METROPOLITAN AIRPORTS COMMISSION AND HONEYWELL ANNOUNCE PLANS TO INSTALL, CERTIFY GPS LANDING/VEHICLE TRACKING SYSTEM.

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 1995--The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Honeywell have announced plans to install a Honeywell/Pelorus Satellite Landing System and the Honeywell vehicle tracking system, TracLink, at the Minneapolis/ St. Paul International Airport. The Satellite Landing System (SLS-2000), slated to be the first landing system to certify for passenger service in the world, also will be used at other MAC-owned and operated airports in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The new equipment, known as a differential global positioning system (DGPS), can help alleviate air traffic noise, congestion and weather-related delays by providing aircraft with very precise navigation data to aid approaches, landings and takeoffs.

A presentation on SLS-2000 and TracLink was made to MAC's Planning and Environment Committee in May. The full commission will review the planning, installation and certification process at its regular meeting in July.

Both systems are based on the global positioning system (GPS) which provides three-dimensional position information 24 hours a day, anywhere on earth. The landing system will feature Honeywell's exclusive fail-operational technology, making the Honeywell/Pelorus system an extremely reliable and highly accurate system.

"GPS initiatives represent the greatest leap forward in aviation since the introduction of the jet engine," said Jeffrey Hamiel, MAC executive director. "The local-area GPS ground station gives us technology necessary to deal with aircraft noise issues, airspace management and a variety of capacity issues at about one-third the cost of competing technologies.

"In the Twin Cities, the Honeywell/Pelorus system will significantly reduce aircraft noise in neighborhoods surrounding the airports and help us track ground vehicles more effectively," said Hamiel. "By providing precise landing guidance for all types of approaches, including 'curved approaches,' the Satellite Landing System enables aircraft to avoid long, straight-line paths to runways. This helps decrease the frequency of aircraft flights and the resulting noise in neighborhoods in those paths.

"Honeywell is the logical choice for MAC because it offers a complete system that encompasses both aircraft guidance and vehicle tracking," said Hamiel. Installation of the SLS-2000 is scheduled to begin at the airport this fall, with Federal Aviation Administration certification expected in January 1996. When approved, the SLS- 2000, will be the first in the world certified for passenger service. The TracLink trial, using four ground vehicles, will follow certification of the SLS-2000. "Historically, technological advances in aviation were left largely to the federal government, aircraft and avionics manufacturers, and the airline industry," said Keith Aakre, vice president of marketing for Honeywell's Business and Commuter Aviation Systems. "Today, a real opportunity exists for airports to enter the development arena and have a cooperative impact on the direction emerging technologies will take. The MAC agreement marks the first sale of our system in the United States and Honeywell's first-ever sale of TracLink."

By using signals sent from GPS satellites, the SLS-2000 is able to compute extremely accurate navigation data. By placing GPS receivers at various fixed, geographically surveyed locations in the terminal area, the SLS compares GPS signals with the true (surveyed) position of the ground receivers. This determines the errors resulting from atmospheric and other effects. This technique is called differential GPS (DGPS).

The appropriate error corrections are then transmitted to approaching aircraft. The aircraft's on-board GPS equipment uses this data Xo produce navigation information that is accurate to within five feet horizontally and six feet vertically.

The SLS-2000 will serve all runway ends within a radius of 20 to 30 nautical miles at all of MAC's airports. This will give precision approach capability to many of the runways where such approach procedures are currently not available. At the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, the SLS-2000 will be able to provide an added level of approach capability because it is designed to be upgraded to high-precision landing approaches not currently available. This will allow safe operations during inclement weather conditions.

TracLink, the ground vehicle system, works in tandem with SLS-2000 by using the same DGPS corrections as approaching aircraft. These corrections are transmitted to transceiver-equipped vehicles. This data is used by on-board GPS equipment to determine the vehicle's precise position. This position is then broadcast to a central control location, which is equipped with a reception antenna and computer that tracks vehicle movement on an electronic airport map. The frequency of position reporting is user selectable, and can be as frequent as once every second. TracLink also can send and receive encrypted and open messages, text and graphic illustrations, and digitally record all movement.

The Honeywell/Pelorus SLS-2000 is the next progressive step in the successful navigation histories of both companies.

Honeywell's experience in GPS technologies dates to the early 1980s, when Honeywell invented Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM). Today, the RAIM concept, which allows for the detection and exclusion of bad satellite data from the navigation solution without pilot interaction, has become the industry standard. In November 1990, a Honeywell-equipped NASA Boeing 737 performed the first differential GPS (DGPS) autoland, proving to the world that DGPS autolands were possible.

In 1993, Honeywell was the first to certify a "sole means" GPS approach when an ATR-72 aircraft was certified at Aspen, Colo. The data collected during the Aspen approach certification was used by the FAA and the Satellite Program Office to help establish certification processes for approaches benefiting other air carriers as well as general aviation.

Over the last 18 months, the FAA has been using a Honeywell aircraft in several demonstrations showing how DGPS, when coupled with an aircraft's flight management and flight guidance systems, can fly instrument approaches to virtually any airport runway in the world. The demonstration flights have taken place at Washington National, Chicago Midway and Ontario, Calif., in the Los Angeles basin area. In addition, Honeywell has demonstrated precision approaches in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North American regions.

Pelorus Navigation Systems has a 14-year track record as a specialist in the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of ground-based navigation systems. An industry innovator, Pelorus has successfully pioneered developments in remote sensing, fail-soft circuitry and electronic design for reliable operation on marine landing platforms, and harsh weather environments. Pelorus, with headquarters in Calgary, Canada, has supplied its navigation systems to more than 150 airports worldwide. Pelorus is in the vanguard of the - development and implementation of local-area DGPS for precision approach in compliance with the regulatory standards.

Honeywell is a global controls company providing products, systems and services that increase comfort, environmental protection, energy conservation, productivity and safety in homes and buildings, industry, and aviation and space. The company employs 50,000 people in 95 countries on six continents, and had 1994 sales of $6.1 billion.

CONTACT: Honeywell Inc., Minneapolis

Lynda Nordeen 612/951-0070

or

Honeywell Inc.

Business and Commuter Aviation Systems, Phoenix

Kimberly Owens, 602/436-5312