Arthur Collins - Radio Wizard

Winner of the IEEE 2002 Award for distinguished literary contribution

The complete story behind one of the world's great avionics companies

From his early roots in ham radio, Art Collins went on to found the company whose avionics fly on almost every airline, corporate and military aircraft in the world. This book recounts each technical achievement, including:

AUTOTUNE

Aircraft were once limited to two or three channels because changing frequencies was difficult. Art invented "Autotune," an automatic, multi-channel system adopted by airlines, then outfitted on thousands military aircraft.

Single Sideband

When the US Strategic Air Command could not communicate worldwide on High Frequency (HF), Art pioneered Single Sideband (SSB), which multiplied transmitter power. Today it's standard on long-range aircraft.

UHF

The company developed practical UHF transceivers, opening a large radio spectrum for military aircraft.

Flight Director

Art leaped ahead with the flight director, which combines several instruments into a single display---reducing pilot workload and improving situational awareness. It also increased utility of the autopilot by computing and executing maneuvers. Still in use, the flight director is the forerunner of today's glass cockpit.

Many Others

The company introduced scores of early circuit improvements such as the permeability-tuned oscillator and mechanical filter for stability and narrow bandwidth. Collins supplied radios for the astronauts and TV images from the moon. Its early data communications systems foretold the Internet.

This is not only the story of avionics over the last half-century. It's also about the people, the politics and economics of the company. The author relates where decisions went wrong, as well as how Collins gained a remarkable worldwide reputation.

The Author

After a career in journalism, Ben Stearns was employed by Collins Radio for 15 years. He worked with many people described in the book. In 2003 Ben received the distinguished IEEE book award in Seattle.

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