Australian Aviation - July 2018

JULY 2018 47

Things to come

Installing the Wi-Fi radome on a

Virgin Australia 777.SETH JAWORSKI

elaborates: “Pratt & Whitney has been
collecting data from aircraft for the
last 15 years and offers a successful
EHM [engine health management]
service called ADEM. This 24/7
service takes advantage of our
continuous development of analytics
and maintenance recommendations.
Thanks to this service, our customers
have been able to better manage their
fleet and reduce operational event
disruptions.”
More widely, says Rolls-Royce’s
Bill O’Sullivan, “Airlines have focused
on applying digital technologies to
improve passenger experience, online
revenue generation and back office
optimisation with advanced analytics.
Fuel and maintenance costs are now
more than 50 per cent of airline spend
and we look to provide predictive and
prescriptive analytics apps, using data
fetched from IoT devices, which will
help them optimise their operational
costs.”
Yet the IoT’s promise remains
more than just cutting costs: it’s about
these predictions that help to increase
reliability, maintain schedules, and
improve safety. A key destination on
the road to getting there is the concept
of a digital twin: a computerised
version of, in this case, any particular
engine that matches its physical
counterpart.
“The ability to diagnose engine
issues is important, but even better
if the artificial intelligence can
determine an accurate remaining
useful life for the key components,”
explains O’Sullivan. “This allows
maintenance and inspection intervals
to be optimised. Rolls-Royce is using
big data tools and the Operational
Performance Digital Twin to merge
detailed engine performance data
with contextual operational data

• such as flight track and dust,
  sand, ice and other environmental
  contaminants – to accurately measure
  component wear and predict life. The
  Operational Performance Digital Twin
  further extends this concept to allow
  optimisation of the near-term and
  long-term maintenance plan.”
  Since February, Rolls-Royce
  has been consolidating its work in
  this arena in its IntelligentEngine
  program, an evolution of its TotalCare
  service package that débuted in the
  1990s.
  “In addition to designing, testing,
  and maintaining engines in the
  digital realm, the IntelligentEngine
  vision sets out a future where
  an engine will be increasingly
  connected, contextually aware and

comprehending, helping to deliver

greater reliability and efficiency,”

O’Sullivan says, highlighting three

ways in which aircraft will be:

» Connected – “with other engines,

its support ecosystem, and with

its customer, allowing for regular,

two-way flow of information

between many parties.”

» Contextually aware – “of its

operating context, constraints and

the needs of the customer, allowing

it to respond to the environment

around it without human

intervention.”

» Comprehending – “learning from

its own experiences and from

its network of peers to adjust

its behaviour and achieve best

performance.”

But despite this pedigree, it may

be more the rise in home-based

and office-based IoT devices that

encourages the aviation industry to do

more with the Internet of Things.

The growth in consumer IoT has

spurred aviation to do more

It’s not exactly as clear a line as “Alexa,

when will VH-OJA require engine

maintenance?” or “Siri, what is our

regional subsidiary’s current on-time

performance?”, but the growth in

the number and power of individual

and networked devices living in the

homes and offices of C-suite and

senior management executives in

the aviation industry is a key driver

behind increasing the adoption of IoT

technology among airlines.

Home devices can be used off-the-

shelf or adapted for aviation purposes,

while aviation-specific devices are

increasing in number, complexity and

networking ability on a continuous

basis.

“Rockwell Collins does see that

there are more airlines talking about

IoT as part of their connected airplane

strategies,” says the company’s Joel

Otto, although he notes that “most are

still working on the business cases to

determine how far to take IoT.”

In fairness, that last sentence could

be attributed to many consumer and

enterprise IoT devices too, but some

surprising darts have stuck to the

proverbial product dartboard.

“The rising number of IoT devices

SITAONAIR is focusing on

flexibility as the IoT gets going

for airline operations.SITAONAIR