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On the Record With
DEAN FLAT, PRESIDENT & CEO, HONEYWELL AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS
SYSTEMS
Honeywell is investing heavily in research and development of new technology, especially software, as it aims to build on the success of Primus Epic in high-end business jets and its latest contract awards on the Airbus A380 and Boeing 7E7.
Dean Flatt, president & CEO, told ShowNews that the company has been investing 17% of air transport sales in research and development for the past two years and will boost that figure to 22% next year. Investment in R & D for business and regional airline markets has been declining a bit from the low 20% area last year to 20% this year and the high teens next year. Even a computer company like Microsoft doesn't spend that much, but pharmaceutical companies do, Flatt said.
One objective in this research effort is to improve software development processes so that problems can be caught and fixed early on. "That's the key with software," Flatt said, adding that software is developed in a matrix that runs from requirements to systems definition to code writing, and there is potential for mistakes all along the way. Software programs, simulation and testing help root out the problems.
Honeywell naturally takes advantage of all of the software process best practices available from the Defense Department's Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Two Honeywell locations have already achieved the new Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) standard Level 5, the highest rank for software development in an integrated engineering environment. Three more are likely to achieve that level by the end of the year, according to Flatt.
Software has been rising in importance in avionics for decades, but the latest wrinkle is that Honeywell is now introducing new products that consist entirely of software additions to existing hardware installations, Flatt noted. Such products have a better chance of early acceptance in a cash-strapped airline industry that would be reluctant to add new hardware for a separate avionics function.
For example, Honeywell's new Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) piggybacks on the company's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) hardware and uses the same database. The company has delivered more than 30,000 EGPWS systems, all of which are now candidates for the software option that would allow a runway awareness system to work on equipment designed for terrain avoidance. Alaska Airlines has just selected the RAAS system for its fleet of 108 Boeing 737s and MD-80s and other airline orders are expected to follow soon. Although the FAA certified it only this year, there are already more than 100 business jets flying with RAAS.
And the Airbus Environment Surveillance System (AESS) combines the functions of a weather radar, a traffic alert and collision avoidance system, all in one computer run by one software program to reduce weight.
At Farnborough Honeywell will be providing details on its new RDR-4000 digital weather radar for the Airbus A380. The "clean sheet" radar represents a major departure from first generation digital radars and it has been the object of a "massive design effort," said Flatt. Airbus is evaluating the new radar for use on other aircraft in its family, American Airlines has selected it for retrofit on its Boeing fleet, and the U.S. Air Force has opted for RDR-4000 retrofit of its C-17 Globemaster III fleet, bringing the total value of the program to $100 million so far.
The Honeywell Aerospace Electronics business headed by Flatt has annual sales of $4 billion, with each of three units (Air Transport; Business/Regional/General Aviation; and Defense and Space Electronics) contributing about a third of the revenue.
—David Hughes
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