Quantcast

Aircraft e-enablement advances beyond ARINC 853 at Hamburg Expo

American Testing Tech to Help Passengers Make Connecting Flights
Why fuel price crash won’t make flying cheaper
Kristi Noem says travelers without Real ID will still be able to fly after deadline
Frontier Airlines Announces New Routes Launching This Summer, Connecting Baltimore With Chicago O’Hare and Trenton, N.J. With Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Airlines in North America prioritize investments in cyber, AI
Global Airlines & HiFly Operate 1st Passenger Airbus A380 Flight Between Barcelona And Berlin
American Airlines unveils ritzy new plane suites launching this summer
Airline Stocks To Keep An Eye On - April 28th
50 New Routes Starting In May 2025
Report: JetBlue, United Mulling Partnership
New First-Class Suites, Futuristic Aircraft and the Top Air Travel News From April 2025
Southwest Airlines Announces Reimagined Fare Products, New Benefits for Rapid Rewards Credit Cardmembers and Tier Member Customers
New Alaska Airlines trading cards take flight this World Pilots’ Day - Alaska Airlines News
United CEO calls Trump's tariffs a 'chess game'
Virtual Training Becomes a Reality
Korean Air Restarts Longest 747 Passenger Flight in the World
Flight tickets from Srinagar remain exorbitantly high despite aviation ministry request
RTX Q1 Earnings & Sales Beat Estimates, Increase Year Over Year
Delta faces federal investigation as it scraps hundreds of flights for fifth straight day
Coalition pledges to remove EV tax break two days after Dutton ruled out scrapping it – as it happened
Adani’s airport unit seeks $750 million loan from global banks
GE Aerospace affirms outlook; CEO met with Trump to discuss tariffs
Flight made emergency landing in Denver after reported animal strike and engine fire
General Dynamics says G800 jet receives FAA, EASA certifications
Archer unveils plans for NYC air-taxi network in partnership with United Airlines
United Airlines doubles down on Chicago roots with new O'Hare billboards
ICAO Proposes ‘Journey Pass’ Biometric ID Boarding
Gatwick airport strikes, Easter 2025: will my flight be cancelled?
Boarding passes and check-in could be scrapped in air travel shake-up
The most in Mexico: American Airlines adds 30th destination as part of a record-breaking schedule
Aircraft e-enablement advances beyond ARINC 853 at Hamburg Expo
Events
Webp 1j2z2he2jv85ft2pvno4u4jt2coq
Becca Alkema Operations Manager and Contributing Writer | Runway Girl Network

Representatives from the eighteen-member i+s cabin research partnership convened at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg to showcase advancements in aircraft e-enablement, backend Internet of Things communications, and connected cabin components. The consortium aims to move beyond the ARINC 853 standard towards real-world implementation.

The initiative is funded and sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The i+s cabin partners include major industry players such as Boeing, Airbus, Safran Cabin, and Diehl Aerospace (the consortium leader), along with subsuppliers and academic researchers.

The project focuses on demonstrating specific use cases. For instance, a Bühler Motor actuator on an Unum business class seat was reporting its status—operational, reclined/upright—to the main systems display in the i+s cabin conference room. Similar sensors were providing live data from various locations within the expo.

Get the Newsletter
Sign-up to receive weekly round up of news from Sky Industry News
By submitting, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By providing your phone number you are opting in and consenting to receive recurring SMS/MMS messages, including automated texts, to that number from our short code. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to end. SMS opt-in will not be sold, rented, or shared.

Lothar Trunk, program manager for innovation at Diehl Aerospace (a joint venture between Diehl Aviation and Thales), stated: “One thing we found out is that there is no single gold use case. It’s the overall, it’s working together with data for various applications: that is where the benefits are coming.”

A key aspect of their work involves platform-independent and supplier-agnostic solutions. The goal is for Bühler Motor actuators to communicate with systems like Thales Onboard Data Center or Boeing's on-aircraft system seamlessly.

Despite reductions in per-megabyte data pricing due to new communication networks, the volume of raw data generated by aircraft remains too large for full inflight downloading/uploading. Trunk noted that “what comes from the aircraft is the status, and we’re talking not of megabytes but of a few bytes.” This necessitates on-aircraft processing and on-ground data transfers through cellular connections, gate Wi-Fi, or physical removal methods.

Trunk elaborated: “When you see the seat application recording currently...that’s quite a decent amount of data. It doesn’t make sense to have this data transferred via satellite.” Pre-processing exception data—where parameters fall outside normal operating ranges—is also being explored.

This capability allows maintenance engineers to request additional information about specific seats inflight upon receiving notifications. This can facilitate earlier problem diagnosis and potentially enable inflight resolution recommendations for crew members.

Trunk emphasized that “big data...will still transfer on-ground,” depending on how long an aircraft remains grounded.

Overall collaboration among various entities within the cabin ecosystem was highlighted as essential for progress beyond existing standards. Trunk concluded: “Even [as] competitors, we need this minimum to make this movement in the industry.”

Related Articles:

- Diehl and Thales work to unlock full potential of cabin data

- IATA partners with Aviation Sustainability Forum to tackle cabin waste

- Thales takes IFE innovation to edge with edge-caching and cloud

- Collins makes Cabin IoT play with connected galley field trials

- Covarians seeks to improve cabin environment through actionable data

Featured image credited to John Walton

---

Organizations Included in this History
More News

American Airlines, known for its extensive network of hub airports, once operated a significant hub at St. Louis Lambert Airport (STL) in Missouri.

Jul 4, 2025

Qantas Airways has reported a cyber attack targeting one of its contact centers, leading to a potential data breach affecting up to six million customers.

Jul 4, 2025

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is experiencing a significant increase in airline travel.

Jul 4, 2025

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has reported continued interest in its E2 jet family, following a successful presentation at the Paris Air Show.

Jul 4, 2025

London Heathrow Airport is experiencing a busy schedule of Airbus A380 flights this July, with 21 daily departures on most days.

Jul 4, 2025

Earlier this year, an easyJet flight from London Gatwick to Marrakesh diverted to Faro, Portugal, due to a passenger's disruptive behavior.

Jul 4, 2025