Honeywell will lead the OperA and Darwin projects under the EU’s single European sky air traffic management (ATM) research partnership, the company announced at the Paris Airshow Monday. Better known as SESAR, the partnership between private and public sector stakeholders aims to accelerate the delivery of the so-called Digital European Sky through research and innovation.
Project OperA, which stands for "operate anywhere," seeks to enable the safe accommodation of advanced air mobility (AAM) in European ATM and U-space. Honeywell’s contribution will focus on the development of autonomy-enabling technologies, including energy-efficient approaches with a ground control station, high-integrity precision navigation, and detect-and-avoid technology for AAM aircraft. The technologies will play an integral part in the ecosystem of crewed air taxi and uncrewed cargo cross-border operations.
Project Darwin, which stands for "digital assistants for reducing workload and increasing" collaboration, views AI-based automation for aircraft control and flight operations as a key enabler for extended minimum crew operations and then single pilot operations and finally fully autonomous flight.