Did you think about how fast the flying passenger connected experience is changing: improving, offering more opportunities and better services?
Airbus A350-900 Flight Lab aircraft started in-flight trials of Internet of Things connected cabin technologies, as declared by manufacturer - to be shortly revealed to customers.Airbus becomes the first aircraft manufacturer to undertake such flight-testing of actual connected cabin innovations, paving the way for a new personalised passenger experience and an open ecosystem approach for airlines.
The Flight Lab is one of the original A350-900 certification flight-test aircraft – MSN002 – and is fitted with an Airspace cabin which now serves as the ideal platform to evaluate the new connected cabin technologies in flight. To this end, and in conjunction with Airbus’ best-in-class cabin partners, an initial set of working elements have been installed. These include prototypes of the connected iSeat (Recaro), the Connected Galley (gategroup), a remote wireless cabin management control system, a large OLED display and importantly, the first step of Airbus’ new “IoT backbone” which includes an open software platform. These innovations are all now being tested in flight – together with others to be revealed in due course to customers.
The connected cabin ecosystem will enable significant value-adding services for passengers, airlines and crews. Possible examples include:
Customer-centric approach
The in-flight tests are part of our customer-centric approach, which began with workshops to create and prioritise innovative concepts, followed by an extensive phase of on-ground testing and customer evaluation of the connected elements. The subsequent testing of these innovations in an Airbus Flight Lab environment is key to bringing an integrated Connected Experience to fruition – being able to validate and refine them in a real airborne cabin. In particular, the tests allow the various elements to be operated and monitored during a normal flight cycle, especially with regard to the end-to-end data flow robustness within the systems and between them. The next steps will continue testing of the current setup, then close the feedback loop with airlines using Airbus’ Customer Experience Teams (CET) forum, by around year-end.
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