Redefining aircraft operational data strategies
Wireless has disrupted traditional Quick Access Recorders allowing airlines to have greater control over the on-board data. Alex Preston finds out how these multifunctional avionics platforms are transforming airline operations. In Coleridge’s epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the narrator bemoans “Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.” Fast forward to today’s data-driven world, and our mariner could equally feel frustrated with the high volumes of low-density, unstructured data being generated annually.
During 2023, it was estimated that 120 zettabytes (ZB) of data were generated globally. This included sending and receiving about 347.3 billion emails every day, while Google processed over 20 petabytes of data per day – that’s 40,000 search queries every second.
Our appetite for data looks sets to be unabated as it’s expected that we’ll generate over 180ZB of data by 2025.
And the world of aviation is not immune from this growth.
Data pipes
In a 2021 whitepaper, Collins Aerospace noted that with the advent — and increasing acceptance — of intelligent airplanes, aircraft and engine performance/health monitoring data have grown over time and now represent up to 80% of a new generation aircraft’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) data volume.
The report authors observed that engine and aircraft ACARS data has grown 25% to almost 75% between new and older generation aircraft, and that new generation aircraft generate four times the amount of ACARS data than their predecessors.
As airlines seek out greater safety improvements, Quick Access Recorders (QARs) have become an even more essential tool of a Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) platform.
If your aircraft have a digital flight-data recorder then it is quite possible for you to use downloads from that device for your FDM program. However, FDRs can be difficult to access and the requirement for a download unit (and specialised training) can make this option impracticable for daily (or even weekly) downloads.
An aircraft Quick Access Recorder (QAR), often regarded as a more intelligent version of the black box, is an onboard device that captures flight data from multiple aircraft systems and data buses, including the engine.
Traditional digital flight-data recorders have been seen to be difficult to access with the requirement for a download unit (and specialised training) often making this option impracticable for daily (or even weekly) downloads.
As Scott Chambers, Vice President, Sales & Marketing at FLYHT Aerospace explains, originally QARs were tape-based, (not suitable for regular downloads) before becoming optical. However, optical QARs have a reputation for poor reliability and slow downloads.
In these instances, personnel must regularly go to the aircraft to manually remove the recording media or access QAR ports. If connecting to a port, a cable is attached to download the required data and bring to a specific computer to transfer the data in the files for further flight data analysis (FDA). Under such conditions, velocity, or the fast rate at which data is received and (perhaps) acted on, is diminished. Additionally, as Chambers avows, during the retrieval of such media types, data can easily get lost or become corrupted.
The evolution to wireless overcomes these obstacles. A Wireless Quick Access Recorder (WQAR) is an onboard system that provides aircraft operators with a means to automatically transfer recorded flight data wirelessly, from the aircraft’s onboard data acquisition unit to a ground-based Flight Data Analysis (FDA) system, after each flight, upon landing, without requiring an operator’s manual intervention.
The first WQAR was designed, manufactured, and certified by Teledyne, who was the first company to introduce and patent cellular technology in 1999, as a viable means to transfer large volumes of data between the aircraft and the airline’s ground network.
As Chambers notes, as WQARs allow you to get such data within minutes of the flight. “As safety programmes became mandated, the WQAR became more and more important because that data had to be as close to 100% as possible. And manually, you just can’t get there.”
To illustrate his point, Chambers highlights that China mandates WQAR.
Sunrise, sunset
Wireless delivery enables automated data transfer to and from the aircraft through existing cellular or Wi-Fi networks enabling FOQA/FDM programs. Ironically, this, believes Chamber, is the Achilles Heel of WQARs – cellular technology moves so fast.
Systems incorporating the 2G cellular network were first introduced in the late 1990s. “Anybody who adopted cellular technology in 2000/2001, is now at least three upgrades in – GPRS, 2G, 3G, some may have even moved on to the LTE.”
“The increase in connectivity speeds has allowed more data to be downloaded faster,” says Scott Ridge, Vice President, Business Development at Avionica. “This helps ensure the data is available after every flight. The 2G/3G sunset has already occurred in many parts of the world. The sunset time is being driving by the cellular network providers, region by region. If an operator does not upgrade, their QAR would need to be downloaded manually. This would increase their labour cost and reduce the value of the data driven decisions.”
The move to 4G/LTE has been occurring for several years, driven primarily by 3G shutdowns notes Teledyne. “The majority of 3G networks globally have already shut down, with a few still in the process of being decommissioned in 2024,” a company spokesperson observes. “4G LTE radio technology is backward compatible with 3G/2G networks. While 2G networks are still in use today, most carriers are targeting shutdowns by 2025, although this varies by region.”
According to Teledyne, 5G technology is often driven by performance hype and misconceptions about the near-term shutdown of 4G LTE. “We have been managing cellular technology evolution in our products since 1999. No cellular provider on the planet is announcing the shutdown of 4G LTE anytime soon,” they state. “In fact, with over a billion IoT/Machine-to-Machine industrial devices relying on 4G LTE (including automobiles, security, fleet management, healthcare devices, agriculture, etc.), it is expected to continue well into the 2030s. Continued long-term support for 4G LTE is anticipated due to 3GPP standards, with cellular providers implementing Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), between 5G and 4G, and advanced 4T4R to 8T8R cell site technologies.”
Addressing 5G performance, Teledyne says there are many misconceptions about actual 5G “throughput” performance. “Cellular technology is primarily driven by consumer demand, with a focus on high download speeds to allow greater subscriber capacity. However, upload speeds are typically slower and not symmetrical. For instance, when an airline “downloads” large data sets from the airplane, this is an upload from a network perspective and generally has less bandwidth. While this varies by region, comparisons between 4G LTE and 5G upload speeds show little difference in performance,” the spokesperson remarks.
They add that, “Our current 4G LTE technology continues to meet the use cases for our customers. While early adoption of 5G should be evaluated carefully to avoid unnecessary expenses, it’s important to note that 4G LTE will continue to be supported well into the 2030s. As we have done for over two decades, we are committed to ensuring seamless transitions and supporting our customers through these technological evolutions, including the introduction of our 5G-capable devices in 2025.”
For many QAR options, upgrading requires a complete replacement of the unit. As Ridge explains, “For Avionica, with our modular design, it only requires replacing the cell module. Just four screws and some paperwork. For operators on the Avionica seamless plan, this technology upgrade is included in their subscription fee at no additional cost. Avionica also offers plug and play replacements for our competitor’s offerings to allow upgrading to a wireless QAR for either manual or obsolete equipment.”
All seems very well, but as Murray Skelton Vice President Business Development and Weather Solutions at FLYHT Aerospace points out, the problem with all cellular networks is that while most devices are compatible globally, not all the service providers and the owners of those networks, talk to each other.
“It’s a challenge to try to pull that together,” he says. “And that’s something that we at FLYHT can solve by being able to provide a global service. We work with companies who can negotiate through global roaming on SIM cards, so you can overcome that problem.”
Teledyne offers options for Teledyne-managed SIM Service or airlines can utilise existing cellular communication agreements.
Skelton continues. “If we take the QR part, it’s just the ability to take a snapshot of data off the aircraft. That’s what its purpose is. Its initial purpose was for flight safety, but It’s gone way beyond that.”
Volume and variety
He points to new aircraft, such as the Boeing 737 MAX family, 787s and Airbus Neo family and A350s, and the number of sensors they have is adding to the volume of data being generated. “That is why the WQAR is really coming into its own because cellular technology has grown so rapidly that moving gigabytes of data over cellular is nothing – it’s minutes when previously it was hours and hours.”
These data sets are so voluminous they require adequate storage capacities. As Ridge points out though, with wireless QARs, data storage onboard the aircraft is no longer an issue.
“Modern QARs boast increased data storage capacities, accommodating the extensive information generated by contemporary aircraft systems,” says ATL Europe CEO, Peter Burden.
Writing on the company’s website Burden says, “Capacity was very limited when QARs were first introduced, but they can now reach over 400 hours of flight data across multiple channels in more advanced devices.”
Teledyne agrees, with a spokesperson stating that “Over the last 20 years, data storage has really kept up with the times. Years ago, single-level cell (SLC) drives were very reliable but also very pricey for the limited capacity they provided. Fast forward to today, and we’ve got multi-level cell (MLC) and triple-level cell (TLC) drives, along with solid-state drives (SSDs) using 3D NAND technology, that offer much more storage at significantly lower costs. As an example, the cost per gigabyte of storage has dropped from around US$10 in the early 2000s to just a few cents today. We’ve seen huge jumps in storage density and reliability. Basically, we can store more data without worrying about running out of space.”
Clean data caching
According to Ridge, Avionica’s suite of data recording and transmission products are among the smallest and most capable systems on the market.
The miniQAR with the avCM cellular transmission module provides basic data capture and connectivity for an operator Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) of Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) analytics tools. This data can also be used for some basic maintenance analytics.
“When an operator wants data from even more systems to enhance their safety or maintenance analytics, the miniQAR is replaced by our avRDC (Remote Data Concentrator). The avRDC provides more inputs and outputs to connect to additional data buses,” he says.
“When an operator wants additional functionality, such as an Aircraft Interface Device (AID), airborne data loading, onboard application hosting, or connection to additional communication channels, our avWiFi is added to the stack and the system becomes an aviONS, our onboard network server.
Ridge says that Avionica is differentiated in many areas. “Our small form factor allows for flexibility in installation location. This is critical in smaller aircraft or in crowded E&E bays and saves weight and therefore fuel. Our patent pending Enhanced Data Mode also allows installations with as little wiring as possible. These combine to allow very short installation times, saving the operator money. Our modular design allows for easy upgrades to allow more use cases to increase operator value as they progress on their connected aircraft journey.”
Avionica has hundreds of customers, and its equipment is on thousands of aircraft worldwide. The equipment has been installed on everything from small business jets up to 747. This includes business jet fleet owners, cargo operators and many major airlines, such as Amelia by Regourd Aviation, Air Transat and JSX.
Teledyne’s GroundLink® Comm+ system is an enhanced version of a WQAR. It automatically selects available LTE networks with automatic fallback to 3G when LTE is unavailable and supports the simultaneous use of up to two or four cellular radios (2,400 Mbit/s).
Teledyne’s GroundLink® system provides airlines with additional functionalities that best meet their specific operational needs and goals. These additional features include a full suite of e-Enablement options such as AID+, to enhance EFB systems functionality by adding off-board communication, access to aircraft parameters, and data management capability to EFB applications and crew devices; DataLink (ACARS over IP) – a cost-effective solution to send ACARS messages over cellular or broadband, and Broadband – in-flight connectivity enabling live data streaming, ACARS over IP and Internet access to EFB applications in all flight phases.
Over the last two decades Teledyne has grown to over 300 airlines worldwide with over 10K units in service. The types of operators are diverse – domestic and international passenger and cargo operators on single aisle (S/A) and long range (L/R) Boeing and Airbus airplanes represents the majority of installations, with various military installations as well.
FLYHT’s Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRS) Edge offers is engineered and designed as a state-of-the-art multi-channel WQAR with LTE/4G and 5G network availability. It also allows simultaneous Digital ACMS Recorder (DAR) and QAR recording.
The company recently introduced AFIRS Edge+™, a plug-in compatible 5G WQAR that can be installed overnight and is available at the cost of a 2G/3G WQAR repair or upgrade. It can also be used to replace 4G WQARs as 4G LTE technology begins to sunset in the late 2020s.
In January this year, FLYHT announced a multi-year design and manufacturing collaboration with One Stop Systems, for the AFIRS™ Edge family, including it’s the new AFIRS Edge+.
Earlier this year, the flange version of the AFIRS Edge obtained an STC from Transport Canada for Airbus A320 aircraft. The achievement enables FLYHT to ship the Edge units to Canadian A320 customers while at the same time familiarising the Canadian STC into other jurisdictions to enable worldwide distribution.
Security measures
The evolution of WQARs has changed the security landscape around data retrieval and retention.
Writing in March 2024 Oracle’s Sherry Tiao, Senior Manager, AI & Analytics defines big data as “data that contains greater variety, arriving in increasing volumes and with more velocity. This is also known as the three “Vs.”
He writes that two more Vs have emerged over the past few years: value and veracity. “Data has intrinsic value. But it’s of no use until that value is discovered. Equally important: How truthful is your data—and how much can you rely on it?”
Skelton agrees commenting that he thinks the value of the data more than anything is driving a lot of airlines wanting to have security capabilities.
“We ensure cyber resilience and protection of data/communications by following security policies and processes for all airborne and ground-based products,” says Teledyne. “Our process is modelled after a variety of government and industry standards. In the past security was an afterthought, if at all. Today, cybersecurity is one of the first assessment in our engineering activities. Additionally, we perform our own STC applications and are required to demonstrate adequate security measure and controls to ensure there are no unauthorised interactions, or data access, between onboard devices and offboard networks.”
Most QARs are one way communication devices that do not write to the aircraft, so cyber is not an issue, states Ridge. For multi-purpose devices that can write to the aircraft, the FAA has issued guidance. “Avionica’s products meet these cyber requirements as needed,” he affirms.
“For Avionica, once the data has been downloaded from the aircraft, it is securely stored in the Microsoft Azure cloud until it has been delivered to the end points requested by the operators.”
Feature-rich future
In his online post, Oracle’s Tiao writes that, “Big data makes it possible for you to gain more complete answers because you have more information. More complete answers mean more confidence in the data—which means a completely different approach to tackling problems.”
Teledyne says its WQAR has a long history of evolving to meet the dynamic needs of the aviation industry. “Since its introduction, we’ve consistently enhanced the functionality to go beyond simple data recording (QAR/DAR/ACMS) and wireless transfer from the Data Acquisition Unit to the ground. Years ago, we expanded the WQAR platform to include capabilities branded under Comm+. This evolution incorporated not only QAR/DAR/ACMS recording but also onboard Ethernet and Wireless Access Point functionalities, which enable diverse AISD onboard networking. These advancements facilitated essential services such as Aircraft Interface Device (AID) functionality for Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs), Avionics Data Loading, printing, ACARS messaging, IP Routing, etc. We will continue to invest in the future to meet our customers’ needs.”
Chambers and Skelton believe that the role of the WQAR is changing. What was once a data acquisition unit on the aircraft is becoming a data concentrator on the aircraft.
“Collecting and distribution of data is becoming its job, rather than just offloading data on the ground,” extending to support EFBs.
“But it’s what’s happening with the data – real time,” he emphases, using the example of AFIRS Edge which can perform the functions of an Aircraft Health Monitoring system as a WQAR, through its dual CPUs, and eight cores.
UK regional airline Loganair is using this capability to collect data from an airborne sensor, combine it with the Air Data computer, and then every day 120 seconds push out a weather message that says the aircraft is at this location, at this height, and this is the weather currently experienced.
“If you can imagine the CPU, the processing capability you have between ground-based systems with an airborne edge computer…the applications are pretty much endless.” AI and predictive maintenance
Other possible applications include integration IoT sensors to monitor levels of potable water, control onboard temperature, check if cargo doors are open etc. Because its connected, because its wireless, the aircraft doesn’t have to be inflight for the WQAR to continue to perform.
It’s a sentiment shared by Ridge. “Although not all operators are taking full advantage of the capabilities, QARs have evolved to become simply a function of an onboard network system. As additional sensors and communication protocols evolve, these systems will need to continue to adapt to handle this additional inputs and outputs. Then the aircraft will become a true node in an operators IOT network, allowing real-time data and decision-making for the entire operation.”
