(Photo credit-"Davis Barber Photography")

Robert Severino, CEO of Dubbs & Severino, Inc.

Robert Severino, CEO of Dubbs & Severino, Inc., pictured here at California's Tustin Marine Base. Robert Severino created mapping software to help private airplane pilots avoid threatening conditions in a pilot's flight area.

Dubbs & Severino, Inc., an Irvine, California-based firm, has created a virtual window on the world through its Position Integrity^TM product line that includes TerrAvoid and Tactical Display. The products are the result of the Technology Affiliates Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Under a licensing agreement from JPL, GeoTIFF proved an ideal tool for Dubbs & Severino, allowing the firm to move forward on plans to develop low-cost software packages. The JPL-designed architecture was adapted by the private company, giving them a jump-start on their products' specific attributes. "JPL gave us a demonstration and opened up the red carpet. It was a match made in heaven," says company president Bob Severino.

The idea for mapping software to help private airplane pilots was spawned, in part, by tragedy. A fatal crash had taken the life of a pilot friend of Severino, and technology, he believed, could have helped avert the accident.

The software packages that resulted were designed primarily for military sponsors and are now positioned for consumer market placement. The software can be run on a battery-powered laptop. TerrAvoid is a terrain avoidance system that graphically maps out and highlights threatening conditions in a pilot's flight area. A map scrolls along, as in a video game, presenting a sweeping 360-degrees of view. Red areas indicate the tallest mountains, while safe sections are depicted in green. Proportions change in real-time as the pilot moves through hilly terrain. The software integrates GPS data with maps sourced from a CD-ROM.

The Tactical Display is computer software that also co-registers real-time GPS data with local maps on CD-ROM. It is a moving map that details the exact position of the pilot.

Incorporating the unique features of JPL's GeoTIFF, this software can be adapted to operate with any map, chart, or photo image in the world. Four windows can be displayed at once, a useful function for an aviator who simultaneously can scan maps, charts, photo images, and sketches at different scales and zoom levels.

These two Dubbs & Severino products bring the same features available in military and commercial jets to general aviation pilots, for one-twentieth the cost.