At last week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Germany, Thales and Diehl Aviation jointly presented a concept digital platform for powering smart cabin functionalities to enhance the passenger experience.

The platform integrates the ODC onboard data centre from Thales (www.thalesgroup.com) with the HPC high-performance controller from German avionics specialist Diehl (www.diehl.com).

Thales’ ODC uses cloud-native technologies enabling real-time over-the-air content and software updates. This open platform ensures seamless third-party integration, creating an environment for collaboration. Its blade architecture shares compute and storage capabilities enabling functionalities and data management to improve cabin operational performance.

Diehl’s HPC connects the ODC to smart cabin equipment and sensors by leveraging a broad range of cabin interfaces. It serves as a gateway to third-party equipment and the aircraft control domain, and provides capabilities for neural network inferences and image processing. This allows for the integration of smart functions, for example in galley and lavatory controls, as well as in bins and the cargo area.

This concept enables real-time data processing and enhances smart cabin maintenance capabilities to improve airline operational efficiency.

An example use is to reduce food waste by analysing in-flight catering consumption data. AI-driven applications can recommend optimisations for better resource management.

Sensors can monitor various parameters in the cabin, from overhead compartment storage levels to lavatory and seat cushion data, to improve the passenger experience and enhance airline operational efficiency.