BVLOS Solutions for UAS & UAM: Fuel Cells, Radar, Navigation Sensors, Flight Control & SATCOM

Honeywell is a global leader in unmanned aviation technologies, creating innovative capabilities that power the next generation of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/drones). Leveraging a century of proven pedigree and experience in the aerospace and defense sectors, we develop state-of-the-art solutions for drone autonomy, propulsion, connectivity, and more.

Capabilities for Small UAS

Our technology is shaping the future of commercial sUAS flight, providing the capabilities required to seamlessly integrate autonomous and BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) drones into national airspaces around the world. Honeywell has been supporting aviation operators with our global support and fleet management services for a hundred years, and we are highly experienced with the modern certification and regulation issues facing today’s UAV industry pioneers. We have partnered with a wide range of leading drone companies, working with them to create cutting-edge unmanned aviation solutions. Use cases include:

• Inertial navigation systems for Aeroscout’s high-accuracy mapping and surveying UAVs
• Powering LiDAR USA’s digital mapping drones with our advanced navigation sensors
• Providing NASA with a detect-and-avoid radar for national airspace integration tests
• SATCOM systems for Carbonix’ long-range drone platforms.

We are working to solve challenges and accelerate the development of the heavy-lift drones of the future, enabling applications such as UAM (Urban Air Mobility) and long-range cargo delivery.

Our proven hydrogen fuel cell technology enables fixed-wing and multirotor drone platforms to fly for up to three times longer, providing a superior energy-to-weight ratio to batteries while producing only water as emissions. Available in 600-watt and 1200-watt versions, our liquid-cooled H2 fuel cells need no recharging, requiring only simple connection of a carbon fiber hydrogen storage tank. They provide excellent performance at a wide range of temperatures and at high altitudes, and are virtually noise-free. Honeywell’s drone fuel cells are used around the world in a variety of demanding applications, including ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance), search and rescue, law enforcement, and inspection.

Compact INS & GPSDome

Resilient GPS-denied navigation suite for UAVs

Our UAV navigation suite combines our Compact Inertial Navigation System with the GPSdome anti-jammer to ensure robust performance even in GNSS-denied scenarios such as deliberate jamming and urban canyons. The tactical-grade Compact INS provides centimeter-level accuracy in a low-SWaP package, and incorporates a 4G LTE modem for RTK corrections. It can be tightly integrated with Pixhawk-based drone autopilots, and offers plug-and-play integration with a wide variety of multirotor and fixed-wing UAV platforms.

Compact Fly-By-Wire System

FBW flight control system for UAS & UAM

The Compact Fly-By-Wire system provides an electronic replacement for manual flight controls, and is ideal for unmanned aircraft and UAM platforms requiring the utmost in safety and performance. The lightweight unit offers more flexibility for aircraft designers, as well as fuel savings and reduced maintenance requirements.

Featuring a triple-redundant architecture, the FBW flight control system ensures that control is seamlessly transferred to another channel in the event of any possible failure. Turbulence and wind is automatically adjusted for, providing superior stability and enabling high-precision takeoff and landing.

VersaWave SATCOM Terminal

UAV SATCOM solution for BVLOS & real-time video streaming

VersaWave is the lightest and most compact SATCOM system on the market. Based on Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband services, it provides always-on BVLOS connectivity for UAVs, UGVs and USVs operating anywhere in the world. The low-SWaP system enables users to receive real-time streaming video and data from the vehicle’s cameras and payloads. Weighing just 2.2 lbs, it is capable of speeds of up to 200kbps, enabling advanced UAV and unmanned systems missions to be undertaken at unlimited distances from their operators.

HGuide MEMS Inertial Sensor Systems

High-performance IMUs and INS for UAVs & robotics

We are the world leader in high-performance IMUs (inertial measurement units) and INS (inertial navigation systems), and our ITAR-free HGuide family of inertial sensors provides a range of options to suit the needs of any drone or robotics application. Our state-of-the-art inertial sensors provide vibration and motion compensation for robotic vehicles and stabilization for antennas and UAV payloads, and are used to ensure continued navigation capabilities even during GNSS-denied conditions such as in urban canyons and tunnels and under bridges and dense vegetation.

Civitanavi Systems by Honeywell

Inertial navigation & stabilization systems for UAVs, UGVs & USVs

The Civitanavi Systems portfolio of high-performance inertial sensor solutions offers a range of options for high-performance UAV, UGV and USV requirements. The ITAR-free sensors utilize advanced sensor fusion algorithms and FOG and MEMS technologies to deliver ultra-reliable navigation, positioning and stabilization capabilities even in GNSS-denied environments. The mission-critical sensors are designed to exacting military-grade standards, including MIL-STD-810F and MIL-STD-461F, and DO-178 and DO-254 for UAV/aerospace systems.

UAV Ground Control Station

Advanced GCS for eVTOL unmanned aircraft

Honeywell has developed a ground control station for eVTOL drones and UAM (urban air mobility platforms) that supports advanced BVLOS operations and integration of drones into civil airspace via services such as UTM (unmanned traffic management) and U-space. The dual-display GCS enables real-time data exchange with different ATM and UTM systems, and provides a range of critical features including dynamic flight plan updates, ground-based detect-and-avoid, and the ability to automatically divert unmanned aircraft during unexpected situations such as communications link loss or airspace emergencies. The system has been successfully demonstrated during tests undertaken as part of the EU’s SESAR Joint Undertaking OperA (Operate Anywhere) project consortium and U-ELCOME Digital Sky Demonstration project.