Measuring Airborne Particles in the Vicinity of Aircraft Using Honeywell’s Optical Particulate Sensor

Measuring airborne particulate is crucial in aviation to enhance flight safety, pilot awareness, fuel efficiency, and automation, thereby reducing pilot workload. Water droplets and ice crystals can cause airframe and engine icing, while volcanic ash, sand, and dust can physically damage various aircraft components and systems. Over the past several years, Honeywell has been maturing particulate sensing technology capable of characterizing icing hazards, as well as volcanic ash, sand, and dust conditions around an aircraft. Honeywell has developed this technology with particular emphasis on the App. C and App. O icing conditions. One of the key challenges is detecting and measuring particles of varying sizes, which can differ by several orders of magnitude, and classifying them by type.

This paper provides an overview of Honeywell’s particulate sensing technology and a review of recent flight test results of the sensor over the past two years. The findings underscore the sensor’s effectiveness in detecting and measuring particulate matter of various sizes and compositions under different atmospheric conditions, thereby contributing to enhanced aviation safety and performance.