Product Code Database
Rockwell Collins, Inc. was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Company, facing financial difficulties, was purchased by Rockwell International in 1973. In 2001, the avionics division of Rockwell International was spun off to form the current Rockwell Collins, Inc., retaining its name.
It was acquired by United Technologies Corporation on November 27, 2018, and since then operates as part of Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of the RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies).
In 1936, Collins had begun production of the 12H audio console, 12X portable field announcers box, and the 300E and 300F broadcast transmitters. Throughout World War II, the 212A1 and 212B1 replaced the 12H design. Collins became the principal supplier of radio and navigation equipment used in the military.
In the postwar years, the Collins Radio Company expanded its work in the communications field, while broadening its technology into flight-control instruments, radio-communication devices, and satellite voice transmissions. Collins Radio Company provided communications for the United States' role in the Space Race, including equipment for astronauts to communicate with earth stations and equipment to track and communicate with spacecraft. Collins communications equipment was used for Projects Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Project Apollo.
In 1973, the U.S. Skylab program used Collins equipment to provide communication from the astronauts to Earth.
On April 28, 2000, Rockwell International Corp and its Rockwell Collins unit agreed to acquire Sony Corp's Sony Trans Com (Irvine, California) for undisclosed terms. Sony had purchased the business from Sundstrand Corporation in 1989. On December 20, 2000, Rockwell Collins expanded its services to commercial and executive aviation in Mercosur countries.
The company had acquired several companies, including Hughes-Avicom's in-flight entertainment business (1998), Sony Trans Com (2000), Intertrade Ltd., Flight Dynamics, K Systems, Inc. (Kaiser companies), Communication Solutions, Inc., Airshow, Inc. (2002), NLX (Simulation Business) in 2003, portions of Evans & Sutherland, Teldix, IP Unwired, Anzus Inc. in 2006, Information Technology and Applications Corp in 2007, Athena Technologies, Datapath Inc. (divested in 2014), SEOS Displays Ltd., Air Routing International in 2010, Computing Technologies for Aviation (CTA) in 2011, ARINC in 2014, and BE Aerospace in 2017.
The company was among the major suppliers of in-flight entertainment (IFE). Rockwell Collins' key competitors in this industry included Panasonic Avionics Corporation, Thales Group, and JetBlue's IFE subsidiary LiveTV, which was later purchased by Thales in 2014 for $400 million.
In 2010, the company employed over 20,000 people and had an annual turnover of US dollar4.665 billion. Its nonexecutive chairman was Anthony Carbone following the retirement of Clayton M. Jones. In September 2012, Robert Ortberg was appointed as president of the company. In August 2013, Kelly Ortberg was appointed CEO of Rockwell Collins.
In 1939, the model 12 Speech Input Console, in addition to the 26C limiter amplifier, was licensed to Canadian Marconi Co. for both sales in Canada and His Majesty's Service for the war effort. Collins' success in constructing broadcast transmitters continued to grow, selling well over a thousand up to the start of World War II. During World War II, Collins' expertise grew in high-power transmitters, producing designs that ran well over 15 kilowatts (kW) of RF power on a continuous basis. After the war, some AM transmitters were produced, called the 300G, and remain the finest in low-power AM transmitters (300W) ever produced.
Collins remained an important manufacturer of AM and FM broadcast radio transmitters for the commercial market surviving the drastic cost-cutting market of the 1960s and 1970s. The transmitter line was later sold to Continental Electronics, which continued to produce a number of Collins designs under its own nameplate before phasing them out in the 1980s.
After World War II, Collins supported both broadcast and the growing postwar amateur radio market. The United States Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Courier was employed as seagoing relay station for Voice of America programming using two Collins 207B-1 transmitters.U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Courier. United States Coast Guard. 2010-06-04. URL:http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Courier_WAGR410_Photos.asp . Accessed: 2010-06-04. (Archived by WebCite at)
Amateur radio transmitters included the 32V-1, -2, and -3, the KWS-1, and the rack-mounted KW-1.
With the experience gained in the design of the 75A-1, Collins released the 51J-1 receiver, a general-coverage HF set covering to. It was produced in somewhat updated versions (51J-2, 51J-3, 51J-4) for about a decade. It was known as the R-388 and was used in multiple receiver diversity radioteletype installations.
The 75A amateur line was updated throughout the early , finishing with the 75A-4, which was released in 1955. The Collins mechanical filter was introduced to consumers in the 75A-3, and the 75A-4 was one of the first receivers marketed specifically as a single sideband receiver. Around 1950, Collins began designing the R-390 () for the US military. This was intended to be a receiver of the highest performance available, with the ruggedness and serviceability required for military duty. It featured direct mechanical digital frequency readout. The set is composed of several modules for easy field repair—a bad module could simply be swapped out and repaired later, or junked. Sets built during the original 1951 contract cost the government about () each, and around 16,000 were produced.
Concurrently, Collins developed the R-389, a long-wave version with fewer than 1,000 made. The R-391, another variant of the R-390, allowed choice of eight different autotuned channels.
Three years later, Collins delivered the R-390A to the military. About 54,000 were produced and the set was a military workhorse until the . Like the R-390, it can outperform many modern radios, to the point that it was designated top secret until the late .
In 1958, Collins replaced the 75A series with the much smaller 75S series, part of the S/Line. These featured mechanical filters, very accurate frequency readout, and excellent stability. At the request of the US government, Collins designed the 51S-1 general-coverage set, which was essentially (in intended use) a physically smaller replacement for the 51J series. It was not intended as a replacement for the higher-performance R-390A, and unlike the R-390A, it was extensively marketed for commercial use.
Collins produced a few high-performance solid-state receivers in the , such as the 651S-1. Like their Vacuum tube predecessors, these are coveted by collectors today.
The 75S-1 receiver and 32S-1 transmitter, comprising the heart of the S/Line, operated separately or together to transceive. The units included crystal and a new compact design that provided stable, highly linear tuning across 200 kHz Frequency range. The S/Line tuning-dial mechanism was unique when introduced. It used concentric dials and a gear mechanism that provided precise dial resolution, better than 1 kHz.
Within a few years, Collins had introduced additional S/Line components, including the 30S-1 kilowatt power amplifier, the 30L-1 desktop power amplifier, and the 62S-1 transverter, which provided coverage of the 6-m (50 MHz) and 2-m (144 MHz) amateur bands. The KWM-2 transceiver replaced the KWM-1 using many of the S/Line's design features and matching its styling. Other accessories included speakers, microphones, and control consoles.
Illustrating the uniqueness of their new, smaller units in the market, Collins advertisements in the 1950s and early 1960s emphasized the S/Line's physical styling and size, as often as they did its performance.WA3KEY Virtual Collins Radio Museum, “Advertisement Archive”
Collins continued to improve the S/Line, first introducing the S-2, then the S-3 units, the 75S-3 (and -3A, -3B and -3C) receiver, and the 32S-3 and -3A transmitters. The -3A and -3C units were identical to the -3 and -3B units, respectively, except they provided an extra set of heterodyne oscillator crystals, enabling them to cover extra bands – useful for military, amateur and MARS operation, where operation just outside the regular amateur bands was necessary.
Among amateur radio operators, the S/Line established its reputation as perhaps the most solidly engineered equipment available, and the most costly. As a result, S/Line equipment, and the A-Line and other predecessors, are restored, prized, and operated on the air by collectors today.
Collins continued to produce the S/Line well into the late 1970s, and after its acquisition by Rockwell.
In 1978, with the move to solid-state design, the S/Line came to an end after a two-decade production run. The KWM-380 transceiver was introduced the next year, a break with the past both in its use of transistors and digital technology, and its styling. It was Collins' final entry in the amateur radio market until it was discontinued in the mid-1980s.WA3KEY Virtual Collins Radio Museum, “Collins Amateur Equipment”
Rockwell Collins filed for regulatory approval for its intended acquisition of B/E Aerospace, before the Philippine Competition Commission, since the latter has a branch in the Philippines operating a manufacturing plant in Tanauan, Batangas.
As a result of the acquisition, a newly created direct or indirect subsidiary of Rockwell, Quarterback Merger Sub Corp., merged with and into B/E Aerospace, with the latter surviving the merger as a direct or indirect subsidiary of Rockwell Collins.
The CS division services the commercial airline industry and business aircraft, providing navigation, communication, synthetic vision, other cockpit products such as autoland , and cabin products such as in-flight entertainment. The GS division services primarily the US government and military, but also provides some products and services to foreign governments with close ties to the United States. Notable government-related projects that Rockwell Collins has involvement with are Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS), Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT), Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR), and Future Combat Systems. The I&SS division is an amalgamation of International Business organization, whose responsibility is sales, engineering, and human resources of personnel outside of North America, and Service Solutions, which provides support services such as customer support, simulation and training, and technical publications. I&SS provides a common service to both CS and GS divisions, and its formation was announced on the Rockwell Collins press release web page on February 19, 2010.
Groups of Collins users have also organized meetings, gatherings at , and regularly scheduled on-air discussions called nets.
|
|
