Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems president Dean Flatt is focussing on three main areas at Farnborough: precision guidance, safety avionics and integrated avionics systems.
"Precision guidance is a cornerstone business for us," he says. "We were a leader in inertial navigation in the military and commercial arenas and are now leading the next generation, which is micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS).
"By 2003-04 we are going to be integrating these into new munitions programmes and we're currently capturing every new programme we enter. It will be used on small diameter bomb for the USAF, the extended range guided munitions (ERGM) for the US Navy and we are looking at precision-guided bombs in the UK too," Flatt says.
Gyro
"Honeywell led with the ring-laser gyro and we are now increasing our capacity dramatically with MEMS from 1,200 units a month this year to almost 3,000 a month by the end of next year. What I like about it is the great sales environment for us and it allows us to do what we do best – develop new technology."
In terms of safety, Honeywell is moving along with its enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) retro-fit mandates and is also working on new technologies for clear air turbulence detection and wake vortex detection.
The Honeywell EGPWS will also soon feature runway incursion alerts. "This technology can warn pilots if they are on taxiways or closed runways and will be featured at the show," Flatt says.
Honeywell's Primus Epic integration programme has been very popular in the regional jet and business jet markets. The programme has only been active for about 18 months, but the company is close to achieving certification with many customers – Gulfstream being the first.
Primus Epic is available on 13 aircraft and provides integrated avionics, utilities and fly-by-wire capabilities depending on customer requirements. "What we are striving for is a decreased pilot workload and better flight and data awareness," says Flatt.
Honeywell is also working with Airbus to integrate its safety systems, including traffic alert collision avoidance system (TCAS), EGPWS and weather radar. Two boxes and a single control panel will soon be able to handle all the individual functions.
"A380 is the first programme for integration," says Flatt, "But the development will be rolled out to other airframes in due course. It reduces the cost tremendously."
Attacks
Honeywell could also offer solutions to prevent terrorist attacks such as the 11 September attack on the World Trade Center. Flatt says an auto-avoid system for fly-by-wire aircraft could prevent a building collision by overriding the pilot's commands and steering the aircraft away from danger.
"The issue is whether airlines would wish to spend money on such a system," Flatt says. "The emphasis so far has been on ground-base deterrents such as imcreased airport security – the aircraft manufacturers are very aware of what we could do, but nobody is asking for it at the moment."
Source: Flight Daily News