Systems engineering of IoT connected commercial airliners using satellite backhaul links

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are capable of providing real time data in a variety of applications. For instance, they can provide system status, diagnostics, and control. In this work, the systems engineering is presented for IoT sensors and controllers for commercial aircraft which use satellites for backhaul connectivity. The system context is developed which shows the internal connections as well as system level external connections. An important part of a baseline selection is the analysis of alternatives which can provide system baseline options that are subjected to trade study analysis. Several alternatives are analyzed for major parts of the system such as internet connectivity to the aircraft, data transmission within the aircraft, and satellite orbits. The system configurations are analyzed and the trade study is used to select the preferred baseline configuration. Key subsystems are examined to determine if advanced engineering development efforts are required. The sensors are organized by clusters and each cluster is connected to optical fiber for transmission of data within the aircraft. Optical fiber is used for the weight savings over copper wire and reduced electromagnetic coupling effects. The data from multiple clusters is aggregated together and transmitted to the backhaul. The data is then distributed to stakeholders for analysis using cloud based storage and computing. The result is that a baselines system concept is selected from the alternatives and advanced engineering development efforts are defined.