Boeing, India Partners Co-Develop Wireless And Network Technologies

Boeing and its partners Wipro, HCL Technologies and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have successfully co-developed wireless and network technologies for future airplane development through their Aerospace Network Research Consortium (ANRC).

ANRC researchers developed wireless system antennas that can be etched onto an airplane's interior panels and sensors that harvest energy from the airplane environment. These technologies have the potential to reduce wiring, batteries and weight, which would reduce fuel and power use. Other research led to the development of a wireless system called a "data mule," which can collect messages from cell phones in rural Indian villages to transmit them to people in cities.

Prat Kumar, president of Boeing India, said research and technology development are the backbone of a complex industry like aviation and support the evolution of future technologies in other areas. "We are very pleased to collaborate with Indian partners on this truly innovative work through the ANRC, which demonstrates the mutual benefit of partnership between Boeing and India," Kumar said.

"Boeing's collaboration with Indian companies and researchers to develop wireless technologies at ANRC will make our future airplanes more competitive and support new engineering capabilities in India," said Mike Sinnett, vice president of product development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Since ANRC's founding in 2007, researchers from the four partners have produced more than 100 papers for international scientific journals on technologies to improve cellular, internet and entertainment systems on aircraft and in airports, among other projects. The findings may also be applied to the energy, healthcare and communications sectors.

"ANRC is India's successful consortium of academia and industry to focus on industry-relevant fundamental research," said Prof. H.S. Jamadagni of IISc's Department of Electronic Systems Engineering and ANRC executive board member.

ANRC also laid the groundwork for extending projects to include other institutions by awarding grants to students at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) and M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MS RIT) to explore energy-harvesting and personal-identification technologies and applications.

"The ANRC is delivering on its mission to conduct world-class research on networking technologies for aerospace," said Narayan Shenoy, General Manager, Product Engineering Services, Wipro Ltd. "We are excited to see the results of proof-of-concepts and are keen to scale-up the application of research findings across multiple industries."

"By leveraging ANRC's unique collaborative model and HCL's R&D experience in aerospace & defense with IPs in wireless networking and cognitive radio technology, HCL is contributing to the development of next generation aerospace systems and networks," said GH Rao, President, Engineering and R&D Services, HCL Technologies.