BMW iDrive automotive hid device in EFIS control

This paper describes usage of a BMW electronic system controller called iDrive to control the Electronic Flight Instrument System onboard of an airplane. In this work we analyzed properties of the BMW iDrive controller and its usability for aerospace applications in the area of small airplanes to control multiple display units. The automotive industry requires demanding certification procedures and the operation environment conditions are comparable to aerospace. The BMW unit is not the only one available on the market. We compare different automotive controllers and propose methods how to use these products for EFIS control. Usually the EFIS provides multiple knobs to set the internal parameters. In our work we bind the buttons and rotational knobs available on the iDrive controller to the EFIS menus and functions. We describe the design of the unit, its communication protocol, methods we used to get its operation data, methods how to interconnect the iDrive with the rest of the system and we propose a communication protocol which is used to share one controller on multiple EFIS systems. The EFIS system is briefly described in our paper. Last part of the paper deals with description of the test performed with help of the pilots in order to get an overview about the controller usability.