TCS expects greater use of predictive intelligence in aviation to cut emissions, improve efficiency

Companies in the aviation ecosystem are increasingly using solutions based on predictive intelligence to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, TCS-Manufacturing president Anupam Singhal told Mint.

Predictive intelligence is the use of data analytics to identify patterns and relationships and use those insights to generate likely future events.

“We are witnessing a rise in interest among clients and other stakeholders around predictive intelligence solutions, which can help them in issues around engine efficiency, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul), and supply chain challenges,” Singhal said in a virtual interaction from the Farnborough air show, which concluded last week.

At the air show, Tata Consultancy Services expanded its partnership with British aerospace company Rolls-Royce to delve deeper into hydrogen fuel system technology for aircraft engines to lower carbon emissions.

While stakeholders are working on producing sustainable aviation fuel, the current output is not enough, and demand is poor on account of limited associated infrastructure. The production of sustainable aviation fuel tripled to 600 million litres from 300 million litres in 2022, representing 0.2% of global jet fuel use, as per the International Air Transport Association.

According to TCS, there is increased interest among airlines for emission-lowering alternative solutions that will aid in the timely estimation of engine repair needs, engine shop visits, advanced information to passengers about changes to flight schedules, and reduced the holding time for an aircraft.

A holding pattern is the route within a defined airspace that an aircraft repeats for a certain amount of time to delay landing at an airport mainly because of congestion or bad weather.

Supply chain challenges

“Every extra minute of flight means you are burning 100 kg of carbon dioxide. That’s where generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing is coming into play wherein we can look at the weather patterns and you can completely optimise solutions,” Singhal said.

The current supply chain challenges faced by the aviation ecosystem globally also result in companies searching for solutions that will aid in better maintenance of the fleet on account of a shortage of aircraft and also for improved preparedness for the future if any section of their supply chain were to get affected by an event, the company added.

Global aviation supply chain issues were triggered by the onset of covid as air travel ground to a halt. The sector was then hit by the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Consequent trade tensions affected the aviation supply chain ecosystem. Besides, Russia accounts for about 13% of the global production of titanium, a key component in airframe and engine parts.

The software giant said there is potential for predictive intelligence solutions to assess the potential impact of external global events on the micro and major levels of their supply chains over the short and the medium term.

“Every two hours, a flight dumps almost 2-3 terabytes of data, but it’s a multitude of data. You have to pick which data you need to pick, which could help you forecast what would be the health of the engine and we believe with the quantum coming in, our ability to give that insight to the MRO shop or to the pilot or to the duty manager or the airline is going to be much higher and then they (human in loop) can take a call,” he added.