Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

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Honeywell (Booth C1329) is introducing at Heli-Expo 2018 its new Recon HUMS, the next generation of its health and usage monitoring system, with faster processing, new customization features, and the ability to more quickly send alerts and data via satcom to recipients on the ground in real time.

 


Recon can process data eight times faster than previous-generation Honeywell HUMS. “It reduces flight data acquisition time by 85 percent,” said Josh&nbsp;Melin, HUMS senior product line leader.

 


The greater processing power allows Recon to process data on board, instead of having to wait to download data or for data to be sent over relatively narrow-bandwidth satcom. “It can generate condition indicators to tell you the health of the aircraft from the data acquisition unit itself,” he explained. “This makes the system capable of sending real-time alerts on the health of the aircraft, not just regarding usage characteristic that we’re getting from bus data, which many competitors’ systems do, but also for vibration-monitoring data.” Recon can detect an exceedance, say a vibration limit, and send a text message, which takes up a small amount of bandwidth, to notify the operator quickly.

 


Another benefit of Recon’s increased speed and capacity is that it allows for more sensor inputs, so operators can monitor more parameters, and run more complex algorithms for processing sensor data. Honeywell is welcoming developers to develop third-party algorithms that can be hosted on Recon, Melin said, for example, military operators or rotorcraft OEMs.

 


The connectivity part is separate from Recon, which can be installed independent of a satcom system. Honeywell’s Aspire 200 and Sky Connect are typical satcoms available for helicopters, but Recon works with other satcom and airborne connectivity systems.

 


Recon, he added, “is scaleable and modular, just buy what you need. Unlike our previous-generation and competitors’ system, you can go from a remote vibration module to a unit that’s a base model to multiple modules and doing more processing with more inputs. It’s highly configurable to monitor more inputs.”

 


That said, Recon installations will be certified either by the OEM itself as part of an original type certificate, or as a supplemental type certificate (STC) for aftermarket upgrades, but generally for large fleets and not for one-off installations.

 


<h2>Large Aircraft Niche</h2>

 


The target market for Recon is medium and heavy helicopters. “We would engage in discussions about what they’re looking to monitor, then would customize a solution, including how many modules and where to place sensors,” Melin said. “If the customer already has our legacy system, we can in some cases [install Recon] as a drop-in replacement, but we still need the STC.” Smaller helicopters can benefit from lighter-weight Honeywell portable HUMS.

 


Recon taps into Honeywell’s existing web-based infrastructure and PC ground-based station (PCGBS). Data gathered by the data acquisition unit is first sent to the PCGBS and then to Honeywell’s HUMS website for further analysis and sharing with maintainers or engine and airframe manufacturers.

 


“Recon’s ability to transfer data in real time is enabling the new age of the connected helicopter,” said Ben Driggs, president of aftermarket sales, Americas, Honeywell Aerospace. “Using this new system with other connected technologies like Sky Connect and Aspire 200, operators can remain connected wherever they go. This can reduce in-flight cancellations by up to 30 percent, reduce test flights by 20 percent, and cut down on scheduled maintenance by up to 10 percent.”

 


According to an eight-year study of helicopters operated by the South Carolina Army National Guard conducted by the University of South Carolina, Honeywell’s HUMS “saved $2.1 million in parts cost and operation support, [and] found a 75 percent reduction in unscheduled maintenance, [and] unscheduled replacements were reduced to less than 4 percent of total maintenance actions.”

 


More than 2,000 Honeywell HUMS are installed on commercial and military rotorcraft, and the company has shipped approximately 20,000 portable systems. Existing HUMS STCs are available for 20 platforms, and announcements of Recon STCs are expected shortly.

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