Joshua Marks of GEE Operations Solutions presented on the connected aircraft and its implications for operational analysis. The connected aircraft enables reliable, real-time transmission of aircraft data to analysts via in-flight connectivity and cloud-based data processing. This allows optimization of flight plans, maintenance, fuel usage, and other areas to reduce costs. GEE's vision is end-to-end connectivity from aircraft sensors to analysts' tools to improve efficiency and lower airline operating expenses through data-driven insights.

1. GEE OPERATIONAL SOLUTIONS
THE CONNECTED AIRCRAFT:
IMPLICATIONS FOR ANALYSIS
PRESENTED TO
AGIFORS ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM
AUGUST 26, 2015
JOSHUA MARKS
SVP OPERATIONS SOLUTIONS

2. 2
CHALLENGES
Operational analysis systems use data to improve future
planning, reduce operating cost and manage disruption
Core data requirements:
• Reliable, complete, historical & real-time data
• Robust and scalable data storage infrastructure
• Tools to process, analyze, apply data to decision making
Source &
send data
Store &
link data
Solve
problems
Three related challenges

3. 3
OUR VISION: AIRCRAFT TO ANALYST CONNECTIVITY
Get Aircraft Data
Current position
Fuel burn
Aircraft health
Connect w/EFB
Transmit Air-to-Ground
Prioritize data feeds
Stream from aircraft
Upload to aircraft
Platform independent
Process, Analyze & Solve
Add other data & context
Analyze data & fill gaps
Identify specific problems
Find solutions
Interface between cockpit,
avionics & in-flight connectivity
Reads avionics data
Presents on EFBs
Transmits to IFC systems
Cloud-based platform to
process, analyze and inform
Data from dozens of sources
Robust big data architecture
Front-end apps & solutions

4. 4
COMMUNICATING THE ROI
Connected Aircraft capability impacts major cost categories
Alaska Airlines (27th largest world airline)
Est. $100 million cost opportunity from analytics
Fuel
Crews
Aircraft
Maintenance
Airports
Overflight/ATC
$1.2 billion
$550 million
$400 million
$300 million
$300 million
$25 million
Alaska GroupOperatingExpenses (2014),FromDOT Form41, Annual Report
Optimize flight path, speed, altitude
2% decrease in fuel = $24 million annual savings
More flown hours per crewmember
+1 round-trip/month each = $36 million
Tighten schedules, increase flights
+1 day of flying a month = $13 million
Predict problems; stage parts & labor
Lower cost & fewer cancels = $10 million
Use gates & equipment efficiently
Increase utilization 5% = $15 million
Audit overflight and airport bills
Identify 5% errors = $1.25 million

5. 5
REAL-TIME AIRCRAFT DATA
INTERNAL
AIRLINE DATA
INDUSTRY-WIDE
AIRLINE DATA
AIRCRAFT DATA
VIA CONNECTIVITY
AIRPORT, WEATHER
& RADAR DATA
INTEGRATED
CLOUD-BASED
DATA
WAREHOUSE
PLANNING &
ANALYSIS
REAL-TIME OPS
MANAGEMENT
What’s different from ACARS?
Higher volume, lower cost, faster transmission, privacy & easy integration
What are the critical enablers?
Transmission over in-flight connectivity (IFC) + cloud data warehouses

6. 6
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Current Generation Next Generation
Example Aircraft
B737NG, A320ceo,
B757/767, B777,
B747-400, A330, A340
A380, A350,
B787, B747-8i,
B737MAX, A320neo
Avionics bus Analog Digital
Streams of data
20-40 discrete streams of
avionics information
Sensor data – thousands of
simultaneous streams
Data generation
per operating month
5 gigabytes
30 terabytes
(~30,000 gigabytes)
Interfaces
Requires analog-to-digital
conversion through EFB
or interface device
Native digital connectivity to
installed inflight connectivity
systems
Next-generation aircraft generate terabyte-scale data

7. 7
AIRCRAFT DATA CAPTURE
Flight Track & Position Equipment State Events (Change in State)
Latitude & longitude
Altitude
Speed
Winds aloft
Ambient temperature
Pitch and bank
Barometer
G forces
Transponder
Flap, gear, brake
Autopilot settings
Engine settings
Thrust reverser settings
Squat switch
Trim settings
Fuel flow
Fuel on board
Cabin doors
Cargo doors
Cabin pressure
Fault messages
OOOI times
Doors open/closed
Autopilot on/off
Autothrottles on/off
TCAS warnings
Frequency changes
Tapping DFDR/QAR bus enables real-time mirroring of key
operational information in terrestrial data warehouses

8. 8
IN-FLIGHT CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS
IFC platforms offer cost-effective transmission of data, especially
when paired with ground-based WiFi and 3G/4G redundancy
Global satellite service (PAC, GEE, soon GoGo 2Ku)
Multi-satellite network for global coverage, including oceanic
Reserved operational bandwidth + cost-effective transmission
WiFi between aircraft and airport networks
Requires both aircraft and airport equipment, transmission only
during aircraft turns, high bandwidth – ideal for QAR download
Cellular-based data transmission
Single SIM-card solutions offer data backup capability at remote
airports – but costly relative to WiFi and satellite
ACARS VHF radio transmission
Costly, slow, message size restrictions & limited to ground-based
radar coverage; satellite-based redundancy costs 2-3x more

9. 9
DATA PROCESSING & ANALYTICS
On-demand cloud warehouses and big data analysis systems
offer terabytes of extensible storage and fast processing
Shift to SSDs (flash storage) driven
10x increases in performance, and
cost gap narrowing quickly versus
traditional HDD
1.2TB of data can be processed in
under 10 seconds with Amazon
Redshift – one month of 787 data
crunched in 4 minutes
Compression of data costs over time
• Cost effective to load all data collected in unified warehouses
• Interface through human, machine or application interfaces

10. 10
SUPPORTING IFC BUSINESS CASES
Connected Aircraft systems benefit both passenger experience
and operational performance – estimate ROI accordingly
Data for airport & schedule performance
Rich airport, flight and weather data drives improvements in
aircraft turn programs, flight planning and schedule development
Real-time maintenance information
Beyond ACARS with multiple data streams, two-way machine
queries – allows proactive maintenance resolution
Fuel optimization & conservation support
Highly detailed flight track information enables real-time
modification of flight plans to optimize fuel consumption
Regulatory compliance and reporting
Real-time flight tracking; tarmac rule compliance;
safety reporting systems and flight crew duty eligibility
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11. 11
CONCLUSIONS
• Connected Aircraft impacts major cost categories across airline
operations – with material benefit to efficiency& revenue potential
• From aircraft to analyst, a system of end-to-end capability
• Cockpit: transform sensor & avionics data into usable formats
• Transmission: fast, real-time, global capability for air-to-ground
• Processing: cloud and big data tools to collect and analyze data
GEE Operations Solutions
From aircraft to analyst: connectivity
and analytics for aviation operations
Platform neutral: EFB, connectivity,
solutions partnerships increase utility
Stand-alone: provide analytics & data
solutions that are immediately useful
Next-gen capability: scalability to
collect, use data from digital aircraft