Purpose and Scope

This document defines a standard Cockpit Display System (CDS) interface intended for all types of aircraft installations. The primary objective is to minimize the cost to the airlines, directly or indirectly, by accomplishing the following:

• Minimize the cost of acquiring new avionic systems to the extent it is driven by the cost of CDS development.

• Minimize the cost of adding new display function to the cockpit during the life of an aircraft.

• Minimize the cost of managing hardware obsolescence in an area of rapidly evolving technology.

• Introduce interactivity to the cockpit, thus providing a basis for airframe manufacturers to standardize the Human Machine Interface (HMI) in the cockpit.

This document defines two external interfaces between the CDS and the aircraft systems. The first is the interface between the avionics equipment (user systems) and the display system graphics generators. The second is a means by which symbology and its related behavior are defined. A User Application is defined as a system that transmits data to the CDS, which in turn can be displayed as visual graphical information to the flight deck crew. A User Application can also include software or hardware that receives input from interactive graphics managed by the CDS.

The CDS provides graphical and interactive services to User Applications within the flight deck environment. When combined with data from User Applications, it should display graphical images to the flight deck crew.

This document defines an interface between the CDS and User Applications (UA). The application that controls the interface is defined to be within the CDS.

This document does not specify the “look and feel” of any graphical information.