Aircraft Digital Twin for Low-Latency Data Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for transferring information from aircraft to client computer systems are time-consuming and cumbersome, often resulting in a lower quality of service due to limited bandwidth and higher latency during flights, which affects the efficiency of fuel use logging and maintenance scheduling.
Innovation Solution
An operational digital twin is introduced, which models the aircraft computer system and acts as an intermediary between the aircraft and client computer systems, storing and retrieving information to provide improved network connectivity with increased quality of service by caching data and selectively requesting additional information when needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If direct communication between aircraft computer system and client computer system is used, then real-time data transfer is achieved, but quality of service deteriorates due to limited bandwidth and high latency during flights
Solution Approach 1:
The operational digital twin pre-loads and caches aircraft data (fuel logs, maintenance information, operational parameters) before the aircraft enters flight mode or during periods of high connectivity. This preliminary action ensures that when data is requested during flight, it can be delivered quickly from the cached copies, reducing latency and improving quality of service without requiring real-time connectivity to the aircraft.
Solution Approach 2:
The operational digital twin acts as an intermediary between the aircraft computer system and the client computer system. It receives requests from clients, retrieves data from the aircraft when needed, and manages data caching and delivery. This intermediary layer buffers the connection, allowing clients to access data without being directly affected by the limited bandwidth and high latency of aircraft communications.
2Productivity
If manual data download by maintenance operator is used, then data transfer is achieved, but productivity deteriorates due to time-consuming and cumbersome process
Solution Approach 1:
The operational digital twin enables self-service data access for clients. Instead of requiring maintenance operators to manually connect to aircraft systems with laptops to download logs and information, the digital twin automatically manages data retrieval, caching, and delivery to authorized clients. This automation eliminates the manual process entirely, significantly improving productivity and freeing operator time for other tasks.
3Loss of information
If real-time connection to aircraft is maintained, then up-to-date information is provided, but use of energy deteriorates due to continuous bandwidth consumption
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of maintaining continuous real-time connections, the operational digital twin implements periodic data synchronization with the aircraft. It establishes connections at scheduled intervals to update cached data, and clients receive information from these periodic updates. This approach maintains information freshness while dramatically reducing the energy consumption associated with continuous bandwidth usage during flight.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, apparatus, and system for facilitating communications between a client computer system and a vehicle computer system in a vehicle. An operational digital twin establishes communications with the client computer system using a client interface and the vehicle computer system using a vehicle interface. The operational digital twin includes a model of the vehicle computer system. Remote information received from the vehicle computer system is stored. The stored information is sent responsive to a request received from the client computer system. The remote information responsive to request but absent from the stored information is retrieved from the vehicle computer system. The retrieved information is sent to the client computer system, wherein the operational digital twin operates to provide network connectivity between the vehicle computer system in the vehicle and the client computer system with an increased a quality of service to the client computer system.