Rolls-Royce is looking to make a bold promise to airline passengers in a new tie-up with Microsoft. With the promise of “every journey, for every passenger, taking off and landing on time, every time”, Rolls will use Microsoft’s Azure IoT Suite and Cortana Intelligence Suite to diagnose issues with plane engines.
Those diagnostics will then help mechanics to have the right tools in place in order to fix problems, thereby improving airline efficiency and takeoff/landing times. Not only are there are efficiency gains to be made with the new partnership, but both companies also expect to make millions in savings. Information on engine health, air traffic control, route restrictions and fuel usage will be collected from hundreds of sensors to detect anomalies and trends. These insights will then allow airlines to fly more efficient routes and cut fuel usage, which is a huge savings coup as a 1% fuel saving equates to $250,000 per aircraft per year.
Eric Schulz, President of Civil Aerospace at Rolls, said: "We have done much over the past 20 years to reduce costs and improve efficiency, but we want more. We are now taking aerospace services from the era of garage repair to that of an F1 pit crew, using big-data technologies to proactively drive operational performance. Teams will take signals and information from many sources and turn it into an individual aircraft strategy that uses the least fuel, avoids disruption and is serviced with minimum downtime.
“We are excited to have an industry leader like Microsoft working with us and have Singapore Airlines, a highly-valued, forward-looking organisation, providing their guidance and insight.”
Caglayan Arkan, General Manager of Manufacturing and the Resources Sector at Microsoft, said: “We are excited to bring our Azure platform and suite of digital technology to the aerospace market and support a world leader such as Rolls-Royce. Aircraft engines are hugely valuable assets and we want to help Rolls-Royce ensure they stay flying as much as possible. When we combine our skills with those of Rolls-Royce and their customers we have a powerful solution.”
