Over the last month-and-a-half Honeywell has been giving the trade and general press firsthand demos of the most recent version of its developmental synthetic-vision system (SVS) about to start serious flight trials with Gulfstream in the G550. AIN was among the first group of journalists offered the chance to try out the technology, on a night flight in mid-September in the avionics maker’s Citation V test airplane. Although this was only a prototype of the integrated primary flight display (IPFD) system presented on the Citation’s comparatively cramped eight- by 10-inch primary flight displays, all the crucial elements were there, Honeywell promised. The real thing, however, will be shown on the big 14.1-inch-diagonal Gulfstream PlaneView displays in the G550 and other top models, for what is sure to be an even more impressive presentation.
For those seeing it for the first time, “impressive” is the word that probably best describes the IPFD concept. Where Chelton Flight Systems’ FlightLogic synthetic-vision system (the industry’s first certified SVS) presents a fairly elementary view of the world ahead, the Honeywell integrated display system is a more compelling and true-to-life presentation. Hills and mountains in the Honeywell cockpit are recreated with illusory depth and texture cues that include an azure sky projecting a perfect, daylight VFR world, except for a thin haze far in the distance that only adds to the realism.
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