Airbus Makes Wireless Push
September 24 2015 - 8:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
WASHINGTON-- Airbus Group SE has asked aviation officials and
regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to draft joint standards
that could eventually allow pilots to use wireless technology to
help fly airliners.
So far, most public attention has focused on enhanced wireless
technology to improve connectivity for passengers surfing the Web
during flights. But the European company's move is part of a
broader, less well-known initiative--which includes rival Boeing
Co. and several international avionics suppliers--to potentially
harness onboard wireless signals for safety-related
applications.
Airbus hasn't publicly spelled out its goals, and at this point
any such efforts are merely concepts bound to face years of
regulatory and engineering debate and analysis. They also are
likely to spark skepticism from average travelers, already
concerned about the proliferation of cyberattacks directed at
government and corporate computer systems.
But if the industrywide initiative gains traction, according to
aviation experts, wireless signals could end up serving as backups
for engine controls; monitoring the condition of landing-gear
systems; detecting dangerous icing on airplane surfaces; alerting
about defective airspeed sensors; and warning pilots in case of
excessive vibration or structural stress.
On Thursday, Airbus indicated that company engineers already
envision more safety-critical applications. They are looking at
relying on wireless technology as "an additional layer of
redundancy" for moving critical wing and tail surfaces that control
flight, according to spokesman Clay McConnell. "If this is to be
done, it's a long process," he said, adding that Boeing and other
industry players also are inviting trans-Atlantic cooperation on
standards.
Proponents envision such wireless applications will be separate
from signals used by passengers for entertainment or
communications.
In a statement, Boeing said it supports creation of industry
standards for such wireless communications but "until we have these
standards fully defined and vetted, we can't speculate about how
these capabilities would be used."
The general concept was spelled out in a Sept. 4 letter from
Jean-Paul Platzer, a senior Airbus flight-systems manager, to
Margaret Jenny, president of RTCA Inc., an industry-government
group that serves as the Federal Aviation Administration's primary
adviser on technical standards. Referring to eventual certification
of what Airbus called a "wireless onboard avionics network," the
letter was the most concrete indication yet of high-level Airbus
interest in the topic.
Released Tuesday during a gathering of RTCA's top policy-making
panel in Washington, the letter surprised and puzzled U.S. industry
and government experts attending the meeting. At this early stage,
the generally worded letter conceivably pertains to "anything
safety-related" on aircraft, according Christopher Hegarty, a Mitre
Corp. expert who chairs RTCA's program-management committee.
The concept, according to these experts, also raises significant
issues about future aircraft vulnerabilities to cyberattacks. The
idea entails broad systems-reliability questions, Richard Jennings,
an FAA safety manager, told the RTCA panel, "not to mention
cybersecurity issues."
The industrywide effort, dubbed Wireless Avionics
Intra-Communications, must secure dedicated bandwidth and develop
common engineering rules applicable to a host of airliner models.
The topic is expected to come up at the World Radiocommunications
Conference in November in Geneva, during debate over allocating new
radio spectrum for aviation-safety purposes.
Current fly-by-wire controls--used by both Airbus and
Boeing--rely on a host of onboard computers and actuators connected
by an extensive network of electrical conduits to carry out pilot
commands.
Replacing even some of those "hard wired" connections with
wireless links could mean significant savings in weight and
maintenance costs. Modern jetliners are stuffed with hundreds of
miles of electrical conduits weighing thousands of pounds, and
those wires can be subject to chafing, corrosion, short-circuits
and other damage.
The proposed wireless technology could eventually take the place
of roughly one-third of all the wiring on current jetliners,
according to industry estimates.
Representatives of the FAA and Boeing at Tuesday's session said
they intended to study the request, which said the initial goal is
merely to draft minimum technical standards.
On Thursday, the Airbus spokesman said the range of potential
uses is likely to expand as manufacturers gain experience and
become more comfortable with new wireless applications.
Robert Wall in London contributed to this article.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 24, 2015 19:46 ET (23:46 GMT)
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