Honeywell has been selected to provide two new systems for the Airbus A380 super jumbo, bringing its total number of contract wins on the aircraft to five.
The company (Hall A/712) will now supply the Secondary Electric Power Distribution System (SEPDS) and an integrated safety and surveillance system called the Aircraft Environment Surveillance System (AESS) that incorporates protection from terrain, traffic and weather. The total contract is estimated to be worth $710 million over a 15-year period, including follow-on sales of spares and other aftermarket business.
Opportunity
Bob Johnson, president and chief executive of Honeywell Aerospace, terms the contract wins "an honour and opportunity for us to introduce and deliver the advanced technology solutions Airbus and our industry expects for the 21st century."
The A380 will be the first commercial aircraft to incorporate a Solid State Power Control (SSPC)-based SEPDS. It uses programmable SSPC devices in place of traditional electromechanical circuit breaker technology, providing benefits to the aircraft in terms of load management, fault isolation, diagnostic health monitoring, and improved flexibility to accommodate modifications and system upgrades.
The baseline SEPDS will manage 1,500 loads with spare growth capacity to accommodate the control of more than 2,000 loads. The SSPC technology was specially developed by Honeywell over the last three years to meet such applications and was refined to satisfy Airbus's specific requirements on the A380.
Delivery of the first flight hardware is scheduled for January 2004 and the first production equipment by August 2005.
The AESS will incorporate the functions of Honeywell's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), its next-generation Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) combined with Mode-S Transponder capability, and next-generation weather radar system.
"Honeywell has led the avionics industry in the design of these flight safety systems," says Frank Daly, president, Air Transport, Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems.
"Now, by integrating these functions into a single system, situational awareness is enhanced with improved surveillance displays, conflicting alerts are coordinated and prioritised, parts counts are reduced, overall reliability is increased and overall weight and size are reduced."
Display
The AESS will communicate with other A380 avionics through the A380 AFDX Ethernet bus, allowing high-resolution display images.
Each A380 will be equipped with a fully redundant AESS. The first AESS prototype will be delivered to Airbus in February 2004.
The three previously selected Honeywell programmes for the A380 include the next generation Flight Management System (FMS), the Electromechanical Thrust Reverser Actuation System (E-TRAS) in partnership with Snecma Control Systems and the pneumatic system on the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine.
Source: Flight Daily News
