TABLE OF CONTENTS Aviation must rank among the most important technological developments of the twentieth century. Like electronics, which is another pervasive discipline of science and technology that has had its birth and explosive growth during this century, aviation has had a radical effect on our lives, the profundity of which is of civilisational dimensions. Indeed, aviation has done to transportation what electronics has done to communication: shrink distances and time, and reduce the wide world to a global village .
Aviation and electronics have not been mutually exclusive developments. Except for a few initial years during which aeroplane makers struggled to understand the mechanical principles of flight and make flying machines using these principles, the two disciplines have grown hand in hand, with electronics aiding aviation in achieving higher levels of complexity and quality, and in turn benefiting from the impetus provided by aviation applications. The use of electronic devices and systems in aeroplanes and their associated operations is obvious to anyone having anything to do with aviation, including the common passenger, though it can safely be said that the actual role of electronics in modern aviation is far more pervasive and profound than meets the layman's eye. The reverse path of this symbiotic relationship, i.e. the beneficial effects of the developments in aviation on electronics is, however, generally not so well known.
The main reason that aviation and its allied activities have spurred developments in their related and supportive areas is the highly investment-intensive nature...
