Avionics Technology Crash Course
Avionics are the electronic systems used in spacecraft, artificial satellites and aircraft.
Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to perform individual functions.
One of the hottest topics in the aviation industry is how to use artificial intelligence (AI) in avionics. This has become important because as the number of commercial aircraft in our skies continues to increase dramatically, and the separation between aircraft decreases, this is placing a greater workload on aircraft pilots.
Also, in the defense sector, sixth-generation military fast jets are being developed which will be capable of operating in an autonomous mode.
These trends point toward the need for increased intelligence of automated systems, to reduce the workload of the pilot (or even replace the pilot) by analyzing information and making decisions, rather than presenting it to the pilot for them to make a decision – this requirement will drive the adoption of AI/ML in the cockpit.
AI in the aviation market is growing at around a 46% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). And while virtual assistants currently dominate the AI landscape in aviation, there’s more to the story than chatbots on a smartphone app or IFE screen.
The Internet of Things and devices like inflight sensors are giving AI systems more and more data to work with. And airlines are already using AI to analyze that data for things like predictive maintenance scheduling to optimizing fuel emissions.
Experts in this area report that while the concept of AI has been in existence since the 1950s, its development has significantly accelerated in the last decade due to three concurrent factors:
- The capacity to collect and store massive amounts of data
- The increase in computing power
- The development of increasingly powerful algorithms and architectures
Airbus, for example, is now using AI for observation tasks like computer vision, time series analysis and natural language processing, predictions such as hybrid modeling, and decision making.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Avionics Technology Crash Course, a 2-day crash course that covers advanced avionics technology, Network/IO systems used in these aircraft, digital databus communication, software and hardware architecture, avionics systems design and engineering principles, ARP 475, Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) and ARINC protocols.
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