M2M in aeroplanes: security and more

Security is one of the most important variables for any mode of transportation but it gains even more relevance in aviation. M2M(industrial wireless router) technology plays a fundamental part in the safest means of transportation which complements more traditional maintenance and alert systems.

Flying has specially meticulous and consolidated security processes. Each advancement must be absolutely reliable in order to be integrated into the planes. This is one of the challenges for machine-to-machine technology.

Dozens of sensors around all the plane can offer very valuable information which not only avoid accidents, but also save time in the maintenance, something critical in scales for carriers’ rentability and passengers’ comfort.

High accuracy GPS, temperature, pressure, humidity, accelerometer, shock, vibration and motion are some of the parameters that the Sentry tracking system can measure. This is a solution is that it has been certified as safe to use on aircraft.

The possibilities of M2M on aircrafts was very well explained by Bill Ruh, vice-president for software at GE Research, in Computerweekly: “A GE engine on an aircraft could alert ground engineers when the plane has landed, through its social network of engineer friends. Potentially, this would allow the engineers to be alerted that the aircraft is on the ground, so the ground team can carry out any maintenance that the engine has alerted them about through status updates.”

Furthermore, M2M technology not only offers a faster and more efficient maintenance of the aircrafts, but also flight possibilities that were very complex to reach until now. A good example is how it has let planes fly over Polar Regions for the first time. A new satellite communications company will provide data service for air traffic control communications when flying across oceans and over the Polar Regions.

M2M advances in aviation also has to do with flight automatization. Some days ago, a bat-winged experimental Navy drone executed landings on an aircraft carrier which had never before been done.