Honeywell has unveiled a cloud-connected aircraft cockpit system, an industry-first according to the company. The Honeywell Anthem flight deck allows increasingly complex aircraft to function with more autonomy, and enables siloed systems that support an aircraft to work together more seamlessly to deliver critical information to pilots.

Honeywell Anthem supports growing levels of aircraft autonomy, leading to complete autonomous capabilities in the future as regulations allow. The new cockpit system depends heavily on improved connectivity across aircraft systems. Honeywell Anthem allows for data transfer such as maintenance status and flight plans without mechanics or pilots needing to be physically near the aircraft. It also allow transfer and integration of individual support systems such as fuel, maintenance, and catering without the need for third-party apps or websites. It relieves the pilot of the need to integrate all this critical incoming information and then provide notifications to numerous support personnel prior to, during and after completing a flight.

Honeywell Anthem’s connectivity capabilities reduce pilots’ preflight preparation time, including wasted time in the cockpit, by up to 45-minutes per flight. Honeywell Anthem integrates with popular electronic flight bag planning applications to let pilots create, store and retrieve flight plans from anywhere. After pilots load the flight plan remotely, it will be ready when they arrive at the aircraft. Prior to engine start, flight deck set-ups are also faster because many routine tasks can be accomplished off board before getting to the aircraft.

The new cockpit system also provides service providers such as maintenance personnel and caterers with a higher level of visibility into real-time flight details. Prior to travelling to the airport, pilots can set up automatic notifications managed via the new Mission Manager function so that fuelling teams, ground transportation and caterers are aware of the mission plan, even if the plan has to change due to unexpected weather.

Honeywell Anthem’s smartphone-like interface is designed to be more intuitive and provides pilots and operations personnel with several capabilities that improve access to data. Pilots and operators can customise the layout of digital displays within the cockpit to their preference. Pilots can reconfigure a screen or cluster of information just like they would on their personal smart device. Honeywell Anthem uses visualisation and modern graphical and gesture-based methods, making the flight deck easier to use.

The new flight deck system reduces the potential for ground collisions, runway incursions and runway excursions by 50% with several features that provide pilots with greater situational awareness. Those features include the 3D Runway Overrun Alerting and Awareness System (ROASS) and 3D Airport Moving Maps. Honeywell Anthem also provides a track-based Synthetic Vision System, plus integrated navigation map and vertical situation display.

Honeywell Anthem integrates with Honeywell Forge, a software platform that includes in-air and on-ground solutions for flight operations, flight efficiency, and connected maintenance in a single user interface. This integration enables operators to make decisions about in-flight routing that save fuel and help avoid flight interruptions because of maintenance. Through the cockpit system, maintenance crews can be alerted hours ahead of landing and have necessary parts and personnel on hand to perform work on the aircraft and keep it in service. As a result, Honeywell Forge can help operators and OEMs reduce labor costs associated with managing their fleets by 10% to 15%.

In addition to use on general aviation aircraft, rotorcraft and business jets, Honeywell Anthem will be available to future aircraft platforms in the emerging AAM market segment. Honeywell Anthem has already been selected by Vertical Aerospace and Lilium for their vertical take-off and landing, all-electric aircraft, the VA-X4 and 7-Seater Lilium Jet, respectively.

“Honeywell is not just launching a new flight deck today — we are changing the way pilots operate aircraft and creating a more intuitive experience than ever,” said Mike Madsen, president and CEO, Honeywell Aerospace. “In the same way we moved from flip phones to smartphones, Honeywell Anthem will transform the pilot experience with customisable controls operated quickly and easily with a few swipes of the finger.”

“Everyone who touches a flight is able to get information that matters to them when they need it,” said Vipul Gupta, vice president and general manager, Avionics, Honeywell Aerospace. “The aircraft becomes accessible via the cloud computing infrastructure, and things like maintenance data, flight plans and overall aircraft status are stored automatically by the avionics or via ground-based applications used by support personnel. This means data is accessible by any authorised user from anywhere.”

“When you combine unprecedented connectivity and new features with our brand new, intuitive user interface that can be tailored to look and feel exactly how a pilot wants, you’ve got a truly game-changing system,” Gupta said. “Honeywell Anthem is going to bring us closer to our shared industry goals of better pilot experiences and more autonomous flight.”