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Safran is offering a digital maintenance solution for cabin systems, aiming to improve reliability and reduce downtime for galley equipment, lavatories and seats, the company announced at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX).
The approach may usher in a smarter use of those recent cabin systems that can share data on their condition, addressing pain points for passengers and flight attendants.
Digitalization is common on engines and landing gears. Meanwhile, the cabin is still a black box, Safran Cabin product marketing director Julie Imbert pointed out. Safran's Internet of Things Edge Controller, or Iotec, gathers data from cabin systems autonomously.
As a first step, Safran is prioritizing galley inserts (such as a coffee maker), lavatory equipment and business-class and first-class seats—areas where customers see the most value, Imbert said. “We rely on smart products generating data,” she said, adding that solutions for “dumb” equipment may come later.
Iotec, a small box installed in various locations in the cabin, collects the data. “As cabin crew pass by a box with their tablet, the mobile gateway—an app working in background—triggers the box to share the data,” Imbert said. “It sends it to the Safran cloud as soon as it finds an internet connection, in the air or on the ground.”
Iotec enables preventive maintenance. When limescale builds up in a coffee maker, the power to heat water increases. Sensors can detect the condition and trigger a “descaling required” alert, as opposed to descaling after a given number of cycles, Imbert explained.
As for corrective maintenance, Iotec reduces the investigation time, she said. Currently, it can take up to a few weeks to find the origin of a failure. With Iotec, that will be less than a day, she asserted. Relying on the presence of several sensors in the cabin, the error is contextualized. “The data tells the maintenance team, this is the error, this might be the root cause, and this is where you should go,” she said. An operator may want to add sensors to existing equipment, providing it is recent technology.
Iotec stands at technology readiness level 6, meaning it is mature enough to support product development. Safran is looking for a launch customer and, after successful ground testing, is ready for flight trials, Imbert said. The company is thus talking to airframers and carriers, hoping to arrange such tests by the end of 2025. The system could receive certification in 2026.
Safran will sell Iotec as a service, based on the reduction in cost of ownership for the carrier.
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