Russian Helicopters Developing Smart Avionics

Russian Helicopters is developing a “comprehensive avionics system” for situational awareness, autopilot landing and collision avoidance, the company announced. It will be installed on all new Russian-made helicopters starting in 2015.

With the system, crewmembers will be provided with images of the surrounding terrain, “including during maneuvers at low altitude in difficult weather.” In addition to improving situational awareness, the system will enable the aircraft to automatically hover above a given point and land.

The new “intelligent” system will also inform pilots about hazards in the landing area. It could even automatically select an unprepared landing site in case of an emergency situation.

Meanwhile, Russian Helicopters announced it is working on an advanced health-and-usage monitoring system (A-Hums). Via sensors and signals received from aircraft systems, the A-Hums will “in real time, discover and diagnose situations in which mechanical units and/or components face a risk of failure, determine trim balance and constantly monitor the blade track of the main rotor.”