Honeywell, long involved in avionics and other aviation-related instrumentation and equipment, has created an entire, new business unit devoted to unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and urban air mobility (UAM). If any indication is necessary to show that urban air is not a passing fad, it’s the investments being made by major entities – from Toyota to Honeywell, from NASA to Mercedes. Honeywell’s contributions to future UAM flight include avionics – devices that combine aviation with electronics. Honeywell’s portfolio includes a miniaturized fly-by-wire system, electromechanical actuators to take the place of traditional control cables and pushrods, and systems to help integrate the UAM into existing and future air traffic control systems. These systems will work for electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) machines or more conventional fixed-wing configurations, represented by Tine’ Tomazic from Pipistrel in the following video. Multi-rotor craft can benefit from Honeywell’s lightweight auto-pilot and fly-by-wire systems. Integration into the overall aircraft enables precise control and the ability …
