Crystal Cabin Award Winners That Could Simplify Aircraft Maintenance

Several products winning this year’s Crystal Cabin awards include technological features aimed at simplifying aircraft maintenance.

Collins Aerospace won the Passenger Comfort category with its InteliSense smart cabin product. InteliSense is an integrated intelligence system that provides information and predictions to an airline’s maintenance technicians and cabin crew. The product combines artificial intelligence, machine learning and sensor technology to gather information from objects within the seat environment, which is then used to enable predictive maintenance and predictive services. For example, InteliSense can collect data from electronics to determine when faulty equipment should be repaired, or data from a passenger’s glass to determine when a drink should be refilled. The data is transmitted to the crew’s electronic flight bag.

Teledyne Controls won the Health and Safety category with its Cabin Ambient Sensor (ACES) Cabin Air Quality Control System. ACES uses sensors installed in the cockpit and flight deck that perform real-time monitoring of airborne particulates, volatile organic compounds, and gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone. The data is automatically transmitted to a cloud service for immediate processing and analysis. Teledyne says the system can allow airlines to monitor specific aircraft trends, such as unhealthy levels of engine oil versus exhaust fluid or ice, to help maintenance crews better resolve efforts in specific areas. Crystal Cabin Awards judges say the system can reduce airline maintenance costs and aircraft downtime by allowing operators to validate on-board repairs without the need for additional sensor systems.

Thales Avionics’ Onboard Data Center (ODC) won the cabin systems, materials and components category. The system is designed to bring state-of-the-art IT architecture to commercial aircraft. It uses a system of “blades” with storage and computing capabilities that Thales says provides 10 times the aggregate storage space of the average in-flight entertainment server. The blades are designed to be changed as needed, making it easy for airlines to replace and upgrade blades as needed.