With the advent of the connected aircraft, manufacturers and suppliers can now gain unprecedented access to data, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of subsystem performance that was previously unattainable. But how does this flying Internet of Things (IoT) really communicate, and on what standards? At the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, we spent some time with the i+s cabin consortium — combining airframers, tier 1 suppliers, sub-suppliers, and researchers — to learn more.
A key hurdle for the connected aircraft has been the need to speed up the implementation and next steps phases of the ARINC 853 standard for controller area network interface: in other words, putting into practice the way sensors, devices and the aircraft communicate with each other and with the ground.
Enter the i+s cabin consortium, led by Diehl Aerospace — a joint venture between Diehl Aviation and Thales — that counts as its other partners:
- Airbus
- Boeing
- actuator specialists Bühler Motor
- Boeing subsidiary and pilot chart powerhouse Jeppesen
- tier 1 supplier Safran’s cabin supplier arm, Safran Cabin
- Austrian seat cover and foams experts Neveon
- operations specialists ANS
- Adient Aerospace, the business-first class seating joint venture between Boeing and Adient
- Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW)
- the Institute of Aircraft Cabin Systems at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)
With initial focus on improving flight operations, making MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) more efficient and laying the onboard foundation for the fifth-generation connected digital aircraft, the consortium is using data and advanced algorithms to demonstrate the opportunities across the industry, at a level of collaboration that far exceeds anything seen before.
The consortium estimates that the on-ground element of any one repair — a coffee-maker, lavatory, business seat, waste system, and so on across the aircraft — might take 2.5 hours in total, delaying the aircraft and taking up valuable and scarce mechanic resources on non-specialist tasks like driving across the airport for parts.
The benefits are only multiplied if more than one repair is needed: the connected aircraft communicating full details about the problem means that the optimal number of specialists can be dispatched, together with all the parts needed, in one vehicle.
Aircraft and cabin defects send a wealth of information beyond simple logbook entries to enable faster repairs. Connected lavatories enable the airline to collect data on water consumption to reduce significant weight. Real-time cabin status boarding enables substantial improvements on boarding time. Connected devices from seats to entertainment systems to cabin lighting to bins produce invaluable data so that the airline — as well as the wider industry and manufacturers — can apply big data processing to discover valuable insights for improvements. Crucially for the future of aviation, all of this can feed into calculators for scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions.
And all of this was being shown live from the stands, moving beyond the theory to on-board reality. The consortium demonstrated at the show that its products were already walking the walk and not just talking the talk.
A Bühler Motor actuator on a seat from startup Unum was reporting live into the demo system upstairs in one of the hall’s conference rooms. So was one on Bühler’s own stand, as well as information flowing from the stand of electronics specialist (and Airbus subsidiary) KID-Systeme. It flowed through the Thales Onboard Data Center to enable a Boeing system to show a notional cabin that included all these seats.
But beyond this, the information flowing from the connected cabin — transmitted live over inflight connectivity, in bursts after landing via cellular or gate wireless, or in a periodic upload during maintenance — enables extensive improvements in fleet management, flight operations and MRO. After many years of standardisation and theoretical concepts, it’s incredible to see the connected aircraft starting to materialise.
Author: John Walton
Published: 7th November 2024
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