US electronics giant Honeywell is making a bid to be the only big non-European player in Europe's future air traffic management programme SESAR.

Paolo Carmassi, president of Honeywell Aerospace for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India says the company is trying to shift its centre of gravity away from the USA, and will carry out research and manufacturing for SESAR projects in Europe.

Honeywell, says Carmassi, is prepared to invest in SESAR just as Eurocontrol and the European Commission are doing. The company, he says, is well placed to contribute to SESAR projects like 4D trajectory management (the fourth dimension is time), and the creation of a system-wide information network linking all players - airlines, aircraft, airports and air navigation service providers (ANSP) that will make the system instantly responsive to changing situations.

The company also hopes to be able to offer areas of expertise for which it is traditionally well known, like airborne separation assurance systems, surveillance, navigation and flight management systems. Its pre-eminence in enhanced ground proximity warning technology uses a combination of GPS navigation and a detailed terrain database that makes it well placed to assist with the development of required navigation performance systems, both en-route and terminal, says Carmassi.

Meanwhile Honeywell's new SmartPath ground-based augmentation system offers the prospect of category one GPS precision approaches, straight or curved, without the requirement for instrument landing systems.

Source: Flight Daily News

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