A lot of us have tarted to take it for granted that we’re surrounded by sensors that are connected to the Internet. Smartphones are packed with these sensors motion, orientation, and various environmental conditions are recorded by these sensors.
Sensors have long been found on aircraft – jet engine manufacturers like General Electric and Pratt & Whitney embedded sensors into their equipment. These sensors have been quietly collecting vast quantities of data – as an example, the GEnx jet engine has 5,000 individual data points analyzed per second – but this data, formerly an internal tool used by these companies, will soon become a standalone value-generating business itself.
This move to embedding cheap sensors in every conceivable (and many inconceivable) places is known as the Internet of Things (IoT). There are other names for this trend (GE prefers the “industrial Internet”) but essentially they all refer to the same thing: taking small and generally cheap sensors, inserting them in a variety of different places and harnessing the massive amounts of data they create. This data can then be analyzed to determine trends, anomalies and the best way to build things.
While this notion of the IoT might seem irrelevant to all but the most technologically obsessed airline-watcher, the impact of this move is going to be felt throughout the airline industry.
New revenue streams
Pratt & Whitney is now using the IoT to launch an entire services business. The company is adding to its traditional after-market business with service contracts that are directly enabled by the collection and analysis of sensor data. The half-terabyte of data that the company collects per flight is being used via data modeling and statistical analysis to anticipate repairs before an aircraft lands. The enabling of this proactive assessment of component wear is generating more tailored maintenance solutions. Rather than simply using flying-hours maintenance schedules, Pratt & Whitney generates value for its customers by moving to a far more predictive maintenance schedule.
Increasing efficiency
The array of sensors that jet engines (and other parts of modern aircraft) now contain are being used, alongside sophisticated analytic tools, to provide real-time flight information. Whereas in the past this data was stored and downloaded on the ground for analysis after the event, the rise of lower cost computing solutions now means that flight data is being tracked, and reacted to, in real time.
Honeywell VP of marketing and product management Jack Jacobs, says, “I like to look at it as, there is already a lot of data we have on planes. How do you make it useful so that saves people money, saves the maintenance guys money or make the crews’ life easier for getting information?”
The future is driven by software
Famed entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen famously opined that “software is eating the world”. What he meant is that all companies are applying a software layer to what they do in order to drive efficiencies, develop new products and increase customer satisfaction. The airline industry is no exception and the IoT powered by software and data analytics will fundamentally change the way airlines and associated organizations work……..
See full story on impactlab.net
Image credit: Cliff | Flickr Via Runway Girl Network