AIN Staff

Honeywell’s SmartView Lower Minimums (SVLM) must be able to show precisely where the aircraft is, without the use of additional navigation signals from transmitters on the ground, as well as tell the pilot when a system malfunction makes the lower-minimums approach unsafe. Honeywell uses five monitors to ensure the integrity of the system and the aircraft’s position.


* Runway-data-integrity monitor. “The current runway database in the FMS does not have the integrity to monitor itself,” said Honeywell engineer fellow Thea Feyereisen. Honeywell has an independent runway database (RAS) from its EGPWS. The SVLM compares these databases,” to make certain the runway-approach indicator (see box “SVLM Symbology”) is properly aligned with the runway.


* Delta-position monitor. One of the reasons LPV 200 approaches stop at 200 feet decision altitude is because it takes 6.2 seconds for the satellite to tell you it has a bad signal, Feyereisen said. “So your GPS signal can go bad and it’s going to take six seconds for the GPS to flag it,” she continued. “For a Category II approach, the time to alert is two seconds. So we developed a monitor based on our [Laseref] initial reference system [IRS]. The IRS uses pure inertial signals from the unit to calculate the error. We compare our IRS positions to the GPS position so that we can tell if the positions veer off from each other.” If this happens, a warning appears on the SVLM display telling the pilots they cannot go lower than 200 feet.


* Altitude monitor. Honeywell wants SVLM to be approved for both lower decision altitudes (DA, based on barometric altitude) and decision heights (DH, above the ground), which require a radar altimeter and a special survey. “We know pilots set the wrong barometric setting, or maybe the tower gives them a wrong baro setting,” Feyereisen said. “The altitude monitor compares altitude across three sources: barometric, GPS and radio altimeter versus terrain database. All must align to use 150 feet DA.”


* Virtual inner marker (VIM). “This is the missed-approach-point monitor, which is also a supplemental way to measure DA. So whether you reach your DA or the virtual inner marker, which measures the distance from the runway via GPS, your ‘minimums’ alert comes up,” said Feyereisen.


* Pilot monitor. This approach-deviation monitor makes sure the pilots are staying within a finely defined corridor on their approach path, and “will alert the crew to flight technical errors, or in other words, a poorly flown approach.” After seeing the alert, the pilots can continue the approach, but use the 200-foot DA or DH, instead of 150 feet, or fly a missed approach. “We try to follow the Cat II framework for procedures,” Feyereisen added.

New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.

Monitors Watch SmartView Lower Minimums 

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Amy Wilder

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Jet Access brings full-service approach to upgrade

Jet Access Completes Third Excel G5000 Retrofit

Jessica Reed

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

Move facilitates integrationinto AW139 fleets operating across Asia-Pacific

PAG To Distribute Honeywell RDR-7000 Radar in Asia

Charles Alcock

News, issues, personnel, equipment and developments about air traffic management.

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

Ailumina Vista visual traffic detection system could first be used on helicopters 

AI and Sensors Set to Boost Aircraft Situational Awareness 

Matt Thurber

News and issues about aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), covering all segments of the aviation industry; and modifications for aircraft and engines. Subjects include product support of aircraft, engines and avionics, MRO company mergers, acquisitions, announcements and personnel, Airworthiness Directives, Supplemental Type Certificate approvals and other topics.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Pilots report improved situational awareness with in-cockpit traffic display

Acron Aviation Demos SafeRoute+ ADS-B In Solutions

Kerry Lynch

Range of updates offered

Garmin Expands Navigation Database to South Pacific

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

NBAA Convention News 2013

More In Avionics

Jet Access Completes Third Excel G5000 Retrofit

Jet Access brings full-service approach to upgrade

PAG To Distribute Honeywell RDR-7000 Radar in Asia

Move facilitates integrationinto AW139 fleets operating across Asia-Pacific

AI and Sensors Set to Boost Aircraft Situational Awareness

Ailumina Vista visual traffic detection system could first be used on helicopters

Acron Aviation Demos SafeRoute+ ADS-B In Solutions

Pilots report improved situational awareness with in-cockpit traffic display

Garmin Expands Navigation Database to South Pacific

Range of updates offered

Joint Effort To Field Iridium-based GNSS-Denied Solution

System takes advantage of low-earth-orbit satellites’ stronger signals

FAA Certifies Universal Avionics Wi-Fi-enabled FMS Tech

Connected flight management system incorporates comprehensive security measures

FreeFlight and Collins Team Up on ADS-B Integration

STCs include Textron and Hawker aircraft

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN