Astronautics Corporation of America
Encyclopedia
Astronautics Corporation of America (ACA) was established in 1959 and is a major supplier, designer, and manufacturer of avionics equipment to airlines, U.S. and international governments, commercial and defense aircraft manufacturers, and other major avionics systems integrators. Over 150,000 aircraft worldwide have been equipped with Astronautics instruments, displays, computers & components. Astronautics products are used in numerous air, sea, ground, and missile and space applications. Astronautics major product lines include Electronic Flight Instrument System
, Electronic flight bag
, Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System, Network Server Systems, Multifunction Displays, Mission and display processors and systems, Flight director
, Flight control system, Inertial guidance system, Air data computer
, Integrated Network Server Unit and Auto pilot.
In the latter half of the 1960s, Astronautics received substantial backing from the American City Bank and Trust Company. After that corporation was bankrupted by the 1973-75 recession, Zelazo hired its former CEO, Pete Erickson, as Astronautics' CFO in 1976. Erickson helped grow the company over the next fifteen years (until his retirement), masterfully investing its booked capital in the stock and bond market and arranging the highly successful purchase of a corporate building on the city's west side in 1982. Today, that Teutonia Avenue location is the corporate headquarters.
Having won several production programs for aircraft flight instruments for the military, Astronautics soon developed a design and production capability. They began supplying flight instrumentation for aircraft such as the B-52, F-4, A-4, C-130, UH-1, P-3 and many others. This capability was soon expanded to provide the complete flight director systems, which included the flight director computer, for several military aircraft.
As military flight instrumentation advanced, Astronautics began competing for the new Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology that was being applied to aircraft instrumentation. Astronautics was successful and won a contract to provide the Horizontal Situation Display (HSD) for the Air Force F-111 Aircraft. This display program, which combined CRT and optical technologies, resulted in further expansion of Astronautics Engineering, Quality, Reliability, Production and Contract Administration Departments. Astronautics then also developed the Head Up Display for both the A-10 Aircraft and the Shuttle trainer aircraft. Having design and production capability for CRT displays, Astronautics became a supplier of medical monitors for CAT scanners and also supplied displays to NASA for the mission control center in Houston, Texas. In avionics, Astronautics became a supplier to Italian, German and British governments for their high performance aircraft with new avionics equipment.
Numerous new developments were then made by Astronautics in flat panel displays and digital avionics. Astronautics not only supplies military aircraft worldwide with its highly sophisticated avionics, but now also supplies the airlines and cargo carriers with the Electronic Flight Bag and also the latest technology in airborne servers. Having acquired Kearfott Guidance & Navigation Corporation in 1988, Astronautics also provides Inertial Navigation Systems for Space, Satellite and Sea applications.
Astronautics attempted to enter the low-end supercomputer
market with a design from Dr. James Smith of the University of Wisconsin, CS Dept. This model was designated the ZS-1. A single model was produced but failed to enter the market place. The single model is now a part of the Rhode Island Computer History Museum.
Electronic Flight Instrument System
An electronic flight instrument system is a flight deck instrument display system in which the display technology used is electronic rather than electromechanical. EFIS normally consists of a primary flight display , multi-function display and engine indicating and crew alerting system display...
, Electronic flight bag
Electronic flight bag
Electronic Flight Bag is an electronic information management device that helps flight crews perform flight management tasks more easily and efficiently with less paper...
, Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System, Network Server Systems, Multifunction Displays, Mission and display processors and systems, Flight director
Flight director
The term flight director can refer to any one of the following:* the flight controller of a space flight* the flight director of an aviation navigation system...
, Flight control system, Inertial guidance system, Air data computer
Air data computer
An air data computer is an essential avionics component found in modern glass cockpits. This computer, rather than individual instruments, can determine the calibrated airspeed, Mach number, altitude, and altitude trend from input data from sensors such as an aircraft's pitot-static system,...
, Integrated Network Server Unit and Auto pilot.
History
In June 1959, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Nate Zelazo decided to start a new company devoted to advanced technology in the Aerospace field. Together with his sister, Norma Paige, he organized a small group of experienced engineers and established the Astronautics Corporation of America. Having had previous experience being employed by the Navy Department and with his knowledge of government procurement the company began to compete for government business for the military. Initially, the company worked with local universities and with their help was soon was able to obtain a program from the US Air Force investigating fuel management techniques for space vehicle orbital rendezvous. Mr. Zelazo and his small staff of engineers had an extensive background in designing and developing flight instrumentation. Thus, after working on the Air Force space program, they began to compete with their much larger competitors for Navy, Army and Air Force flight instrumentation production programs.Having won several production programs for aircraft flight instruments for the military, Astronautics soon developed a design and production capability. They began supplying flight instrumentation for aircraft such as the B-52, F-4, A-4, C-130, UH-1, P-3 and many others. This capability was soon expanded to provide the complete flight director systems, which included the flight director computer, for several military aircraft.
As military flight instrumentation advanced, Astronautics began competing for the new Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology that was being applied to aircraft instrumentation. Astronautics was successful and won a contract to provide the Horizontal Situation Display (HSD) for the Air Force F-111 Aircraft. This display program, which combined CRT and optical technologies, resulted in further expansion of Astronautics Engineering, Quality, Reliability, Production and Contract Administration Departments. Astronautics then also developed the Head Up Display for both the A-10 Aircraft and the Shuttle trainer aircraft. Having design and production capability for CRT displays, Astronautics became a supplier of medical monitors for CAT scanners and also supplied displays to NASA for the mission control center in Houston, Texas. In avionics, Astronautics became a supplier to Italian, German and British governments for their high performance aircraft with new avionics equipment.
Numerous new developments were then made by Astronautics in flat panel displays and digital avionics. Astronautics not only supplies military aircraft worldwide with its highly sophisticated avionics, but now also supplies the airlines and cargo carriers with the Electronic Flight Bag and also the latest technology in airborne servers. Having acquired Kearfott Guidance & Navigation Corporation in 1988, Astronautics also provides Inertial Navigation Systems for Space, Satellite and Sea applications.
Astronautics attempted to enter the low-end supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
market with a design from Dr. James Smith of the University of Wisconsin, CS Dept. This model was designated the ZS-1. A single model was produced but failed to enter the market place. The single model is now a part of the Rhode Island Computer History Museum.
Product Lines
Astronautics major product lines include:- Integrated Avionics System
- DisplaysMulti-function displayA Multi-function display is a small screen in an aircraft surrounded by multiple buttons that can be used to display information to the pilot in numerous configurable ways. Often an MFD will be used in concert with a Primary Flight Display. MFDs are part of the digital era of modern planes or...
- CRTCathode ray tubeThe cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
and flat panelFlat panel displayFlat panel displays encompass a growing number of electronic visual display technologies. They are far lighter and thinner than traditional television sets and video displays that use cathode ray tubes , and are usually less than thick... - Electronic flight bagElectronic flight bagElectronic Flight Bag is an electronic information management device that helps flight crews perform flight management tasks more easily and efficiently with less paper...
- Mission & Display Processors
- Electronic Flight Instrument SystemElectronic Flight Instrument SystemAn electronic flight instrument system is a flight deck instrument display system in which the display technology used is electronic rather than electromechanical. EFIS normally consists of a primary flight display , multi-function display and engine indicating and crew alerting system display...
- Engine Indicating & Crew Alerting Systems
- Electromechanical Navigation & Flight InstrumentsFlight instrumentsFlight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with information about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as height, speed and altitude...
- Control and Display Units/Control Consoles
- Airborne File ServersFile serverIn computing, a file server is a computer attached to a network that has the primary purpose of providing a location for shared disk access, i.e. shared storage of computer files that can be accessed by the workstations that are attached to the computer network...
- Network Server Systems
- Air data computers
- FlapFlap (aircraft)Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...
Control Systems - High Accuracy Guidance and Navigation Systems
- Fire ControlFire controlcontrol of fire 'control of fire' is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, or reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving a fire of fuel, oxygen or heat ....
/Thermal Imaging SystemsThermographyInfrared thermography, thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermal imaging cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms... - Enhanced Vision Systems
- Gyros, ResolversResolver (electrical)A resolver is a type of rotary electrical transformer used for measuring degrees of rotation. It is considered an analog device, and has a digital counterpart, the rotary encoder.-Description:...
, SynchroSynchroA synchro is a type of rotary electrical transformer that is used for measuring the angle of a rotating machine such as an antenna platform. In its general physical construction, it is much like an electric motor...
s, MotorsElectric motorAn electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
, Actuators - Magnetic refrigerationMagnetic refrigerationMagnetic refrigeration is a cooling technology based on the magnetocaloric effect. This technique can be used to attain extremely low temperatures , as well as the ranges used in common refrigerators, depending on the design of the system.The effect was first observed by the German physicist Emil...
- Worldwide Maintenance Services