With the publication of the new ARINC Characteristic No. 564 for Weather Radar, in the formulation of which Ekco played a very active part, Ekco Electronics are designing a new series of Weather Radar equipment. With reliability as the first priority these systems include the following variants (a) high integrity dual configuration, (b) single Transmitter/Receiver, twin Indicator, (c) single Transmitter/Receiver single Indicator.
The Ekco E390 system chosen and delivered for the prototype Concorde is the basis for a re-engineered series of systems type E390/564.
These new systems are suitable for supersonic and subsonic aircraft such as the Boeing 747, and the high integrity dual E390/564 system has been selected for the pre-production Concordes.
All the units of the system, including the antenna, are the same for both SST and
subsonic operation providing economy of standardised equipment and spares.
Whilst the individual units of the radar include the latest techniques and components, to ensure best possible reliability, the high-integrity dual system provides two parallel radar channels, with separate channel wiring, so that any failure in either channel or its associated wiring will not affect the other.
In the case of the antenna where a duplicate unit cannot be provided, the electrical and electro-mechanical components are duplicated and separately wired for each channel, to maintain the high integrity of duplication.
Both storage tube indicators can be operated separately or simultaneously, with either radar channel and each can be electrically isolated to avoid the potential risk of continued energisation of a faulty unit in order to obtain a display on the other.
The single controller for the dual system has duplicated components at each control with separate wiring.
