Honeywell has partnered with a major semiconductor provider as part of a plan to equip its avionics systems with increasingly advanced degrees of automation and artificial intelligence.
The aerospace company and Dutch firm NXP Semiconductors are working together on such products, with Honeywell saying it aims to “chart the path for autonomous flight” with “AI-driven aerospace technology”.
NXP, a top supplier of semiconductors to the automotive industry, already provides the processors for Honeywell’s new Anthem avionics system, which it is developing for the burgeoning air taxi market.
Anthem uses the firm’s i.MX 8 processor avionics system, which the aerospace company revealed in 2021 and which remains in development. Early Anthem adopters include electric air taxi developer Vertical Aerospace, which chose the avionics package for its VX4 prototype.
Honeywell envisions expanding Anthem to other aircraft types, including large jets. Autonomy is core to the company’s vision for Anthem.
Honeywell said on 8 January it has agreed to collaborate further with NXP for the purpose of introducing more-advanced avionics in the years ahead. The firms disclosed their plans at the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.
“Our view was to bring avionics closer to the autonomous world,” says Honeywell chief technology officer (CTO) Suresh Venkatarayalu.
The firms are charting a five-to-ten year roadmap for avionics development, he adds, noting that future products will have larger, higher-resolution displays and be equipped with advanced “assistant technologies”. Such technologies might include “digital copilots” and new navigation, auto-taxi and pilot-supervision systems, says Venkatarayalu.
“We think that the path to autonomy starts with things like single-pilot operations and… bringing in more assisted technology to pilots.”
Honeywell and NXP decline to specify financial details about the partnership
NXP CTO Lars Reger says his firm’s experience with high-volume processor production for automobiles positions it well to supply the aerospace sector. He calls NXP and Honeywell “powerhouses” in their respective markets and says NXP’s processors can enable high levels of automation and artificial intelligence.
Honeywell now says it intends to use “a variety of NXP processors” in future avionics.