Australian Aviation - July 2018

46 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION

closely connected that they are now
inseparable. The coming together of
product and service, supercharged by
digital technology, offers Rolls-Royce
a wealth of opportunities to improve
the way it provides power to its
customers,” the company explains via
spokesperson Bill O’Sullivan.
Notably, and despite some rather
lofty promises in the early days of the
IoT’s applications for the aviation
industry, much of its benefits are now
being seen as evolutionary rather
than revolutionary, particularly by
enginemakers, who have been doing
the IoT since before it was called the
IoT.
“Rockwell Collins doesn’t
necessarily see IoT as a big win
play. Rather, we see IoT more as
a series of incremental value adds
that each airline or operator will put
in place to enhance the efficiency
of their operations or to serve their
customers better. It’s clear there is no
“magic bullet” application driving the
industry to broadly adopt IoT,” says
the company’s Joel Otto, “we believe
that each airline will chart their own
course to apply IoT according to their
operational and customer engagement
strategies.”
From the airline perspective,
meanwhile, Virgin Australia’s
chief information officer Cameron
Stone defines the IoT as “a growing
collection of objects that, through
the use of embedded technology, are
able to be connected to the internet,
allowing interaction and reporting
not previously possible. This includes
everyday objects that can now be
connected to the internet such as
vehicles, equipment – and passenger

handling processes, like security

and baggage handling – as well as a

growing array of sensors and beacons.”

Bringing it back to the basics,

technology integrator SITAONAIR’s

Portfolio Head for e-Aircraft Pierre-

Yves Benain tells Australian Aviation

that the IoT “is about delivering

value from data generated by sensors

attached to or embedded into ‘things’.

From SITAONAIR’s perspective,

“the aviation IoT represents a set

of technologies embracing sensors,

connectivity, data management

and analytics, that are intelligently

combined to generate value.”

For some early use cases, the IoT is

here already.

At Australia’s airports, “the

Department of Immigration and

Border Protection is trialling the use of

biometric tech at Sydney Airport that

will allow customers to be processed

by digital facial recognition, iris and/

or fingerprints, matched to existing

data,” explains Gareth Bridges,

director of digital business for Asia

Pacific at internet backbone company

Equinix.

“Passengers will have the potential

to pass through bag drop, border

processing, security screening, airport

lounge and boarding gate after only

showing their passport once for initial

verification.”

“Already, the use of facial-

recognition technology at Sydney

Airport’s electronic gates has reduced

the average amount of time people

spend passing through Customs from

four minutes to 23 seconds,” Bridges

explains.

“The use of automated immigration

gates and kiosks has increased globally

by six per cent in 2017 to almost

60 per cent. Looking ahead, Western

Sydney Airport will have technology

that enhances the passenger

experience in these and other more

unimaginable ways.”

Over the last three years, says

Pratt & Whitney’s Pearson, “the

opportunities to apply IoT across

business processes continue to grow

at an exponential rate. The associated

costs to extract real-time information

continue to reduce.”

Rockwell Collins’ Joel Otto,

meanwhile, tells Australian Aviation

that not everyone is persuaded. “I

do believe that the business case for

turning certain aircraft equipment

into IoT devices has yet to achieve

mainstream acceptance.”

Yet Virgin Australia is on board,

says chief information officer Cameron

Stone. “IoT not only improves the

travel experience for guests, but it also

streamlines workflows for our ground

staff and flightcrews to be able to use

technology to provide a more tailored

customer experience for our guests

and the reach that IoT has will only

continue to broaden as technology

advances.”

Across the IoT, Stone sees “a

growing list of items and opportunities

that we might not have seen before.”

For early adopter engine suppliers,

the IoT is building on existing work

“The aviation industry has a long-term

history with this type of technology.

For example, aircraft engines have

had connected sensors for a long

time,” Virgin Australia’s Stone tells

Australian Aviation.

Pratt & Whitney’s Sean Pearson

Rolls-Royce says the Internet

of Things promises “The

coming together of product and

service, supercharged by digital

technology”.ROLLS-ROYCE

For some

early use

cases, the

IoT is here

already.