The Connected Aircraft: Celestica Enables OEMs to innovate faster

Connectivity is everywhere today — even in the air. As Wi-Fi becomes more commonplace aboard aircraft, passengers can check their email, access social media, and enjoy movies and other entertainment on their mobile devices. Connectivity improves the passenger experience in other ways too, delivering more soothing cabin lighting and more comfortable seating. But connectivity goes beyond the passenger by linking systems from nose-to-tail of the aircraft.  A connected aircraft uses smart sensors to collect data in real time, which can then be analyzed for many applications from avoiding inclement weather to optimizing flight routes and managing the fleet. These efficiencies reduce costs and increase reliability, making for happier operators and passengers.

One of the most promising areas of connectivity is predictive maintenance. Sensors embedded in components and systems on the aircraft can transmit real-time data while in the air, so ground-based maintenance crews are alerted — by the components and systems themselves — if there’s a need to repair or replace anything before the aircraft even touches down. This helps speed the repair process, avoid delays and drive faster turnaround times.

The aviation industry is undergoing a significant transformation as it enters the digital age. At Celestica, we understand the value of the connected aircraft and how big data, predictive analytics and cloud computing are driving this transformation.  In this environment, aerospace OEMs need to innovate faster.  Having the right partner will accelerate success.

For almost 20 years, Celestica has been a trusted partner to the world’s leading aerospace OEMs. We bring our customers’ innovations to life, providing full product lifecycle solutions for high-reliability systems and assemblies found in almost every aircraft in flight today. Our proven track record in delivering the highest quality products that meet the stringent regulatory requirements this industry demands sets us apart.  

By engaging early in the product lifecycle we accelerate time-to-market, working directly with our customers’ product development teams to help design, certify and deliver products using the latest technology, qualified for the right environments. We optimize the supply chain and leverage our certified aerospace manufacturing Centers of Excellence (CoE) around the globe to deliver the highest quality products for aerospace applications. Through our CoEs, we offer services such as full Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) level builds including functional testing, highly accelerated test screening, failure analysis and materials research. We even offer FAA Certified FAR145 AirWorthiness tags on LRUs returned from flown aircraft for repairs and upgrades. This cuts down on the need for our customers to have duplicate facilities to process these, independent of new products.

Recently, we helped a customer with production of an in-flight entertainment display with accurate touch-screen capability. We collaborated with them to design a functional test for the current HD display resolution and built in the ability to test 4K resolution for next-generation models.

Celestica is investing in expanding our capabilities to help augment our customers’ design resources.  Recently we completed the acquisition of Atrenne Solutions Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of ruggedized electromechanical solutions, primarily for military and commercial aerospace applications. This acquisition further positions Celestica to speed innovation for our aerospace customers.

Celestica addresses the complete product lifecycle for our customers. We can help manage everything from new product development, full rate production efficiencies, repair and overhaul, and legacy product licensing to offload time and resources from our OEM partners.  Our customers have the advantage of our deep experience in electronics technology development and manufacturing process development, specifically in developing rugged electronics solutions for aerospace applications.  

We also leverage our experience in other verticals such as the healthcare, enterprise communications and industrial markets, applying best practices gained in these segments to offer tangible cost savings in terms of ease of manufacturability, testing and time-to-market.  We are a leader in communications and enterprise technology with expertise in computing systems, data storage, networking and fiber optic communications. Our engineering experts have in-depth knowledge of enabling connectivity, so we can help our OEM customers develop and design new platforms built to optimize the connected aircraft. 

Celestica is committed to helping our OEM customers build a better future for the airline industry by delivering innovative, cost-effective and reliable product lifecycle solutions. 

 Learn how Celestica is helping OEMs to enable the connected aircraft.