Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
Honeywell plans to unveil its next-generation integrated-avionics system, the Primus Epic, at the National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) meeting in Orlando, Florida, in mid-November.
Hardware development, module building and testing begins in 1997, with software due to be run in 1998. Testing and certification are scheduled for late 1999, says Honeywell, which has proposals out for three "business and regional-aircraft" applications. These are believed to include the next-generation Hawker mid-sized business jet, due to be revealed by Raytheon at the NBAA and, possibly, the proposed Fairchild Dornier 328 turboprop derivative.
The Primus Epic has large flat-panel liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) driven by Honeywell-developed software called the Digital Engine Operating System (DEOS). The LCDs show flight information, weather data and aircraft utility systems and can be controlled with a Windows-like display, architecture using on-screen cursor control devices.
Honeywell's advanced avionics concept team began groundwork on what became the Epic in 1990 and "kicked off" DEOS development in 1994 when the US Federal Aviation Administration first became involved. After canvassing operators, aircrew and manufacturers it set itself three goals: to reduce acquisition cost by 30%, to cut size and weight by 40% and to reduce application cost by 50%. It is also aimed at improving despatch and overall reliability by 100%.
The system has a new "human-centred cockpit design" to make tasks easier and more intuitive, and features a voice-command system. The Epic suite has a head-up-display and an optional "pilot's personal assistant" which resembles a laptop computer and provides a plug-in interface with databases which also have electronic pilot's manuals, charts and maps.
The heart of the avionics architecture is a "virtual backplane" network which, blends the cabinet-based modular capabilities of the aircraft information-management system produced for the Boeing 777 with the aircraft-wide network capabilities of the Primus 2000. The virtual backplane allows all data to be available "globally" throughout the aircraft, eliminating many point-to-point wiring requirements.
Source: Flight International
