Aviation technology is a fast-developing area spurred on by the need to lower costs, the opportunity to improve convenience and safety for the customer, and also help to meet governmental environmental demands. So far, great strides have been made with regard to developments in aviation technology. In particular, environmental demands are gradually being met with the introduction of SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), which greatly reduces the aviation industry’s carbon footprint as more and more airlines adopt plant-based fuel. As we know, electric planes are also on the horizon, which will no doubt help further.
Past Development in Aviation Technology
In terms of other developments in aviation technology, we already know that since Covid 19, mobile phones have been used to show e-tickets and other details such as vaccination certificates. Covid 19 has been credited for speeding up technology development in this area.
It is widely believed that passports will soon be effectively electronically programmed into phones with smart cameras reading them as people pass them, greatly increasing the speed of airport transfer. There are also steps that are being taken further to make even this irrelevant by using face recognition technology, which mitigates the need for a passport altogether.
In terms of other aviation technology developments that have taken place, artificial intelligence is also making headway in reducing delays based on early identification of any issues and assisting airlines in planning alternative routes, as what happened after the war in Ukraine.
The Current Situation
So what is the situation now? Artificial intelligence is now being used at a higher level than before. The European airplane manufacturer Airbus is researching further applications of the technology. AI has been successfully tested in vision-based tests by the company to produce planes that can autonomously take off and land planes without intervention from the pilot. This is an achievement in aviation technology as it will further assist pilots in their flight planning.
Another project involved using artificial intelligence to help in forming air combat systems. It appears that the system termed FCAS (Future Combat Air System) is what Airbus describes as a key instrument in ensuring European sovereignty and autonomy. This is a long-term project that is intended to be completed in 2040. As one can see, much time and long-term planning have been invested in AI to improve aviation technology.
In addition, the UK Civil Aviation Authority has also formed a plan to enable the development of a strategy to support the development of artificial intelligence.
Sustainability
In addition to artificial intelligence, sustainability is a key theme in current innovations in aviation technology. According to the UN Agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), SAF has been fueling over 200,000 flights. However, there are other fuels that are also considered environmentally friendly by the ICAO.
One of the alternative types of fuel recommended by the ICAO is known as LCAF (Lower Carbon Aviation Fuels). These are fossil fuels (fuels from traditional sources such as oil), which have lower carbon emissions. Research is ongoing on possible technologies that can produce fossil fuels with a lower carbon footprint. This includes using technology such as carbon capture and storage (a mechanism of extracting harmful carbon emissions from fuel as it is being used so that it is not leaked into the atmosphere) and using renewable energy in oil refineries.
Hydrogen is also currently being evaluated as a possible low-carbon fuel. The current drawbacks include onboard storage, safety concerns, the high cost of production, and the need for dedicated infrastructure at airports. Research projects are taking place to work out ways to overcome these challenges to meet the industry’s environmental objectives.
Obviously, many initiatives are taking place to improve the performance of aviation technology. In particular, artificial intelligence is contributing to and has the potential to contribute more to the development of aviation technology. Airlines are rapidly taking up sustainable aviation fuels as fuels with a lower carbon footprint while more research is being conducted into other alternatives. We have to wait to see how this progresses.
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