Honeywell Launches Compact Navigation System for Uncrewed Aerial Systems

Kestrel is an Embedded GNSS/INS (EGI) system for global defense and commercial operators in need of advanced inertial navigation technology with secure positioning capabilities in a smaller footprint. The system is 40 percent smaller and lighter than similar navigation products available today, while still delivering up to an 80 percent improvement in navigation accuracy for uncrewed platforms. It also reduces costs by as much as 50 percent, helping operators efficiently scale deployment across high-volume drone operations. Kestrel’s resiliency reduces UAS attrition by 60 percent, while more than doubling the capacity for mission distances.

The ability to operate without assured GNSS access is a distinct advantage for any military aircraft operating in contested or GNSS-denied environments because it provides continuous, self-contained position, velocity and attitude estimates independent of external signals.

Kestrel is designed to support a broad range of defense and commercial applications and will be available in configurations that support international and non-ITAR deployments.

Honeywell pioneered EGI technology and has produced more than 60,000 units since the mid-1990s to meet customers’ most challenging navigation, pointing, stabilization and flight-control applications. To learn more, visit: New Kestrel Small EGI Navigation for Tactical Drones.

About Honeywell Aerospace

Products and services from Honeywell Aerospace Technologies are found on virtually every commercial, defense and space aircraft, and in many terrestrial systems. The Aerospace Technologies business unit builds aircraft engines, cockpit and cabin electronics, wireless connectivity, thermal, power and actuation systems, and more. Its hardware and software solutions create more fuel-efficient aircraft, more direct and on-time flights and safer skies and airports. For more information, visit aerospace.honeywell.com or follow Honeywell Aerospace Technologies on LinkedIn. 

Honeywell is an integrated operating company serving a broad range of industries and geographies around the world, with a portfolio that is underpinned by our Honeywell Accelerator operating system and Honeywell Forge platform. As a trusted partner, we help organizations solve the world's toughest, most complex challenges, providing actionable solutions and innovations for aerospace, building automation, industrial automation, process automation, and process technology, that help make the world smarter and safer as well as more secure and sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.