The Institute of Flight Systems and Automatic Control (FSR) has been cooperating with Boeing since 2022 as part of the i+sCabin2.0 project and is working intensively on future-oriented concepts for the aircraft cabin. The main challenge is that the aircraft cabin has largely been regarded as a “black box” to date. Only a small amount of data is currently collected, even though it offers considerable potential to optimize maintenance and boarding processes, make the crew's work easier or improve the passenger experience, for example.

The integration of intelligent sensor technology in cabin elements such as seats, galleys and toilets could create an IoT (Internet of Things) network that transmits relevant data to ground stations in real time during the flight. A concrete application scenario would be, for example, the failure of a seat actuator during the flight, in which early diagnosis would allow spare parts and personnel to be organized before landing in order to avoid delays in the turnaround process.

As part of this research, the focus is primarily on the development of a digital twin and intelligent cabin functions (Jacqueline Bergmann) in order to further advance these future-oriented approaches.