Today’s next-generation of aircraft engines are equipped with multiple sensors that generate massive amounts of data.
As an example, an Airbus A350 aircraft has 6,000 sensors producing 2.5Tb of data per day. These sensors measure health and performance and provide insights by tracking everything from fuel flow, pressure and temperature to the aircraft’s altitude, speed, weather and air temperature.
By combining this real-time information with historical data and robust analytics, airlines can determine the condition of in-service equipment to make proactive decisions on maintenance schedules and ways to maximise aircraft availability. This result in greater efficiency in the maintenance, repair and overhaul process and enhanced fleet management. Predictive maintenance not only enables airlines to keep earning revenue by preventing groundings and disruptions but also helps improve safety by preventing equipment failure.
As part of the Rolls-Royce IntelligentEngine vision, our latest Engine Health Monitoring (EHM) system is now capable of measuring more parameters and delivering greater insights by reaching new parts of the engine. This allows us to now monitor line replaceable units, such as Variable Stator Vane actuators and sensors – small parts that play a crucial role in ensuring our engines are ready and available for flight. We can now predict when they need replacement rather than respond to a failure. Uniquely, the engine can now “talk back” – responding to requests from an operational centre to focus on one particular part or parameter, sending back hundreds of hours of information specifically tailored to that request.