Avionics manufacturers in the USA are poised on the threshold of a new technology that could have major implications for maintenance in the airline industry. But just as the computer world is divided between PC and Apple Mac users, the decisions being taken could determine which camp an airline will find itself in for years to come. The regionals will most likely call the first shots.
Neural systems - or smart avionics - are sparking interest not only because they will greatly enhance preventative maintenance, and reduce maintenance costs, but also because they will give greater control over maintenance procedures. Within five years, industry experts predict that such systems will be able to use past-trend data to anticipate maintenance requirements before there is a failure. Through a technology known as software partitioning, failures will be pinpointed with much greater accuracy and corrected without interfering with other systems. The same goes for upgrades, not only to aircraft, but also to ground systems and air traffic control systems.
It sounds like maintenance nirvana, but there is a catch. The two vendor companies leading the field in this technology concept - Honeywell and Rockwell Collins - are competing fiercely to be market leader. In theory, a single avionics operating system - software equivalent to the all-pervasive Windows operating system in PCs- could be developed. This would be common for all future airliners, allowing airlines to standardise their equipment and procedures. Commercial reality dictates, however, that there will be at least two, incompatible, operating systems. Savvy airline maintenance managers looking ahead to reducing their long-term maintenance costs may want to look hard at their future options.
The technology being developed by the two US companies has a common foundation - the business jet. Honeywell developed its Primus Epic system initially for the newest business jets, while Rockwell Collins was blazing a similar trail with its Pro Line 21 system. Each is chasing the regional airline market. Honeywell will put Primus Epic on the Fairchild Dornier 728JET 70-seater, while Rockwell Collins is wooing the market with Pro Line 21. "While the regionals used to be fairly primitive 'mom and pop' organisations, that is no longer true today," says Gene Schwarting, director of strategic planning at Honeywell. "They have developed into a totally different business. The regionals are much more dynamic and are still growing."
Ed Skutecki, director of Epic systems at Honeywell, says the focus when developing the new avionics was on reducing life-cycle costs. "The approach was to take [the] major advantage of our system architecture and then make some giant technological steps. For the airlines, it will make a real difference to the bottom line because you will see prime savings in reduced weight, fewer parts that can go wrong and improved passenger capacity and performance of aircraft."
John Uczekaj, vice-president of the Systems Unit at Honeywell's Commercial Aviation Systems, adds that preventative maintenance is one of the primary drivers behind their system. "Preventative maintenance and reliability are the prime focus of the airlines at regional and major levels. They want to know about maintenance and reliability and about mean time between failures. It's the strong emphasis on that item that has forced avionics suppliers to become more creative. It's an evolution, and at the moment it's down to the regionals."
Both companies expect to see their technologies migrate from the regionals to the major carriers within the next five years.
But the majors will need to take into account that this is a much larger issue than avionics. First, because avionics are at the heart of each aircraft, they handle all the information that is transmitted, including maintenance data. This means that the choice of operating system will determine the nature of all the systems that are linked into the avionics, including ground systems.
Second, because in each case avionics manufacturers are keen to emulate the engine makers by becoming long-term service providers rather than mere equipment suppliers. Honeywell, for example, will provide its operating system for nothing to hook customers into Epic and make its operating system as widely accepted as possible.
The manufacturers regard this new way of doing business as a partnership. "This is not just about putting a Pro Line 21 in a regional jet, although that is a manifestation," says Rockwell Collins' Schwarting. "It's a concept that will be of interest in part or totally to the airlines of the future. It's a form of networking and it's about sharing information."
Source: Airline Business
