Smart cabin

Networking data from the cabin

Even today, aircraft cabins generate vast amounts of data - from water consumption on board to maintenance data - and the trend is rising. However, this data has not yet been systematically collected, analyzed and correlated. Diehl Aviation's i+sCabin research project aims to change this. The potential is considerable:

Using resources more efficiently

In future, airlines could track how much fresh water or coffee is consumed on which flights, derive forecasts from this and thus plan the amount taken on board more efficiently.

Reducing energy consumption

When does the galley need a lot of electricity, when do the spotlights and when does the entertainment system? This data could be used to manage energy use more efficiently.

Optimize boarding

Crews receive real-time data on the boarding process, such as information on occupied seats or unused space in overhead lockers. This would reduce waiting times and speed up boarding.

Speed up maintenance and repairs

Finding the cause of defective equipment would become easier, as structured data collection - supported by AI systems - would help to uncover complex correlations more quickly.

Enabling predictive maintenance

Until now, faults and defective devices have been entered in a manual logbook during the flight and only read out on the ground. In future, networked cabin systems could report faults to the ground crew during the flight. Necessary spare parts would be procured in advance and installed immediately after landing - saving up to two hours at large airports and preventing delays in an emergency.

In order to turn these visions into reality, the project partners - including manufacturers, airlines and scientists - have been developing a uniform standard for cabin features under the leadership of Diehl Aviation since 2018. No trivial task: the standard had to be configured in such a way that it can be used for all applications in the cabin - from the coffee machine and lavatory equipment to seats and lighting. It is now available and can be used by manufacturers when developing new products. In a second step, the follow-up project i+sCabin 2.0 is currently researching how the collected data can be used for specific applications and what is needed for this.