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| IAI Heron UAS. Photo: SSGT REYNALDO RAMON, USAF |
[Avionics Today 07-11-2016] Honeywell is partnering with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to jointly develop a sense-and-avoid capability for IAI’s Heron family of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Selected for funding from the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, the companies will demonstrate the system for the first time on the Heron Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance (MALE) UAS platform in 2018.
“Sense-and-avoid solutions do not currently exist for UASs to operate in a national civilian airspace. With more manned and unmanned vehicles entering that airspace, the need for sense-and-avoid is increasing,” said Carey Smith, president of defense and space at Honeywell Aerospace.
Honeywell and IAI will conduct the demonstrations and flight tests planned for mid-2018 on the IAI Heron 1 UAS. The development work will be executed in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Minneapolis; and Redmond, Washington, as well as in Tel Aviv, Israel. Flight testing will take place in Israeli airspace. The work aims to set the foundation for safe operation and integration of unmanned aircraft in civilian airspace as well as contribute to policies and procedures allowing for certification of avionics and platform systems.