Honeywell’s Air Data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS) was has been selected as the standard inertial reference system for the Airbus A320, A330/A340 and A380 families, the company announced Friday.
The ADIRS provides critical flight control and navigation information to multiple aircraft systems by autonomously tracking aircraft motion. Honeywell said the system’s navigation accuracy is a key component for next-generation air traffic management capabilities, enabling more direct routing and flying precise satellite-based navigation approaches to airports to reduce flight delays and fuel costs.
"Airbus operators can save more than $15,000 per aircraft annually in maintenance and fuel costs with Honeywell’s ADIRS," said Justin Ryan, vice president of Airbus, Honeywell Aerospace. "When compared to competing systems, Honeywell’s ADIRS has more than two times the reliability, averaging 40,000 hours of service, and weighs 39 pounds less."
Three Air Data Inertial Reference Units (ADIRU) each comprise three ring laser gyros and three quartz accelerometers to accurately sense aircraft position and attitude. By integrating data from the inertial sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS), ADIRS provides automatic initialization, faster align times and 100 percent availability of Required Navigation Performance approaches.