Honeywell has successfully completed the first flight of its Honeywell Anthem integrated flight deck using Honeywell's Pilatus PC-12 test aircraft. Although Honeywell Anthem has been in flight test for more than a year and has accumulated more than 120 hours of flight time, this flight was the first managed by the next-generation avionics.

First announced in late 2021, Honeywell Anthem draws on the company's deep aerospace experience and marks Honeywell's first cloud-connected cockpit system that can be customized for virtually every type of aircraft, from passenger and business aircraft to defense, general aviation and advanced air-mobility (AAM) vehicles.

The PC-12 aircraft was flown using Honeywell Anthem's fully integrated flight deck, which includes the display system and processing platform. The one-hour flight over the Phoenix area was flown by Ed Manning, pilot in command, and Bill Lee, co-pilot, and supported by Paul Carter, lead flight engineer, and Will Quinn, flight engineer.

Honeywell Anthem's core architectural system offers a 50% reduction in size, weight and power and greater installation flexibility when compared to Honeywell's Primus Epic integrated avionics system, which is already one of the most advanced aircraft cockpits in the world.

“This is a historic milestone as Honeywell Anthem is poised to change the way aircraft are piloted,” says Jim Currier, president, Electronic Solutions, Honeywell Aerospace. “Throughout the flight, the pilot and crew tested various aspects of the modular and customizable system, and it performed exactly as designed. Honeywell Anthem is simple, smart and intuitive, and it takes little to no time to feel comfortable with it. Moving forward, flight tests on the PC-12 aircraft and will focus on exercising the system in real-life operational scenarios that will provide critical feedback for robust final red-label designs.”

“Honeywell Anthem is breaking new ground in avionics design and the pilot-machine interface, with the goal of making pilots' jobs easier and safer and essentially allowing pilots to configure their own cockpit based on mission and phase of flight,” adds Ken Hurt, vice president, Engineering, Honeywell Anthem, Honeywell Aerospace. “This flight is a clear demonstration of the maturity of the Honeywell Anthem system and positions us strongly on a path toward achieving Federal Aviation Administration certification.”

Honeywell Anthem is the sixth generation of avionics developed by Honeywell, and the winner of the Good Design Award. Over the years, Honeywell has introduced several industry-leading innovations such as SmartView Synthetic Vision system (SVS), and Honeywell Anthem builds on that legacy with a new flight deck that has an intuitive user interface, unprecedented situational awareness that improves safety, unparalleled connectivity, and a modular and highly scalable design.

Honeywell has also unveiled VersaWave, a new small satcom system with 5G, for the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) industry. VersaWave combines satcom, cellular (i.e., 5G, 4G, 3G), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity in an extremely small, lightweight package. These new connectivity features enable beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) communication for the AAM and UAS industry in a very small and light package in its performance class.

At just 2.2 pounds, Honeywell's VersaWave with 5G is a hardware and software solution that not only combines multiple connectivity options in a single package, it also transitions between cellular and satcom seamlessly and automatically, providing reliable Inmarsat satcom connectivity when outside cellular coverage. The system's cellular capability includes high-speed 5G connectivity supporting low latency and high data transfers at a low cost whether on public or private networks. It also has onboard Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reporting for real-time position tracking.

“VersaWave significantly enhances our small satcom system introduced in 2021, and we expect it to be adopted not just by the AAM market but also defense and commercial customers,” says Steve Hadden, vice president and general manager, Services and Connectivity, Honeywell Aerospace. “By adding cellular connectivity, the new satcom system will provide customers with the flexibility to choose their connectivity solution based on individual needs without having to install multiple systems.”

VersaWave with 5G will enable vehicle command and control as well as data transfer and video streaming. The system is also Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled for remote configuration.

VersaWave with 5G is undergoing qualification and certification and is planned to be commercially available in the third quarter of 2023. Users of the current small satcom system can upgrade with minimal downtime of their AAM and UAS platforms.