying the displays in extreme conditions. In other words, the test platform literally tries to shake the unit apart. And, software certification for the -890R is to DO-178B Level A, a requirement for IFR operations.

To date, the EFI-890R is certified for installation into the Sikorsky S-76A/C and S-61L/N; the Bell 212, 412 and 412EP; and the Eurocopter EC155, AS365 Dauphin N1 and N3, and AS332. An added benefit of all this helicopter testing, of course, is that all of Universals displays are qualified to the same high standard and hence have even greater reliability in fixed-wing aircraft.

Also on the helicopter side, complete avionics replacement programs are underway for several older IFR-capable models. For instance, Universal is working with helicopter support specialist Heli-One to design and certify a new cockpit for the S-76A and B. Heli-One is providing the cockpit, Universal is designing the cockpit controls and flight/navigation displays to replace the majority of the analog instruments and the additional displays, such as the triple-tachometer and engine information display.

Universals main headquarters and manufacturing facility are located in Tucson, Ariz., in a business park near the Tucson International Airport. Additional customer support, research and development, and marketing facilities are located in Wichita, Kan; Redmond, Wash.; Duluth, Ga.; and Basel, Switzerland.

The facilities in Tucson, in particular, are top-notch. I have worked in the avionics industry for many decades, and it was still an eye-opening experience to tour Universals factory. The majority of the manufacturing here occurs in a very large production room. There are no posts or support columns in this room, maximizing its visual aesthetics; and the majority of workbench and production equipment wiring is hidden beneath the floor or inside a few conduits. There is also little noise here, as most work is carried out by a series of robotic circuit-board assembly devices. 

Universal operates on the build-to-order principle; deliveries typically occur two weeks after orders are placed. This ensures new products leave the factory with the latest modifications and software revisions. 

Once a production order is started, a shop technician acquires the appropriate component spools and attaches them in the correct order to the printed-circuit assembly machine. The robotic insertion machine then adds all the necessary electrical components under the watchful eye of a quality assurance technician. Once the QA technician is satisfied all items have been installed correctly, the board proceeds to an automatic soldering station, and then to a functional test station. Quality control inspections are carried out at all critical steps and the finished board is also subjected to a series of operational tests. If it is a navigation item, these tests include solving complex navigation flight-planning exercises.

Since its first FMS, Universal has continued to improve and expand its product lines. And since its FMS offerings each have such a wide variety of input signal choices, many of its other products are simply remotely mounted boxes that are interconnected to the FMS. A prime example would be Universals Vision-1 synthetic vision system, which provides an egocentric (pilot) view and an exocentric (wingman) view. This 3-D visual information is generated in a line replaceable unit installed on a radio rack, and can be displayed on the majority of the companys integrated displays.

Other solutions have focused on the changing regulations that have resulted in numerous challenges for avionics shops, which must find space to install a growing list of required equipment. For myself, one of the biggest challenges I had was when cockpit voice recorders (CVRs), and then flight data recorders (FDRs), became mandatory in increasingly smaller aircraft. Shoehorning a 24-pound CVR, or an even larger and heavier FDR, into the aft area of a Citation was a daunting task. Trying to fit the same equipment into a helicopter was often a nightmare if the physical space could be found, there was still the critical weight and balance issue to address. More recent requirements have added to the problem with the need for a recorder independent power supply (RIPS) that operates in case of a total failure of the aircraft electrical system.

Universal has solved many of these particular problems with the creation of its CVFDR: a combined CVR/FDR weighing only 8.7 pounds (3.9 kilograms), including the proprietary RIPS. According to marketing VP Reida, part of the solution here is the battery-less RIPS Universal designed, which provides 10 minutes of recording time after a failure of the input power. The dimensions of the CVFDR 6.1 by 4.9 by eight inches (height by width by depth) are similar to a shallow loaf of bread, yet the unit provides 120 minutes of cockpit and ambient noise recording, and a minimum of 25 hours of flight data recording and 120 minutes of datalink messaging, plus it has additional inputs for monitoring helicopter rotor speed, current time and other data signals. The data itself is stored in a solid-state flash memory drive and the unit requires no periodic maintenance. (One of the more recent OEM aircraft to feature this well-received solution is the soon-to-be-certified HondaJet.)

The CVFDR is a prime example of how Universal Avionics continues to innovate and develop solutions that address a variety of avionics problems. Its also indicative of the focus, dedication and forward-thinking manner in which the company has overcome all sorts of challenges in the 30 years since its inception, challenges that have included several worldwide recessions and the passing of the companys founder. Today, with a wealth of unique products to its credit, Universal is poised to continue its tradition of providing unique and worthwhile aviation solutions for the foreseeable future.