Curtiss-Wright Upgrades AVDU Rugged LCD Touchscreen Display Software for Greater Flexibility, Reliability

October 19, 2018

Courtney E. Howard

Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division in Ashburn, Va., has enhanced its range of Advanced Video Display Units (AVDU) high-resolution, rugged LCD touchscreen displays with new software-configurable capabilities to improve flexibility, usability, and reliability.

As video cameras and sensors proliferate on-board civil and military airborne platforms, video displays increasingly play a critical role in determining mission success. The AVDU software upgrade includes a wider range of data communication interfaces, faster boot-up, and adds support for user specified settings – designed to boost the integration, usability, and performance of the rugged displays deployed in harsh environments. AVDU displays are designed to optimize the effectiveness of airborne and land missions on rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, as well as ground vehicles, in military and civil applications.

With the AVDU software enhancement, an AVDU USB output can serve as a USB Host for in-field upgrading, calibration initiation, test mode, and external storage. It can also serve as a USB Slave for connection to an external PC as a HID touchscreen device. As a HID touchscreen, the AVDU supports basic clicking, double clicking, drag and drop functionality for an external Windows 7, Windows 10, or Ubuntu Linux host. The customer can select which input or inputs will support the USB touchscreen protocol.

One or more of the AVDU’s inputs can be used for messaging and control over the RS422 port. EECP protocol-based messages can enable and disable the On Screen Display, enable Soft Keys, and be used to display/remove custom text message anywhere on the screen.

Screen input can now also be received via DVI in addition to the existing HD-SDI, Composite/S-Video, and RGBHV/RGsB video inputs.

A writable partition is available for customer configurable settings. Test mode functionality has been extended to enable the user to view the current settings and create custom configurations.

Start up time has been optimized, enabling faster display output.

Curtiss-Wright ’s AVDU range of rugged mission displays combine advanced technologies, such as optically-bonded glass and dual mode NVIS-compatible LED backlighting. They provide a rich feature set, including a highly flexible video input capability and full touchscreen operation. The mission displays are currently available in five display sizes and resolutions to address a wide variety of applications on ground, airborne and naval platforms.

AVDU displays can operate stand-alone or as part of an integrated video management system (VMS) that includes Curtiss-Wright’s range of Rugged Video Gateway (RVG) video switches and converter products , and the VRDV7000 video recorder . The displays are also optimized for use with Curtiss-Wright’s Video Management System (VMS) products, such as the VDSU-1420.

Curtiss-Wright Corp. delivers highly engineered, critical-function products and services to the commercial, industrial, defense, and energy markets. Building on the heritage of Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers, Curtiss-Wright has a long tradition of providing reliable solutions through trusted customer relationships. The company employs approximately 8,600 people worldwide.

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Courtney E. Howard is editorial director and content strategist at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group. Contact her by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..