To avoid being driven to the ragged edge of sanity by the profusion of ever-specialized avionics, we like to sort this stuff into bite-sized categories. the latest is one we would have never predicted: the wing-mounted, self-powered AHRS. As if one wasn’t enough, there are actually two of these devices, the Levil Aviation BOM we’re reviewing in this report and a new product called the WingBug, which we’ll examine in a future report.
The BOM appeared as a prototype at Sun ‘n Fun 2017 and in the year since, Levil Aviation has developed the production version, priced at $1995 complete. BOM is actually an acronym meaning Broadcasting Outer Module and Levil pitches it as a self-powered, always-ready backup device to provide complete attitude, airspeed and ADS-B data wirelessly to a tablet. The self-powering part is delivered by a small air-driven generator on the device’s trailing end. It’s reminiscent of the air-powered generators once popular in post-war taildraggers then delivered without electrical systems.