Blockchain In Aerospace

As an aerospace engineer, working in an IT related field I always like to keep my eyes peeled in search of emerging new technologies that would relate to both the fields that I love. Lo and Behold! Blockchain as a track and trace for a part through its life-cycle.An aircraft is composed of millions of parts of which many are critical. Tracking parts through its life-cycle is critical. Blockchain can delivery precisely that. Blockchain can track every component of an aircraft both big and small.

Block-chain is an immutable distributed ledger. It can be permissioned like Hyperledger Fabric or permissionless like Ethereum. It helps record and encrypt transactions in between parties that really don’t have any incentive in trusting each other.

MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) plays an important role in ensuring the safety and reliability of the fleet and in turn, the safety of passengers and aircrew, hence the process is strictly regulated by airworthiness authorities.

Aircraft MRO has various parties involved such as:

1)OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer)

2)Installer

3)Inspector

4)Maintainers

5)Operators

Currently, every entity maintains their own ledger regarding the lifecycle of a part. It is a tedious, costly and time-consuming process. This may lead to many inconsistencies with the ledger. There is also a risk of fake parts being introduced by malicious parties.

Using a blockchain to maintain record solves all these problems single-handedly! All the parties involved have a near real-time update about each and every part. Having a single source of truth is a relief for people maintaining the aircraft. Also, there is no chance of malicious actors trying to introduce fake parts into the ecosystem based on the condition that it is a permissioned network. It also reduces the overhead operating costs by significantly reducing paper usage and digitizing records.

This technology can also be extended to other parts of the operation of an airline such as ticketing, baggage tracking and implementing airline rewards.