By Richard Bond

Digital technology has the potential to greatly enhance the accuracy and manageability of flight data recording while significantly lowering the cost. Until recently, however, users have not been able to fully realize the benefits of digital technology, because of the absence of a widely accepted standard.

During the first generation of digital recording products, individual manufacturers developed their own proprietary solutions without any means for interoperability and data interchange. Each type of flight recorder required its own custom analysis platform. This lack of flexibility prevented users from taking complete advantage of advancements in technology and competition between vendors.