HOUSTON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Honeywell and NASA have finished testing new technology that could help bring supersonic flight to the masses, saving long travel hours on cross-country or international flights, according to a news release recently.
One of the major hindrances to this type of travel, which can reduce flight time between New York and Los Angeles to 2.5 hours instead of the current five hours, is sonic booms, the window-rattling noises that happen when aircraft fly faster than the speed of sound.
Honeywell and NASA tested predictive software and display technology that allows pilots to know when sonic booms will occur and to alter their course to minimize that boom over populated areas, according to the release.
In recent decades, NASA worked to develop software that predicts sonic boom impact from an aircraft's current position and flight parameters.
As part of the test program, Honeywell and NASA integrated the software with Honeywell's Interactive Navigation technology into a modern business jet's avionics suite, according to the release.
As an American multinational conglomerate company, Honeywell produces a variety of commercial and consumer products, engineering services and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments.
