Global spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) is predicted to reach $745 billion in 2019, and like other industries, the aviation sector is also weighing upon to adopt smart technology to improve passenger experience to airport maintenance and cockpit connectivity.
Furthermore, airport facility automation is one of the benefits of the use of IoT, that is expected to deliver the fastest growth in worldwide spending over the 2017-2022 period. Transport is ranked third among the industries that will spend the most on IoT solutions, after manufacturing.
ASThe General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is all set to organise the second edition of Global Investment in Aviation Summit (GIAS) under the theme ‘Enabling global aviation growth through fundraising and key partnership’ at Madinat Jumeirah on 27- 29 January 2020, these topics will be highlighted by experts and professionals attending various segments of the summit.
“Worldwide investment in the aviation sector is very profitable, witnessing an accelerated growth rate of 5% annually. The Global Investment in Aviation Summit will showcase potential investment opportunities as it connects key industry leaders, experts and investors to build new partnerships,” said Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the GCAA.
He also added “The workshops and sessions organized during the summit will represent a great opportunity to raise awareness among international investors and professionals on the latest developments and available investment opportunities in the sector. The details and updates related to IoT applications on most of the operations procedures, the raising of the efficiency of airport management while using the existing capacities and capabilities and avoiding the increase of personnel and ground equipment will be key highlight points discussed by the experts during the summit.”
Smart technology is also used in aircraft maintenance nowadays to rein in costs associated with it and for efficiency besides helping aircraft engineers and maintenance technicians diagnose problems sooner and prescribe the right course of maintenance. Some of the smart maintenance technologies and aviation mechanics trends innovative airlines are adopting include drone maintenance, wearable technology, and predictive maintenance.
Another important area where smart solutions are widely used in the aviation industry is cockpit connectivity, a term used to describe the communication between what’s going on in the cockpit and how the team on the ground is affected by it.
Having aircraft set up with cockpit connectivity helps ground operators know in advance what types of decisions they’ll have to make when the aircraft lands. Decisions made through cockpit connectivity could end up saving the aviation industry an estimated $15 billion annually, not to mention reduce CO2 emissions by 21.3 million tonnes annually by 2035.
Drones can improve inspection efficiency by allowing technicians to get a closer, more accurate look at aircraft, reducing maintenance costs while improving aircraft safety. In the future, drones won’t just be used for inspections — they’ll also be used for parts delivery and performing scheduled and automated maintenance.
The future of aircraft maintenance also might leverage wearable technology. For example, Japan Airlines had its engineers wear Google Glass glasses as they worked on the aircraft. The Google Glass sent live images to maintenance specialists who could, in real-time, advise the engineers of what maintenance to perform based on issues they saw from the Google Glass images.
The recently concluded Airport IT conference in Munich also outlined the importance of disruptive technology in the future of airport management and said that aviation hubs will witness more use of wearables, IoT applications and predictive analysis in the future.
At GIAS, participants get the opportunity to listen and learn from experts and professionals what are the latest trends and smart solutions that would determine the future course of the aviation industry.
