CAbiNET research project successfully completed

The research project Connected Aircraft Innovative Networking and Enhanced Technologies (CAbINET) was successfully completed at the end of 2022. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action (BMWK) as part of the Luftfahrtforschungsprogramm (LuFo 5.3). The goal of the project was to build an innovative and integrated communication network based on different technologies, such as Wi-Fi, UWB and Li-Fi, for the connected aircraft cabin of the future. In the project, the Chair of Transport Systems Information Technology particularly investigated the integration of high-precision localization in communication systems for a wide range of use cases in the aircraft cabin. For example, the generation of a real-time overview map of the cabin with the crew members is made possible or the boarding is monitored by radar-like environment recognition. 

© ITVS

First, the aircraft cabin was captured by a 2D laser scanner (digital twin) and an environmental model was created, which subsequently enables a simulation of the signal propagation in the cabin. By analyzing the multipath propagation of the radio signal, an optimization of the localization and the environment is thereby possible. 

For active crew member localization, an Ultra-wideband (UWB) Real-time Locating System (RTLS) consisting of sensors as static reference points (anchors) and mobile tags were installed in the aircraft cabin. By different positioning algorithms, the accuracy and robustness of the localization could be significantly increased (see figure). The calculated position is then sent to the human-machine interface (HMI) of each crew member. In addition to a real-time cabin overview, the HMI also allows a targeted selection of the communication partner for the Li-Fi audio headsets of the crew members also developed in the project.

In addition, passive object detection and localization based on communication radio signals was investigated and evaluated in more detail in the project. This radar-like detection of the environment allows future integrated communication systems to recognize, for example, the seat occupancy status or the number of passengers in certain areas of the aircraft cabin during boarding. Within the scope of the project, also an open-access journal article has been published at MDPI Sensors (DOI: 10.3390/s22082859).

More information about the research project CAbINET and the project partners can be found on the website of the chair ITVS.