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The aircraft asset life cycle processes are rapidly being digitalized. Many novel technologies enabled processes of recording these electronic transactions are being emerged. One such technology for recording electronic transactions securely is Blockchain, defined as distributed ledger technologies which includes enterprise blockchain. Blockchain is not widely used in the aerospace industry due to lack of technical understanding and questions about its benefits. Assessment and establishment of business case for implementing blockchain based solution is needed. The aerospace industry is very conservative when it comes to technology adoption and hence it is difficult to change legacy processes. Additionally, the industry is very fragmented. The technology is advancing at a faster rate and applies across geographies under various regulatory oversight which makes blockchain based solution implementation challenging.

The aerospace ecosystem is a complex system of systems comprising of many stakeholders in exchanging technical, design, development, certification, operational, and maintenance data across the different lifecycle stages of an aircraft from concept, engineering, manufacturing, operations, and maintenance to its disposal. Many standards have been developed to standardize and improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and security of the data transfer processes in the aerospace ecosystem. There are still challenges in data transfer due to the lack of standards in certain areas and lack of awareness and implementation of some standards. G-31 standards committee of SAE International has conducted a study on the available digital data standards in aircraft asset life cycle to understand the current and future landscapes of the needed digital data standards and identify gaps. This technical paper presents the study conducted by the G-31 technical committee.

As the complexity of systems expands with increasing emphasis for digital transformation, the aerospace industry is generating big data to meet customer requirements. The ability to that data to solve challenging problems is limited by many factors, including the capabilities of current classical computing systems. Impact of Quantum Computing in Aerospace discusses how quantum computing systems offer (possibly quadratic to exponentially) greater computational power over classical computers. The power of quantum computing is tremendous and has many potential impacts on the aerospace industry; however, there are also many unsettled topics surrounding the future of the technology. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

In the aerospace industry, competition is high and the need to ensure safety and security while managing costs is paramount. Furthermore, stakeholders—who gain the most by working together—do not necessarily trust each other. Now, mix that with changing enterprise technologies, management of historical records, and customized legacy systems. This issue touches all aspects of the aerospace industry, from frequent flyer miles to aircraft maintenance and drives tremendous inefficiency and cost. Technology that augments, rather than replaces, is needed to transform these complex systems into efficient, digital processes. Blockchain technology offers collaborative opportunities for solving some of the data problems that have long challenged the industry. This SAE EDGE™ Research Report by Rhonda D. Walthall examines how blockchain technology could impact the aerospace industry and addresses some of the unsettled concerns surrounding its implementation.