PHOENIX, 22 Aug. 2012.Honeywell (NYSE:HON) has updated its IntuVue 3-D Weather Radar with new capabilities for detecting turbulence, hail, and lightning up to 10 minutes in advance of approaching storm cells in the flight path of the aircraft.
The radar upgrade better equips flight crews to anticipate and avoid hail, lightning, turbulence, and other severe weather to avoid potential aircraft damage and to keep flights on time and passengers safe. With IntuVue 3-D, pilots can better predict whether storms in their flight path will deliver hail, lightening, turbulence, or other threats.
"The IntuVue was designed from the ground up to provide pilots with superior information about the location of true weather threats, such as hail and lightning, relative to their aircraft. The much simplified weather information and radar operation results in reduced pilot workload levels compared to other radar systems, thus allowing the flight crew to focus on flying the aircraft safely," explains Dr. Ratan Khatwa, senior chief engineer — Human Factors, Honeywell Aerospace.
The IntuVue weather radar’s predictive hail and lightning system uses complex algorithms that analyze data captured from constant scanning by the radar, from ground level to 60,000 feet and out to 320 nautical miles (nm). Weather is shown in a unique color pattern (red for most severe, yellow for moderately severe, green for less severe, magenta for turbulence) on a display screen, enabling a pilot to know more precisely what is around the aircraft.
The device runs the captured data through new algorithms, identifies storm cells that have the characteristics of hail and lightning, and displays a hail or lightning icon on top of the respective storm, providing pilots a clear view of where the severe weather is in relation to the plane.
Its turbulence detection range of 60 nm affords pilots more time to reroute or initiate turbulence-avoidance procedures.
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IntuVue can reduce the cost of operation through greater aircraft reliability, lower fuel costs with the use of smart flight paths, and reduce maintenance cost by avoiding storms that could damage a plane.
Honeywell's REACT system delivers a visible alert on the radar screen when the radar signal is losing strength, showing pilots how far out from the aircraft the radar is losing strength and at what direction.
Inclement weather accounts for nearly 70 percent of all aircraft delays and cost the U.S. economy more than $18 billion in 2008, according to FAA reports. Turbulence-related incidents cost airlines, on average, approximately $200,000 per incident, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The IntuVue 3-D Weather Radar is available on a wide range of commercial, business, and military applications. IntuVue has received its first FAA Supplemental Type Certification (STC) approval and is certified to the FAA's new enhanced Minimum Operational Performance Standard (MOPS).
The new upgrade will initially be offered to customers as a retrofit option on Boeing 737-NG aircraft. Honeywell is working with OEMs on further international certifications and forward-fit options for all platforms certified to use the IntuVue 3-D radar system, which include the B777, B737, A320, A330, A340, A350, A380, and Gulfstream G650 aircraft.
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