What is the Internet of Things — the IoT — and how is it already bringing benefits to airlines and the aviation industry? We round it all up in the latest of our ab initio primer guides!
Anil Ravi — Safran’s senior director for IoT, cloud/security and research & technology — tells us that “in simple terms, the Internet of Things describes the network of physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices, systems and people over the Internet.”
In essence, the ‘of things’ part of the IoT means that the various sensors, devices and systems that are connected to the Internet communicate with each other — and can take action independently of direct human control using programming and algorithms.
One early relatively simple example might be with ground operations: baggage from an incoming flight is assigned a carousel, triggering a push notification to passengers using the airline’s app (or a text message notification) to head to carousel 6, with another notification when baggage delivery has started and another when delivery has finished.
And there’s more to come. “With the evolution of edge computing devices, sensors, wireless technologies, protocols and standards, and ultra-low power technologies, the IoT domain has been instrumental in helping industries to transform their traditional operations with digital automation wherever possible,” Ravi says.
As a first set of early passenger benefits, this includes real-time flight delays, automated bag tracking, and mobile-distributed gate information. But beyond this, the present generation of new IoT technologies benefit from newer and more powerful processors, lower cost, lower power sensors (including those that can be battery operated), and more capable wireless devices.
“All the equipment manufacturers and OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] have been involved at various levels of their technology initiatives in the IoT space,” Ravi says, “focusing on equipment maintenance, boarding experience, security, catering operations, enhanced crew experience, passenger experience and other airline operational optimisations.”
Advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep neural networks — as well as artificial, augmented and virtual reality — are also coming on stream. Low-energy Bluetooth devices, 5G connectivity and newer standards of lower rate, lower cost wireless protocols like IEEE 802.15.4 (sometimes called LR-WPAN) are also key enablers for aviation IoT.
From the OEM perspective, “the IoT is well established on ground,” Ingo Wuggetzer, Airbus’ vice president of cabin marketing, tells us. “In the aviation industry we are at the beginning, starting with a strong ramp-up of number of connected aircraft.”
“What we need is an open ecosystem inspiring a wide range of lots of different partners for hardware, software, big data analytics, and cool ideas to generate value added products and services,” Wuggetzer says.
A key question is backbone ownership
“It has always been a discussion among the industry who will own the backbone connectivity infrastructure — gateways, routers, and access points — data storage [and] data rights. Additionally, it is quite interesting to see how OEMs create an inclusive ecosystem to embrace equipment manufacturers,” Ravi says.
Companies representing many parts of the aircraft’s technological infrastructure have made plays to be the backbone operator and, therefore, the player who gets to call the shots on standards, protocols, and data access. Early on in the IoT of aviation, this included airframers, inflight entertainment system providers, avionics manufacturers, technology integrators, connectivity operators, software providers, and others.
“There are several key players in aviation IoT that include Microsoft, IBM, Amadeus IT Group, Huawei Technologies, Cisco Systems, SITAONAIR, Honeywell International, and others who are providing either IoT platforms and/or connectivity infrastructure [like] gateways [and] network devices. These players are providing the software and hardware to the equipment manufacturers and solution providers who will work with airlines, airports, MROs and others.”
Some of those names will obviously be more suitable — and indeed comfortable — in some parts of the world than others.
“On the other hand,” Ravi notes, “every cabin equipment manufacturer has their strategy with respect to IoT. Depending on their existing equipment portfolio, these players either extend their equipment capability with connectivity enablement or introducing new products that are complementary to their portfolio. When these players have the ability to connect their equipment to internet and collect specific data points, then, based on their operational knowledge and experience it would help them to build value added applications and services.”
In some cases for larger airlines, the airline itself may choose to operate its own connected aircraft division to manage and realise the benefits of the IoT, much as — say — Delta Air Lines has done with its Delta Flight Products division when it comes to inflight entertainment and other technological elements of the airline’s operations.
Airbus is also making a play for the backbone with its new Airspace Link system, the company’s Ingo Wuggetzer tells us. “Airspace Link and its open ecosystem is leveraging IoT capabilities to unlock the value of new areas of the airlines’ and lessors’ businesses. The intelligent core management platform, iCMP, will be the core enabler for the ecosystem.”
The cabin is ripe for innovation in the IoT space, the airframer expects, including the interface between the cabin and operations. “Airspace Link will collect all relevant cabin data, combining those with different data sources as an input for live operations and big data analysis, enabling value added services for passengers and crew,” Wuggetzer says. “Additional revenues, passenger experience and operational efficiency are the general topic areas airlines are interested in. Sustainability and operations efficiency are seen as the most important topics for the next decade.”
The IoT technology stack will continue to evolve as the industry looks to the future
At its most basic level, the technology stack for the delivery of the IoT’s promise starts at the bottom with sensors, moving up through gateways and network devices to cloud platforms, data analytics and then applications for human user interface.
Each layer, Safran’s Ravi says, has key players within its market map. “For example, in the sensors layer, several companies such as Infineon, NXP, ST Micro and Analog Devices are offering low power sensors, whereas players like Cisco, Huawei and others offering network devices/gateways. On the cloud platform side Microsoft Azure, AWS, IBM, Google, PTC ThingWorx, and Particle are providing their IoT platform to collect and analyse the data for applications development.”
As each element in the stack develops to new- and next-generation technology, we can expect the backbone infrastructure on which rely to develop too. Costs will drop, while low-power networks, energy harvesting, new sensor capabilities, and communication networks that are faster and more ubiquitous will all offer new opportunities for the IoT — and for aviation to develop use cases in order to make the most of it.
Author John Walton
Published 15th November 2022
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