business backgrounder | industry
Spectralux Avionics: Linking Air to Ground
Daniel C. Brunell
For 30 years, Spectralux produced cockpit light plates that are used in tens of
thousands of aircraft around the world. However, developing trends in the aerospace
industry required Spectralux to diversify their products. Today, Spectralux Avionics
produce one of the most popular aftermarket avionic modular devices: the Dlink+.
When you think of building an airplane, you might think of
sheets of aluminum — or carbon fiber — being joined together.
But that imagery only tells about half the story.
Avionics — the electronic computer systems that actually
run the aircraft — play an ever-increasing role in modern
aircraft. Since their military inception in the early 1970s, avionics account for more than half of the development costs of
many modern aircraft.
The term “avionics” covers a broad spectrum of products,
everything from the integrated digital-display dashboards
on the new Boeing 787 to a searchlight on a search and rescue helicopter: all count under the umbrella of avionics.
Some of the functions that avionics carry out on a modern
commercial airliner include communications, navigation,
aircraft control, collision-avoidance, weather detection, data
collection and reporting.
Aerospace has always
at a glance
been important to the
Washington state economy.
As the aerospace industry has grown, so has the number
of avionics companies in Washington state. More than a
dozen Washington-based companies are now involved in
the avionics industry. Many of them are clustered around
Everett and Redmond. One of these companies is Spectralux
Avionics of Redmond.
lighting the way
In 1973, Spectralux was founded to fulfill a need The Boeing
Company had for light plates and keyboards for their 707,
727, 737 and 747 commercial aircraft. Light plates are panels
in airplane cockpits with illuminated words and markings.
This allows the flight crew to see and know which buttons
are which in a dark cockpit.
The company grew quickly. It expanded its customer
base to include commercial, business and military aviation
markets. It grew from its Boeing roots to include panels
for McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell and
Bombardier. Today, Spectralux has more than 100,000
Spectralux Avionics started out
making light plates for Boeing
aircraft in 1973.
Facing a declining market,
Spectralux began investigating
different products, including data
communications equipment.
In 2004, Spectralux certified its first
data communications system for
commercial aircraft, the Dlink+.
By 2015, all aircraft that operate
at over 28,500ft in Europe will be
required to have a direct data link
device such as the Spectralux’s
Dlink+ to address the limits of
voice communications in crowded
European airspace.
Spectralux Avionics CEO Woody Hertzog (left) and President Michael Burke
with one of their Dlink+ data link systems.
42 association of washington business