When uAvionix brought the skyBeacon wingtip ADS-B Out/strobe light to market, it promised a certified companion device for the other wingtip that receives ADS-B traffic and weather. Four years later and with over 20,000 skyBeacons in service (that’s nearly one-third of the ADS-B Out market), uAvionix has TSO approval for the long-awaited skySensor—a matching electronic fin that fits in place of a standard green navigation lamp on the aircraft’s right wingtip.
With built-in Wi-Fi, a GPS engine, a pressure altitude sensor and an LED strobe and nav light, the $750 skySensor should be attractive to the budget-conscious buyer looking for a modern lighting upgrade and a hard-installed weather and traffic receiver in one device.
APPROVAL, INTERFACES
The fin-style skySensor matches the skyBeacon’s footprint and form factor, and fits the teardrop-shaped three-hole-mount Grimes nav light. It has TSO-C30C approval for Type II (forward, green) position light and TSO-C96b approval for Class II anti-collision/strobe light functions. The ADS-B portion doesn’t have a TSO (nor is it required) because the weather and traffic data it receives is considered supplementary in nature. uAvionix has TSO’d wingtip mounting adapters for installations where the skySensor isn’t a drop-in fit.
The skySensor has a dual-band (978 and 1090 MHz) ADS-B receiver for weather and traffic, and the GPS feeds position data to cockpit tablets. The skySensor can send traffic data (not weather) to uAvionix’s AV-30 electronic flight display when equipped with the AV-Link Wi-Fi dongle ($299) that plugs into the AV-30 display. (Weather and traffic will simultaneously wirelessly stream to the tablet in an AV-Link interface.)
The device has a built-in static port for relaying high-resolution pressure altitude over the wireless data stream, which makes for a more accurate traffic interface than one that uses GPS.
INSTALLING IT
Like the skyBeacon (and tail-mounted tailBeacon), the skySensor has a stone-simple three-wire (red, black and yellow) interface. The red wire connects to the existing position light’s switched power source and the black wire connects to airframe ground. If replacing a position light that has an integrated anti-collision strobe, the yellow wire connects with the existing anti-collision light’s switched power (this is aircraft power and not to a high-voltage strobe power supply).
Smartly, the skySensor syncs up with a companion sky/tail Beacon’s strobe pulses (once per second) using GPS clock time. No sync bus required.
WHAT BUYERS?
Shane Woodson at uAvionix said that the now TSO’d skySensor (previously only offered for experimentals) might appeal to existing skyBeacon owners (many have been asking for a companion, right-wing device to even up the wingtip aesthetics), plus buyers who simply want to ditch portable ADS-B receivers to get rid of the wires and portable mounts that tag along.
“There have been plenty of existing skyBeacon customers waiting for the companion skySensor for a streamlined ADS-B weather and traffic interface. With an accurate traffic presentation thanks to the built-in altitude encoder and GPS position source, we see this as a safety enhancement,” Woodson said. We concur.
Visit www.uavionix.com.
