During #FsExpoFriday, the director and founder of Kav Simulations, James Kavanagh, took to the main stage to present their newest piece of hardware for flight simulation. LED Airport Displays is an electronic display that lets the user visualize the movement of real and virtual air traffic at major airports around the world in real time. Five important airports will be initially available for purchase: Heathrow (EGLL), Innsbruck (LOWI), Schiphol (EHAM), Munich (EDDM), and Las Vegas (KLAS). Future airports will become available to increase the variety of these displays.
Overview of The Product
This equipment is a PCB board featuring hand-drawn airport layouts. The layouts are meticulously designed to accurately reflect the airport, complete with distinct colored LEDs for parking areas, taxiways, and runways. Each airline is assigned a specific color on the board, and their positions are represented by illuminated LEDs. There’s a button for seamlessly switching between real traffic and VATSIM traffic data. You can easily display it on a frame, wall, or your desk.
How Do LED Airport Displays Work?
The LED Airport Displays were designed to be very user-friendly. Installation of this board is straightforward and doesn’t require any expertise according to the presentation. The heart of the display is the Universal Control Board. This unit is easily swappable between boards so you only would need one for multiple airports. The user only needs to connect it to the board and automatically will detect the airport. You need a WI-FI connection to download the data into the Universal Control Board.
Live Demonstration
A live demonstration of the product was performed during the presentation on-stage. The airport showcased was Las Vegas Harry Reid Airport, being the nearest airport to where FSExpo is currently happening. The developer showcased both real and VATSIM traffic on the board. The data received by the board is completely free. You can however have access to an optional premium subscription with perks like a higher refresh rate of data or changing the colors of airlines on the board. The prices of these subscriptions were not shared.
The LED Airport Displays are now available for pre-purchase on the Kav Simulations website. The displays have a cost of £179.99. The Universal Control Board sells separately for £100. According to Kev Simulations, shipments of the LED Airport Displays start within 4-6 weeks. This was all that was presented by Kav Simulations on Friday at FSExpo 2024. You can follow our special coverage of FSExpo 2024 here.
