Finally, ADS-B for under $1000.

I am sure everyone has heard of uavionix by now, but wow! This company has it together. They found a potential market for more than the GA market. They figured if they built it, they would come. The UAS market is starting to be a potential market for ADS-B out units. UAS may be a multi-million unit market for avionics, including ADS-B. (or there may be some dopey proprietary solution, that will be expensive, and less compatible).

Using the technology they have developed and mass manufacturing allowed the development costs to be amortized over many, many units. The basic unit, echoUAT is available today for $999 and can be installed on most aircraft. This will output WiFi to a tablet or phone, as well as integrate with existing in panel EFIS systems. It does require an external WAAS enabled GPS though.

I promised before that there were under $1000 solutions. NavWorx ran into a little trouble with their internal GPS, and it may have been outputting incorrect position accuracy information. This has been resolved, but now their cost is about $1500. The store seems to not have anything available right now, so I don't know what the costs are.

There is another version of the uAvionix echo, that looks like a wingtip light. The Skybeacon will replace a wingtip light, and be a full UAT ADS-B out system that can be added to any aircraft, even certified. It can be configured using WiFi, and listens to the transponder in the aircraft for squawk codes. There is an option to feed tablets in the cockpit with traffic information.

As you can see there are finally options for the rest of us. Items we can afford that deliver high performance.

Are you going to get one?