Honeywell Aerospace (formerly COM DEV International) is a satellite technology,

space sciences The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space science: Space science encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that involve space exploration and study natural phenomena and physical bodies occurring in oute ...

, and

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

s company based in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 Canadian census, 202 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The company has branches and offices in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The company develops and manufactures specialized satellite systems, including microwave systems, switches, optical systems, specialized satellite

antennas In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies a ...

, as well as components for the aviation and

aerospace industry Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

. The company produces custom equipment designs for commercial, military and civilian purposes, as well as providing contract research for the space sciences.

History

COM DEV International was founded in 1974 and specialized in

microwave technology Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency rang ...

for the

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

and

. The company would go on to become a leader in space satellite componentry and hardware, specializing in telecommunication systems;National Defense and COM DEV International to Further Develop Satellite Communications Technology
, Government of Canada, Department of National Defense, October 13, 1998, Project number: NR-98.081. a global designer and builder of telecommunication components and systems for space satellites; as well as one of Canada's largest sources of spacecraft instrumentation. In 2001, its space products division opened an approximate $7-million

Surface Acoustic Wave A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are confined to a depth of abou ...

(SAW) development and manufacturing laboratory in its Cambridge facility. In 2005, it purchased the

EMS Technologies EMS Technologies was an Atlanta-based company with approximately $290 million in annual sales revenue before its 2011 purchase by Honeywell International. EMS-T specialized in wireless, defense, and space communications systems. History Founded i ...

Space Science optical division in Ottawa, formerly CAL Corporation, from

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates MDA Ltd. is a Canadian space technology company headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, that provides geointelligence, robotics & space operations, and satellite systems. History MDA (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) was founde ...

for $5 million. In 2007, it purchased a Passive Microwave division in

El Segundo, California El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 16,731 as of th ...

, for $8.75 million. In 2010 it purchased Ottawa-based space instrument supplier Routes AstroEngineering for $1.7 million. Later that year, it established a subsidiary called

exactEarth exactEarth Ltd is a Canadian company that specializes in data services that deliver real-time global location-based maritime vessel tracking information utilizing patented satellite AIS detection technology. exactEarth provides satellite AIS ...

offering global ship tracking data services. In 2015, it purchased MESL Microwave of

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Also that year, it entered the

waveguide A waveguide is a structure that guides waves, such as electromagnetic waves or sound, with minimal loss of energy by restricting the transmission of energy to one direction. Without the physical constraint of a waveguide, wave intensities de ...

market with the purchase of Pacific Wave Systems (PWS) of

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

. On November 15, 2015,

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

announced that it would acquire COM DEV, which would become part of Honeywell's Defense and Space business. On February 4, 2016, Honeywell announced that it had completed the acquisition, and COM DEV has since been renamed ''Honeywell Aerospace''.

Products

Since the 1990s the company has manufactured components for

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

s including: *

Telemetry Telemetry is the in situ data collection, collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic data transmission, transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Gr ...

communication and control modules *

Multiplexer In electronics, a multiplexer (or mux; spelled sometimes as multiplexor), also known as a data selector, is a device that selects between several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input to a single output line. The sel ...

(MUX) switching networks and filters * Crossovers for microwave * Modulators, regulators *

Surface acoustic wave A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are confined to a depth of abou ...

filters * Assemblies for airline telecommunications * Special satellite antennas

Projects

The company has developed and built satellites assemblies or components for over 900 satellite missions, including: *

Sapphire (satellite) Sapphire is a Canadian space surveillance satellite which was launched in 2013. Sapphire was commissioned and integrated by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) based on an SSTL-150 bus produced by Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and an ...

Optical Imaging Payload *

Swarm (spacecraft) Swarm is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to study the Earth's magnetic field. High-precision and high-resolution measurements of the strength, direction and variations of the Earth's magnetic field, complemented by precise navigation, acce ...

Canadian Electric Field Instrument * ExactView 1 *

Terra Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

(Satellite)

MOPITT MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA on board the Terra satellite in 1999. It is designed to monitor changes in pollution patterns and its effect in the lower ...

Instrument *

CASSIOPE Cascade, Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE), is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) multi-mission satellite operated by the University of Calgary. The mission development and operations from launch to February 2018 was funded through ...

e-POP Radio Receiver Instrument *

Dextre Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), is a two armed robot, or telemanipulator, which is part of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS), and does repairs that would otherwise r ...

Force Moment Sensors *

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was a NASA-operated orbital observatory whose mission was to study the Earth's atmosphere, particularly the protective ozone layer. The satellite was deployed from Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' durin ...

WINDII Instrument *

Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE, Explorer 77, and MIDEX-0) represented the next generation, high-orbit, ultraviolet space observatory covering the wavelength range of 90.5–119.5 nanometre (nm) of the NASA operated by the Johns Ho ...

Fine Error Sensor *

SCISAT-1 SCISAT-1 is a Canadian satellite designed to make observations of the Earth's atmosphere. Its main instruments are an optical Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, the ACE-FTS Instrument, and an ultraviolet spectrophotometer, MAESTRO. These d ...

MAESTRO instrument and CALTRAC Startracker * Odin (Satellite)

Odin-OSIRIS {{no footnotes, date=July 2013 OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System) is an instrument that measures vertical profiles of spectrally dispersed, limb scattered sunlight from the upper troposphere into the lower mesosphere. OSIRIS i ...

Instrument *

Herschel Space Observatory The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched until the launch of the James Webb Space Telesc ...

HIFI Local oscillator Source Unit * Jason-1 CALTRAC Startrackers *

Genesis (spacecraft) ''Genesis'' was a NASA sample-return probe that collected a sample of solar wind particles and returned them to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample-return mission to return material since the Apollo program, and the first to re ...

CALTRAC Startrackers * Formosat-2 CALTRAC Startrackers *

Nozomi (spacecraft) was a Mars orbiter that failed to reach Mars due to electrical failures. The mission was terminated on December 31, 2003. It was constructed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, University of Tokyo and launched on July 4, 19 ...

Thermal Plasma Analyser *

Akebono (satellite) Akebono (known as EXOS-D before launch) is a satellite to study aurora and Earth's magnetosphere environment. It was developed by Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is a Japanese national research organization of astrophy ...

Suprathermal ion Mass Spectrometer *

Freja (satellite) FREJA was a Swedish satellite developed by the Swedish Space Corporation on behalf of the Swedish National Space Board. It was piggyback launched on a Long March 2C launch vehicle from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China on October 6, 1992. T ...

Cold Gas Analyser and Auroral Imager *

Interbol Interbol (russian: Интербол) is an international space project under the leadership of the Russian Space Agency and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The list of participants includes the Institute of Atmosphe ...

Ultraviolet Auroral Imager *

Viking (satellite) Viking was Sweden's first satellite. It was launched on an Ariane 1 rocket as a piggyback payload together with the French satellite SPOT 1, on February 22, 1986. Operations ended on May 12, 1987. Viking was used to explore plasma processes in ...

Ultraviolet Imager *

CloudSat CloudSat is a NASA Earth observation satellite, which was launched on a Delta II rocket on April 28, 2006. It uses radar to measure the altitude and properties of clouds, adding to information on the relationship between clouds and climate in ord ...

Meteosat The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program. The MTP program was established to ensure the ope ...

Upcoming missions include: * Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-Satellite (M3MSat) *

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Spa ...

(JWST) Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imaging and Slitless Spectrograph Past projects have also included an Automatic Identification System (AIS) validation

nanosatellite A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...

launched on an Antrix PSLV-C9 vehicle from the

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre (spaceport) operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota R ...

Sriharikota Sriharikota is a Barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the Shar Project settlement of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh, India. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, one of the two satellite launch centres in India (the o ...

, India in April 2008. The AIS experimental spacecraft was built under contract by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), which also designated with the responsibility for its operation.COM DEV Launches Advanced Space-Based AIS Validation Nanosatellite
SpaceRef.com website, April 28, 2008.

Research and development

The company provides research and development work in

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

and

space technology Space technology is technology for use in outer space, in travel (''astronautics'') or other activities beyond Earth's atmosphere, for purposes such as spaceflight, space exploration, and Earth observation. Space technology includes space vehicles ...

. Many modules of the company are used in many well-known space probes and satellites. The company cooperates with major

space agencies This is a list of government agencies engaged in activities related to outer space and space exploration. As of 2022, 77 different government space agencies are in existence, 16 of which have launch capabilities. Six government space agencie ...

, including

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

(ESA),

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

and the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 2020 ...

(CSA).

References

Citations Bibliography * Com Dev - Corporate * Com Dev - Financial Results 2012, accessed on 12 November 2013 (PDF, 2.3 MB) * Com Dev Fine Guidance Sensor for the

, accessed on November 12, 2013

External links

* Com DEV - Corporate Website (English)
Satellite Industry Association
{{Authority control Honeywell

Manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

Aerospace companies of Canada

Spacecraft component manufacturers Telecommunications equipment vendors Manufacturing companies of Canada Companies based in Cambridge, Ontario Manufacturing companies based in Ontario Technology companies established in 1974 Space industry companies of Canada 1974 establishments in Ontario Canadian companies established in 1974

History

Products

Projects

Research and development

See also

References

External links