Winner
of the IEEE
2002 Award for distinguished literary
contribution
Contents
1 - Teen-age Radio Wizard
2 - Survival and Growth
3 - War Time Boom
4- Triumphs and Tragedy
5 - How He Worked
6 - Cedar Rapids Impact
7 - Spreading Out to Dallas
9 - Amateur Champion
10 - Single Sideband
11 - Collins Radio and Space
12 - Broadcast Years
13 - Always the Disputed Boss
14 - Perot Saga
15 - C-System
16 - When Things Went Downhill
17 - Arthur A Collins, Inc.
18 - Unique People
19 - Arthur's Legacy
Arthur
Collins
Radio
Wizard
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
Ben Stearns
IEEE book award in Seattle.