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Boeing Tests Digital Taxi Time and Clearance EFB Capabilities on ecoDemonstrator

Boeing’s 2022 777-200 ecoDemonstrator program is testing out two new digital capabilities—Taxi Time Information and Taxi Clearance—which are designed to help airlines reduce turnaround times on the ground and eliminate fuel-burning delays. (Photo courtesy of Boeing)

Boeing is testing two new digital capabilities—Taxi Time Information and Taxi Clearance—on its ecoDemonstrator 777-200 program that can improve the way airline pilots anticipate the amount of time they will need to spend taxiing around airports during the pre-departure or post-landing process. In emailed statements to Avionics International, several experts from Boeing Global Services explained how these two capabilities use aircraft connectivity and ADS-B positioning data to calculate estimated required taxi times on a per-airport basis.

The purpose of testing the Taxi Time Information and Taxi Clearance digital capabilities is to give flight crews improved predictability for the pre-departure or landing process by reducing the amount of time they spend taxiing around the airport waiting on clearances for takeoff or to roll into a parking stand for deplaning.

“To implement reduced engine taxi operations and reduce fuel consumption, the flight deck crew must accurately predict the taxi time needed between their runway and parking stand. Pilots tell us this is difficult, because the historical averages used today are insufficient for accurate decision-making in real-life situations,” Marco Gärtner, Senior Product Manager, Boeing Global Services, said in an emailed statement.

Taxi Time Information, for example, is an application programmable interface compatible with the Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro app—or other third party EFB applications—that uses ADS-B positioning data to anticipate inbound or outbound clearance and taxi times for flight crews. This is one of the two tablet-based digital airport mapping capabilities Boeing is testing on its ecoDemonstrator program.

Optimizing the way airlines time their reduced thrust engines-on rollout to the runway in preparation for air traffic control clearance to takeoff has been a major focus of civil aviation authorities, airports, and airlines over the last decade.

Leadership at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands announced a unique approach to reducing the amount of fuel burned by aircraft engines while taxiing there by investing in TaxiBots—special towing vehicles that take aircraft to and from the runway allowing engines to mostly remain switched off.

Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rolled out an air traffic system software update to its Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) system that improves the way air traffic controllers calculate the best time for gate pushbacks at busy hub airports to occur so that each plane can roll directly to the runway and take off with little to no intermittent stopping. The FAA introduced the capability at 27 hub airports in the U.S. last year.

Boeing aims to give pilots improved taxi time prediction analysis within their tablet-based airport moving map applications. Using their preferred EFB application with the Taxi Time Information capability, a pilot enters their assigned runway in the application and immediately sees the average taxi time from their assigned runway to parking stand that day, or even a particular hour, according to Gärtner.

The 2022 ecoDemonstrator program is a Boeing 777-200ER, pictured here at the 2022 EAA AirVenture show earlier this year in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. (Photo courtesy of Boeing)

“The capability uses Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) position data from a third-party aggregator, a surveillance technology in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite navigation or other sensors and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it to be tracked. This live data, which is usually available within two minutes, is combined with Jeppesen airport maps to produce a record of current taxi events at an airport,” he said.

One of the prerequisite aircraft equipment requirements for enabling Taxi Time, according to Gärtner, is connectivity.

“COVID caused airlines to pause many projects, including those regarding connectivity,” he said. “Now, after the pandemic, flight numbers have recovered and some are even higher than in 2019. Many airlines have mentioned they have revived cockpit connectivity projects.”

The Taxi Clearance capability has a focus on improving airport navigation, by giving flight crews the ability to quickly record their cleared taxi route and view it as a digital guide to the runway within their preferred airport mapping application.

“Today, when pilots receive their cleared taxi route, they often write the instructions down and then mentally create or physically draw the pathway on their terminal chart,” Gärtner said. “With the Taxi Clearance capability, flight deck crew simply touch the taxiways listed by Air Traffic Control (ATC) in their app, and the route is automatically visualized on their digital map.”

BGS’s digital aviation solutions team estimates that airlines spend up to 25% of their operating budget on fuel. The latest FAA data shows that the average time spent taxiing into and out of airports is between 16 to 27 minutes.

Gärtner confirmed that that BGS already has the ability to update the Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro application with the Taxi Time and Information API’s ability to report historical and real-time taxi times. One new capability Boeing is researching is providing recommendations for single engine taxi and other fuel-saving ground-maneuvering tactics for pilots.

“Looking to the future, our next task will be to provide predictive analytics that could even recommend when pilots should taxi with a single engine, when the engines should warm up, and when the second engine should be started, based on the expected time to the runway, actual lineup time and other real-time data,” Gärtner said.

The post Boeing Tests Digital Taxi Time and Clearance EFB Capabilities on ecoDemonstrator appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Jaunt and MintAir Partner to Launch eVTOL Operations in South Korea

eVTOL developer Jaunt Air Mobility gained a new strategic partner this week—MintAir, an advanced air mobility services startup. MintAir expects to purchase up to 40 eVTOL aircraft from Jaunt, and both companies will collaborate to launch eVTOL operations in South Korea. (Photo: Jaunt)

Jaunt Air Mobility, an air taxi developer within the AIRO Group Holdings aerospace and defense company, formed a new strategic partnership this week. Jaunt is partnering with MintAir, a South Korean startup developing an advanced air mobility service. MintAir signed a Letter of Intent to purchase up to 40 of Jaunt’s electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and the startup will also serve as the exclusive partner of Jaunt for the Korean market.

Jaunt’s eVTOL aircraft, the Journey, uses Slowed Rotor Compound (SRC) technologies. Jaunt CEO Martin Peryea remarked on the new partnership with MintAir in the company’s announcement: “The Jaunt Journey’s aircraft design offers the safest air taxi configuration that is operationally efficient, quiet, and sustainable.”

As part of the strategic partnership, MintAir and Jaunt will collaborate to launch commercial AAM operations for passenger transportation in multiple Korean markets. MintAir’s plans include beginning AAM services with a specific eVTOL vehicle design: electric rotorcraft that have a single main rotor. 

Some advantages of electric rotorcraft, according to the announcement, include “lower energy consumption, lower operating costs, and a direct, less complicated path towards certification.”

The CEO of MintAir, Eugene Choi, also provided a comment on the strategic partnership with Jaunt. “Our mission is to develop the safest Advanced Air Mobility service in both urban and rural environments based on sound ESG management,” he remarked. “Jaunt Air Mobility is committed to those same principles throughout the aircraft’s lifecycle. And we are confident the Jaunt Journey will transport the public with the highest level of safety.”

Jaunt is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its design and manufacturing efforts take place in Montreal, Canada. Jaunt’s team is working in coordination with Transport Canada to achieve certification under Chapter 529: Transport Category Rotorcraft.

Jaunt expects to launch its aircraft by 2026. The company is also one of 11 companies chosen by the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX program for a Phase I contract award. The program challenged recipients to design concepts for high-speed VTOL aircraft from January to June of this year. 

The Jaunt Journey aircraft uses Slowed Rotor Compound (SRC) technologies. (Photo: Jaunt)

Jaunt merged with the AIRO Group company as a wholly-owned subsidiary last October, joining its six other businesses, AIRO Drone, Agile Defense, Aspen Avionics, Coastal Defense, Sky-Watch, and VRCO.

In late July of this year, the AIRO Group announced that it had completed its mergers with global aerospace firms and had reorganized its business into four divisions: Advanced Avionics, Electric Air Mobility, Commercial Drones, and Training. The Jaunt Journey aircraft falls within AIRO’s Electric Air Mobility division. 

Joe Burns, CEO of the AIRO Group, believes that eVTOL operators “are looking for a pedigree of certification and safety as well as robust, dynamic capabilities, efficiencies, and quiet operations,” he remarked in the announcement about AIRO’s successful mergers and business realignment. “AIRO is proud to have received numerous pre-orders as well as multiple US DoD contracts aimed at optimizing eVTOL speed and minimizing acoustic signatures for quiet operations,” he added. 

Burns is also confident that aircraft certification of Jaunt’s eVTOL will be validated through the Federal Aviation Administration and the EU Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) soon after Transport Canada awards certification.

The post Jaunt and MintAir Partner to Launch eVTOL Operations in South Korea appeared first on Aviation Today.

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ASTM International Publishes New Standard for Designing Vertiports and Vertistops

The standards development organization ASTM International recently published a new standard that provides guidance to states and municipalities for the design and development of vertiports. The unmanned aircraft systems committee at ASTM, the F38 Committee, has worked on this standard—F3423—for the past five years to support advanced air mobility (AAM) infrastructure development.

This comes a few months after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published the first-ever vertiport design specifications, titled “Prototype Technical Design Specifications for Vertiports.” The document provided technical guidance for development of ground infrastructure that enables urban air mobility operations in Europe.

The announcement from ASTM explains that a vertiport can be constructed on land or water and can be used by both crewed and uncrewed aircraft that perform vertical take-offs and landings. Vertiports support a range of operations, from transporting passengers and cargo to performing medical services, maintenance, battery exchange, fueling, and flight instruction.

The F3423 standard also includes specifications for the design of vertistops, which are built for discharging passengers and cargo only—no fueling or scheduled maintenance can take place at a vertistop. 

“Everyone involved in the development and implementation of AAM transportation, and its supporting infrastructure, will find this standard extremely helpful,” commented ASTM International Fellow Jonathan Daniels in response to the announcement.

While the new standard was created to support the design of civil vertiports and vertistops, it could also be used for other facilities as a best practice document. However, it does not cover vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with floats that conduct water landings or take-offs. The ASTM standard also does not include specifications for infrastructure to support VTOL aircraft that weigh less than 55 pounds. 

The F38 Committee took into account multiple types of eVTOL aircraft, such as multi-rotor, lift & cruise, vectored thrust, tilt wing, and tilt rotor as the committee considered appropriate guidelines for AAM infrastructure requirements.

A rendering of a vertiport facility designed by Skyports (Photo: Skyports)

According to ASTM International’s announcement, the F3423 standard provides “the foundation for additional working groups supporting automated vertiports and connections through the vertiport supplementary data service provider (SDSP) work item.”

An ASTM International working group volunteer and member, Rex Alexander, remarked that developing this new standard required a balance between safety and practicality. “Without empirical aircraft performance data to rely on, the team’s goal was to develop a practical standard as a starting point that is not only safety centric but provides municipalities with a common-sense path forward,” he stated.

The F38 Committee meets twice a year to address issues related to unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, such as airworthiness and operator qualifications. We recently featured an interview with Phil Kenul, Chair of the F38 Committee, at Avionics International. Kenul noted that certain rules from the Federal Aviation Administration will go into effect on September 16, 2022, outlining requirements for UAS to maintain compliance with Remote ID. As of about a month ago, he noted, ASTM completed the means of compliance that the FAA is expected to adopt for Remote ID.

The vertiport design released by Skyportz this week (Photo: Skyportz)

Other recent news related to AAM infrastructure comes from an Australian startup, Skyportz, which aims to develop networks of vertiports for air taxis. This week, the company announced that it has secured an option to build what would be the first vertiport site in Australia. The design of the vertiport was released by Skyportz during the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems (AAUS) AAM Summit this week.

The post ASTM International Publishes New Standard for Designing Vertiports and Vertistops appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Archer’s Design Team Shares Insights on “Midnight” eVTOL’s Interior and Exterior

Archer recently revealed the silhouette of its eVTOL aircraft, Midnight. We spoke with two members of the design team at Archer to learn more about their approach to designing the aircraft and its unique components. (Photo: Archer)

Archer Aviation recently revealed the name of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, Midnight. While a detailed rendering of the aircraft has not yet been released, Archer shared a photo depicting the silhouette of its eVTOL. The company has completed the Preliminary Design Review and is targeting 2024 for achieving certification of Midnight.

Two members of Archer’s design team spoke with Avionics International this week about designing the interior and exterior of the aircraft. Juliette Allegra, CMF (Color, Materials, Finish) Designer at Archer, joined the company a year ago and comes from a background in the aerospace and automotive industries. Erik Saetre is a Vehicle Designer with an educational background in engineering and has been with Archer for about two years. He worked in the marine industry in Norway designing a search-and-rescue patrol boat before getting into transportation and automotive design. He has worked for Land Rover and Porsche as well as General Motors.

Check out our question-and-answer session with Allegra and Saetre about the design process at Archer, the eVTOL’s unique features, and the most important design considerations for the aircraft.

 

Avionics: What brought you to Archer?

Juliette Allegra: The eVTOL industry is pretty new, but it is about to really change the way people are commuting. We will be able to explore the world like never before, which is pretty amazing. We are also here to save people time in day-to-day life. 

Erik Saetre: The main reason I wanted to join Archer was the leadership team. Julien Montousse—and his credentials—was a big draw. I think automotive and transportation on the 2D grid is so “known.” I liked being able to join this new frontier and industry and revolutionize transportation as we know it, taking it into 3D. 

 

What are you working on these days?

Juliette Allegra: Every day is different. I am in charge of the development and application of the Archer CMF strategy for conceptual and production aircraft as well as vertiports and infrastructure. I create digital concepts and renderings, also physical concepts with material samples, panels, and things like that.

I collaborate every day with interior and exterior design, and I work a lot with Erik on material development—specifically the geometry and architecture. I also collaborate with engineering, branding, manufacturing, purchasing, and suppliers to execute design intents. I also source and develop materials to maintain the innovation within our CMF library. 

Erik Saetre: I am responsible for executing and designing the exterior of the aircraft along with our other exterior design specialist, Young-Joon Suh. We do manual digital sketching, 3D modeling, rendering, animation. We work with the engineering team and do constant iteration.

There has been a huge emphasis on the design of the seats. We’ve gone through numerous physical and digital iterations, testing to get the most ergonomic, perfect fit. It’s the most comfortable and lightweight seat; it’s really amazing. 

Above is Archer’s Maker eVTOL aircraft. (Photo: Archer)

What are some of the most unique design aspects of Archer’s aircraft?

Erik Saetre: Our approach to the exterior design and the architecture itself sets the tone for the cabin and everything else. The architecture is designed and centered around the human being. Positioning of the wing, height, clearances, everything aims to make getting in and out of the vehicle as effortless as possible, and also being comfortable within the cabin. 

The team really worked on sculpting the surfaces of the aircraft to reflect the environment around it. In that way, you’re kind of bringing life and emotion into the product. A good example of that in the automotive world is a rear fender on a Porsche—the surfaces are so taut but so sculpted, and it’s reflective; it has so much light. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.

Juliette Allegra: The idea with CMF is not to apply materials, or paint, or colors, it’s really trying to find symbiosis between materials and geometry. We have different requirements than the automotive industry. It’s very different, and it’s very challenging.

Saetre: We put a lot of emphasis on making the aircraft look equally as good in the air as on the ground. A lot of effort and innovation has gone into executing the landing gear, and giving it a solid, stable, and safe-looking stance. It has a very confident look and we think that’s very unlike any other aircraft at the moment.

Allegra: We are really creating a platform here. The idea is to emphasize the customer experience. We are trying to get away from what’s popular in the aviation industry right now. With CMF, we are trying to develop a premium product that will allow people to commute faster, and therefore give them the opportunity to explore and connect with their environment. Everything is studied: geometry shapes, architecture, and CMF, we are really pushing for a great experience for the consumer. We are building around them, actually.

 

What are some of the obstacles or challenges that the design team faces?

Juliette Allegra: We do face several requirements that are different from the automotive industry. The main one is the weight. It’s basically the main requirement for a CMF designer. There is absolutely no room for ornament or opulence.

Another requirement is taking a sustainable approach. This is very important to us. We are working with suppliers and engineers to implement new materials within the aerospace industry that are lightweight, sustainable, and very durable.

Erik Saetre: Weight restrictions and requirements have also been a massive enabler, I think. We’ve managed to create a very lean and athletic volume of fuselage; it’s become very efficient and very aerodynamic. It’s been a challenge, but it has enabled good design and good function.

Another big focus for us, with regards to the cabin, is the open visibility to the landscape and environment, and this kind of integration. I think that’s something unique that the cabin will offer. It’s such a different point of view—much lower to the ground than you would be in a commercial airliner. 

We released the silhouette of Midnight; I think that image speaks to how we’re conveying upward motion. The very premise of the VTOL is the verticality of it. You see the silhouette and outline of the wing—it has this kind of upward pull motion to it.

The post Archer’s Design Team Shares Insights on “Midnight” eVTOL’s Interior and Exterior appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Researchers Develop AI Pilot for Navigating Crowded Airspace

New research from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University shows that AI-powered pilots could enable the integration of autonomous aircraft into the airspace. Above is a simulation demonstrating the capabilities of an AI pilot. (Photo: The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University)

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have designed an AI (artificial intelligence) pilot that can navigate an aircraft through crowded airspace using visual flight rules (VFR). The AI pilot has been tested on flight simulators, and it detects other aircraft using a computer vision system and six cameras. It also offers the ability to communicate with air traffic controllers and pilots using its automatic speech recognition function.

There has not been sufficient research conducted on integrating autonomous vehicles into the airspace with manned aircraft, according to Jay Patrikar, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute that worked on the AI pilot project.

“With air taxis, most have been focusing on the hardware—building the aircraft, making it go faster and farther,” Patrikar told Avionics International. “Nobody has talked enough about how these taxis would get integrated into the current airspace system.” 

The AI pilot can operate an aircraft just like a human pilot, shared Dr. Jean Oh, associate research professor at the university’s Robotics Institute. She noted that larger airports usually have an air traffic control tower to optimize the schedule for aircraft taking off and landing.

At smaller airports, pilots rely on radio communications and visually observing other aircraft in the airspace to coordinate their actions. According to the Carnegie Melon team, most autopilot controls featured in commercial airliners and other aircraft are designed to operate under instrument flight rules (IFRs). That’s one reason why their team is focused on developing an AI pilot that can interact with other aircraft in the lower altitude VFR airspace where electric air taxis and drones operate. 

“We ran a very simple scenario with two airplanes trying to land at the same airport, potentially creating conflict,” said Dr. Oh regarding the simulated flight tests. “They need to plan their trajectories so they avoid collisions safely.”

The AI predicts the future trajectories of other aircraft after observing their movements. “Based on those predicted trajectories, the AI planner chooses a safe action,” Dr. Oh told Avionics. “We compute all the possible cases and then choose the safest path.”

The researchers’ current approach focuses mostly on this trajectory-based intention prediction and planning. They are also working on a proof of concept for using natural language understanding. “We use communication to capture the other pilot’s intentions,” she noted. “When that information is available, the algorithm can use it to refine the planning.” 

She remarked that there are limitations with this concept. “We can’t always assume that information will be ready. Communication is not always allowed or supported, and it can be very noisy input from the environment; there could be a lot of errors introduced by doing so.”

Dr. Oh has previously worked on robotic navigation systems for ground vehicles which helped to inform her work in developing an AI pilot. “A lot of the existing robotic technologies that are used for self-driving are developed in a static environment—the autonomous vehicle is the only moving agent in the environment and everything else is static,” she explained. 

“The approaches have been developed to detect obstacles and avoid them. What hasn’t been fully addressed is there are many other vehicles and agents in the environment. In such dynamic environments, the research is still ongoing.”

There are also a lot of limitations in the current regulatory approach to allowing operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the national airspace, according to Dr. Oh. “The Federal Aviation Administration and those currently designing the future of aviation are proposing a segregating approach,” she said. Essentially, they designate spaces for UAVs and other autonomous aircraft that are separate from those used by manned systems. 

As the number of UAVs and drones grows over the next 10 years, issues will arise. Solutions currently in effect at airports are inefficient, says Dr. Oh. “At the airport, if there is one UAV landing or taking off, no one else can use that space. It is a very inefficient use of these expensive resources.”

She points out that the airspace will quickly become crowded, and not just for commercial use but in other areas as well. The approach of separating autonomous aircraft from other vehicles does not scale well. The AI pilot that the Carnegie Mellon team has developed could provide the ideal solution to these problems.

The AI pilot has not yet been tested on actual aircraft. “We are doing more user studies in the coming weeks to evaluate the AI pilot,” Dr. Oh remarked. “There are difficulties evaluating this integrated AI system, and any type of integrated AI for that matter—there is no good way to evaluate the system using one metric.” 

The user studies, she explained, will involve human pilots flying in a simulated airspace with another aircraft controlled by either a second human pilot or the AI pilot. The research team will then ask the pilots how safe or comfortable they felt operating in each environment to evaluate the performance of the AI pilot.

 

The post Researchers Develop AI Pilot for Navigating Crowded Airspace appeared first on Aviation Today.

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PODCAST: How NetForecast Measures In-Flight Internet Quality of Experience

Alan Jones, Chief Technologist, NetForecast, is the guest on this episode.

On this episode of the Connected Aviation Intelligence Podcast, Alan Jones, Chief Technologist for NetForecast, joins  to discuss how his company helps airlines generate quality of experience scores for in-flight internet services and applications.

NetForecast is a Virginia-based independent provider of in-depth analysis and reporting on internet performance and user experiences. It was founded in 1999 and has leadership that participated in co-writing the Airline Passenger Experience (APEX) Connectivity Working Group specification “Evaluating the Passenger Connectivity Experience.”

As the company’s chief technologist, Jones is responsible for the design and deployment of NetForecast’s QMap network user experience quality monitoring service. He heads research and development for user experience measurement, data collection, and cloud-based aggregation for terrestrial, mobile, and satellite-based internet services.

Jones discusses some of the basic metrics NetForecast uses to measure in-flight internet network service performance, how airlines can produce in-flight connectivity Quality of Experience scores, and more.

Listen to this episode below, or check it out on iTunes or Google Play. If you like the show, subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes as soon as they’re released.

The post PODCAST: How NetForecast Measures In-Flight Internet Quality of Experience appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Saudia to Start Flying with Falcon 300 GX Aviation Connectivity Service Next Year

Saudia will start flying a fleet of Airbus A321neo and A321XLR aircraft equipped with Falcon 300 terminals—pictured here installed on a 737—to enable Inmarsat’s GX Aviation in-flight connectivity service next year. (Photo: Stellar Blu)

Saudia is on track to start flying Airbus A321 aircraft upgraded with Falcon 300 terminals to enable Inmarsat’s GX Aviation in-flight connectivity (IFC) service early next year. The Saudi Arabian national carrier is ready to start installing and activating the GX connectivity on a fleet of 35 Airbus A321neo and A321XLR aircraft after the completion of a flight trial campaign where Inmarsat tested the performance of the service across “more than 320 simultaneous online user sessions and sustained throughput of over 200Mbps.”

The Falcon 300 terminal has received full type approval for the Airbus A321, according to Inmarsat. Developed in partnership with Inmarsat, Stellar Blu’s Falcon 300 terminal includes a Ka-band mechanical phased array antenna, dual modem MODMAN, and several cabin wireless access points.

Stellar Blu served as the lead on obtaining certification and scheduling installations of the Falcon 300 on Saudia’s Airbus A321s, according to the connectivity terminal provider’s CEO Tracy Trent. In May, during the Future Aviation Forum held in Riyadh, Stellar Blu signed a collaboration agreement with Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI) to include the company’s in-flight connectivity installations as one of the modification services offered at a new one million square meter, custom-designed MRO Village to be located at the King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah.

“The fact we have reached this stage in such a short timeframe is testament to the talented engineering teams on both sides, who mainly worked remotely over the last two years and rarely met in person. We look forward to seeing the Falcon 300 onboard SAUDIA’s Airbus A321neo and Airbus A321XLR aircraft, followed by many more airline fleets in the years to come,” Trent said in a statement.

Saudia first made the selection of the Falcon 300 for its Airbus A321 fleet in November 2021 to become the first airline customer for Inmarsat’s OneFi portal. Inmarsat launched the OneFi customer experience platform (CXP) last year as a new digital in-flight passenger experience tool to drive more ancillary revenue from passengers last year.

“The results of our flight trials have demonstrated the terminal’s ability to consistently deliver the highest levels of connectivity, even over the world’s busiest airspaces,” William Huot-Marchand, Inmarsat Aviation’s Senior Vice President of In-flight Connectivity, said in a statement. “And with final type approval now in place, we are fast approaching commercial service at the beginning of next year.”

The post Saudia to Start Flying with Falcon 300 GX Aviation Connectivity Service Next Year appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Intelsat Enters IFC Market in India Through Agreement With Nelco

 

(Photo: BusinessWire)

Intelsat is entering the in-flight connectivity (IFC) market in India through an agreement with Nelco, a satcom service provider in India. Intelsat announced Thursday that the service is currently available on Intelsat partner airlines and their passengers on aircraft.

The agreement covers Intelsat airline partners with domestic and international flights to or from an Indian airport, as well as aircraft flying over the country. Jeff Sare, president of Commercial Aviation, said this opens the possibility for Intelsat to serve India’s domestic airlines with “untapped potential for IFC growth.”

Nelco will provide these services using Intelsat’s IS-33e high throughput satellite, which provides C- and Ku-band connectivity to parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Intelsat’s IS-33e satellite is approved by Indian government regulators.

“We are proud that Nelco has forged this relationship with in-flight connectivity pioneer Intelsat to offer aero IFC services on their customer aircraft,” said PJ Nath, managing director and CEO of Nelco. “As India’s leading satcom service provider offering best-in-class services, we are now creating a great opportunity through this relationship with Intelsat for further growth of our aero IFC services in the country in the coming years – and we intend to be a leader in this market in India.”

This is the latest IFC win for Intelsat, which recently announced a distribution agreement with OneWeb to offer a multi-orbit IFC service combining Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite capacity by 2024.

 

This article was first published by Via Satellite, a sister publication to Avionics International. 

The post Intelsat Enters IFC Market in India Through Agreement With Nelco appeared first on Aviation Today.

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OPINION: For Aviation Cybersecurity, the Horizon Is Nearer Than You Think

(Image by Martin Winkler from Pixabay)

Today’s commercial and military aircraft are critical infrastructure for transportation and logistics. However, researchers have detected vulnerabilities in them that pose potential cybersecurity risks, particularly during periods of military conflicts. Nevertheless, funding is rising for companies that secure the crucial operational technology (OT) layer powering flight systems; and public and private stakeholders are making sizable progress in adding visibility to this pocket of converged tech stacks where malicious actors could operate. Startups with tailored solutions have been key in advancing protections and I remain a strong advocate for continued innovation to further empower today’s defenders and to ultimately field these new capabilities.

While in previous years there may have been a love-hate relationship between aviation and cybersecurity (around implicit questions over safety), the tides have begun to change, and strong partnerships have been forged amid cybersecurity’s rapid ascent. While avionics and aviation systems are clearly more digital, fly-by-wire systems, versus the mechanical stick and yoke pilots flew in the 1950s, the industry has recognized areas to intervene and strengthen defenses. Stakeholders have responded in kind with research initiatives and operational testing, some of which I’ll explore here.

 

A Widening Attack Surface

Over time, today’s aircraft have become dotted with smart technologies. This has provided a more connected flight for passengers, smoother operations for pilots and more data for airline operators to make better fleet-wide decisions. However, this modernization brings with it cybersecurity risk. Exploits have been identified that can skirt weak authentication, jam GPS signals, or even tamper with misconfigured in-flight or ground systems.

In fact, in 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ran “nose to tail” tests of an aging commercial airliner to detect weak spots and found that the vessel could be hacked by breaching the plane’s radio frequency communications. Nevertheless, rising awareness and technological advancements have helped counter this activity. The DHS assessment, along with similar testing and certification processes, have helped enhance protections aboard our aircraft (from software and hardware to the wider network architecture).

Large suppliers like Boeing maintain that effective cybersecurity is essential to the business, including both operations and overall data protection, and for one, the manufacturer adheres to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework – and expects similar efforts from partners to secure the aviation supply chain.

Thanks to this type of recognition and progress, a once-held assumption that flight systems simply prioritize physical safety and reliability over cybersecurity is waning. Manufacturers have grown more aware of the physical (and fiscal) impact of today’s cyberattacks (ransomware hits on flight operation systems, grounded flights, etc.), which has hastened innovation. Now, scores of solution providers are emerging with capable products that can be deployed for immediate results.

(Image by StockSnap from Pixabay)

 

Data Visibility: A Source of Hope

Overall, I’m certainly optimistic about our future. As partner and head of AEI HorizonX, a VC venture formed in partnership with Boeing, I spend my time researching and investing in next-generation aerospace defense and security startups around the world. I believe that if the industry continues to foster innovation and increased awareness, cybersecurity challenges of all kinds can be overcome (and threats averted).

In fact, we’re seeing rapid innovation around the use of data, specifically. Companies providing tailored, dual-use solutions for both public and private deployment are primed to excel – and attract VC funding – in the current market. Security innovators like OT cyber firm Shift5, for example, are working to provide continuous monitoring of onboard networks and data buses (hardware subsystems used for data transmission), bringing greater observability, and therefore cybersecurity, to Airplane Information Management Systems (AIMS), ground/onboard systems, connected fuel gauges, and other mechanisms.

 

Data as a Force Multiplier

Early adopters of these tailored solutions are seeing security improvements, and performance and efficiency benefits. Enhanced data monitoring using artificial intelligence and machine learning, for example, helps defenders see patterns and anomalies that could indicate security issues. But they can also surface mechanical issues in real time – reducing the chances of a damaging cyberattack or malfunction.

I’m confident that with OT-level data available to innovative solution providers, operators can enhance their strategic decision-making around fleet usage and drive profitability. I believe it will take even further momentum, however, to up-level the overall security of every aircraft. Like the equipment retrofitting we’ve seen around new cabin services (personalized IFE software or purchase-tracking Wi-Fi sensors), enlightening OT security tools are an investment in the future, poised to uncover new efficiencies.

There’s never been a more exciting time for innovation in this space. Despite greater levels of connectivity and associated cyber-risk, operators proceeding with cybersecurity in mind will maintain safe flying conditions – and the industry has the tech offerings to make this happen.

 

Brian Schettler leads AEI HorizonX, the venture capital investment platform formed in partnership with The Boeing Company. He was also a founder and senior managing director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures and led Boeing’s venture capital team chartered with investing in next-generation aerospace defense and security startups around the world. He has more than two decades of experience in aerospace, technology and defense companies and has led numerous investment transactions. He was also formerly the VP of Corporate Strategy at Cobham and a senior strategist for Boeing Military Aircraft, Phantom Works, and the space systems division of Northrop Grumman.

 

 

 

The post OPINION: For Aviation Cybersecurity, the Horizon Is Nearer Than You Think appeared first on Aviation Today.

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Reliable Robotics Receives FAA G-1 Acceptance for Autonomous Cessna Caravan System

Reliable Robotics is working toward certification of its autonomous navigation system on the Cessna 208 Caravan. (Photo, courtesy of Reliable Robotics.)

Reliable Robotics has received acceptance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the certification basis associated with the autonomous aircraft navigation system it is developing. The California-based company’s G-1 issue paper was accepted by the FAA for the autonomous platform it is developing and has already demonstrated on the Cessna 208 Caravan.

First established in 2017, Reliable Robotics made headlines in recent years for completing several remotely piloted tests from its Mountain View, California headquarters of its autonomous systems on several Cessna aircraft. In February 2021, Reliable Robotics remotely piloted a Cessna 208 Caravan, following similar achievements in 2020 and the autonomous flight of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk over a populated region in 2019.

In August 2020, the company completed a fully automated landing with its system in a FedEx-owned Cessna 208, as the air cargo carrier has expressed interest in the potential benefits the technology could eventually provide to air cargo airlines. Now, with FAA acceptance of their G-1 issue paper, Reliable Robotics is ready to move into the next phase of their certification program and efforts to prepare their system for live operations.

“We are very appreciative of the FAA’s noteworthy attention to detail and ongoing support,” Mark Mondt, director of certification for Reliable Robotics, said in a statement. “This certification basis is the culmination of years of work with the FAA and represents a key step towards bringing advanced navigation and autoflight systems to normal category aircraft. We look forward to continuing our work together as we move into the next phase of the certification process.

The autonomous platform developed by Reliable Robotics is designed as an upgrade kit for fixed-wing aircraft. According to the company’s website, the system includes avionics, software, a communications system, remote command interfaces, and a “backup system that has the capability to take over if needed.” Demonstrations of their technology have been remotely piloted from workstations at their headquarters that feature an iPad programmed to provide information and a user interface for the remote pilot to manage the flight plan, and maintain situational awareness over the aircraft.

Command and control, voice, and data links are also enabled from the control center where their remote pilots can communicate with air traffic controllers as well as other aircraft with a push-to-talk function.

The FAA’s acceptance of the G-1 issue paper provides Reliable Robotics with airworthiness and environmental requirements for the certification of its autonomous system. Their next steps will include the development of a G-2 issue paper, followed by the eventual demonstration of how the design of their system is in compliance with the requirements outlined in the issue papers. This would allow Reliable Robotics to achieve supplemental type certification (STC) for their system on the Cessna 208 Caravan.

Crossing the G-1 issue paper milestone comes for Reliable Robotics following the addition of several new aviation industry veterans to their executive team. Kevin Sagis, who has held chief engineering roles at Lockheed Martin, NASA, the Department of Defense, and Virgin Orbit, was appointed chief engineer and senior vice president of Reliable Robotics in May. Brandon Suarez, a former technical director for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., was appointed Vice President of UAS Integration for Reliable Robotics in July.

The post Reliable Robotics Receives FAA G-1 Acceptance for Autonomous Cessna Caravan System appeared first on Aviation Today.

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