Making sense of the Internet of Things in the aerospace sector

Recently graduated from the TBS Aerospace MBA, R. Thirunavukkarasu dedicated his research project on the Internet of Things (IoT) as applied to the aerospace sector, with the aim of assessing its maturity and potential. A welcome aid in decision-making for actors pursuing innovation and efficiency. Will the Internet of Things (IoT) revolutionize the aerospace sector? Can IoT penetrate this industrial sector whose key characteristics are security and integrity? What added value can IoT bring to the entire chain of actors, from production to maintenance? To answer these questions, R. Thirunavukkarasu has developed an approach to identify products and systems, as well as a detailed mapping to assess the relevance of IoT in the sector, with the latter designed to specifically serve as a decision aid for aerospace companies.

As the author states, “aerospace industries are currently in search of minimum viable systems/products and are investing heavily to develop IoT technologies which can yield long-term value. IoT technologies are evolving faster than predicted which can change the product landscape in the aerospace industry as well”.

Consequently, IoT has some potentially interesting applications in the sector, however the type of system still needs to be identified. To respond to this question, the author followed a methodology consisting of first identifying “the various general IoT characteristics which are not relevant to any specific industry or domain. Each characteristic’s maturity was understood by conducting a targeted IoT audience market survey with varied experience level (Beginner, Intermediate & Expert) across demographics (USA, Europe & APAC). Two IoT experts were interviewed to validate the survey results and to confirm the IoT characteristics’ maturity. The House of Quality (HoQ) tool was used to establish the correlation between the IoT characteristics and relations between the various aerospace systems. HoQ also helped to identify the relative weights between the characteristics and to identify the potential IoT system”.

Following the study, 25 IoT characteristics were identified, among which 11 could be integrated into the aerospace industry: Safety, Connectivity, Intelligence, Expressing, Energy-Efficiency, Computing/Processors, Quality & Reliability, Cognition, Deterministic, Security, Standards & Protocols. Each of these characteristics were then examined to evaluate their level of maturity. Intelligence, Computing/Processor, Cognition and Security were found to be particularly mature, meaning that these characteristics are key for implementing IoT in aerospace systems. Aerospace companies should analyze the maturity of these characteristics before considering to invest in developing IoT products, points out the author.

IoT allows us to obtain a lot more information on the behavior of systems in real time and progressively, to the extent that it even has predictive capabilities and can therefore improve maintenance. These are crucial issues in the sector. Extensive data collection is thus potentially interesting, provided that the data can be processed, and security and integrity requirements are respected.

R.Thirunavukkarasu’s research technically demonstrates and assesses the interest of IoT in the aerospace sector. This research work on IoT – already a buzz in the sector, will confirm the birth of an ecosystem with IoT actors and considerable scope for progress. The next step will consist of evaluating the market and its economic model. Maybe a research idea for a future aerospace MBA student ? Just a word of wisdom…