7 Ways Aviation Sector is Using AR/VR Technology
From gaming to education and retail to defense, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are proving to be powerful game-changers in every aspect. As a result, many different verticals are eagerly experimenting with AR VR development services to streamline their operations, improve capabilities, and train their employees better and more effectively. One such industry is Aviation.
Airline travel is considered to be one of the safest modes of transportation, but then fatal accidents and deaths — caused due to airline crashes and failures — have also been reported consistently years back. However, in the last 50 years, the fatalities in this industry have significantly reduced, but still, there is a long way to go and with the help of AR/VR technologies we can address this concern efficiently. AR/VR has now become a great asset for aviation companies as its immersive features are now being used to address some of the potential risks associated with flying. The technologies provide better service and can train staff at reduced costs in a more accurate way.
Let’s see how immersive technologies — augmented and virtual reality — can be helpful for the aviation industry.
7 Major Uses of AR/VR Technology in the Aviation Sector
1. Pilot Training
Pilots have to undergo extensive hours of training and tactile interaction with aircraft equipment, flight simulators, and computer screens, where they must also be exposed to real flight emotions in order to learn how to deal with stress. Moreover, this real-environment training will be usually time-consuming, tedious, and labor-intensive for the aviation industry. Here AR/VR comes as a savior, that is, training is the standout use case for virtual or augmented reality in an industry full of large, complex, and expensive equipment. The fully immersive AR/VR environment allows pilot trainees to gain not only visual familiarity with an aircraft but also the physical movements required to interact with the aircraft. In fact, all possible scenarios that could occur in the airport’s real environment could be presented virtually with AR/VR-related devices or environments.
For instance, the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing uses real airplane cockpits that are dismantled from the plane body itself and geared with movie screens to simulate actual flight, which are quite expensive and bulky professional training devices. With the introduction of AR/VR training, pilot trainees get a chance to practice real-life procedures without having to use an actual aircraft and airport, thereby increasing the quality of training, cutting down the amount of training time required, and decreasing the overall costs. Few other benefits of AR/VR training include training more students in a limited space, easy data capture for debriefs and analysis, and trainees being allowed to be free to make mistakes without increasing the cost.
2. Cabin Crew Training
Besides pilots, cabin crew are other specialists who have to ensure passenger safety and comfort.
By replacing classroom training with VR training, cabin crew can learn how to handle difficult real-life situations like medical emergencies, an impending crash, or hijacking in a virtual environment. With this immersive technology, the cabin crew is able to make mistakes in virtual training and learn from them, which directly leads to better on-site job performance.
3. In-flight Entertainment
It’s normal for some people to feel discomfort while flying. With the help of a VR head-mounted display along with headphones, passengers can find the perfect escape to relax and ignore their surroundings, especially for passengers flying long distances.
For instance: Air France, Joon, and Japan Airlines partnered with SkyLights, 20th Century Fox and Dreamworks, offering VR headsets as an alternative in-flight option for passengers — connected to an individual’s seat –features a high-definition screen and diopter correction, automatically adjusting to the user’s eyes and thereby providing a more comfortable flight experience overall.
4. Ground Crew Training
Similar to cabin crew, a skilled crew on the ground — people who maintain the aircraft itself and ensure that it is in perfect condition to fly — is also critical for any flight to be able to take off and land safely. AR technology can be used for ground crew training where aircraft engineers can simulate and test installation processes using AR devices such as glasses.
5. Maintenance and Remote Assistance
With the introduction of augmented reality in the aviation sector, you don’t have to wait until the technicians or engineers arrive if a machine fails. This is because, AR supports remote technicians and engineers performing maintenance, repair, or production tasks. This powerful tool can change static instructions to interactive, by holding a phone or tablet in front of an aircraft part and showing the worker what has to be done. It also allows more experienced staff to remotely assist their trainees, preventing the time spent for traveling.
6. Aircraft Guidance
AR technology can potentially lessen the risk during a plane’s take-off and landing as it can enhance the pilot’s ability to access live details such as terrain, navigation, traffic, and weather alongside safety information (like emergencies, pre-flight, in-flight, and landing checklists).
For instance: A self-contained smart glass, Aero Glass is one interesting example that creates an AR view of the horizon, an intuitive format, and a 360-degree display for pilots to visualize vital airspace information without the need to check multiple screens and inspect instruments.
7. Flight Deck Training
With a virtual environment and head-mounted display (HMDs), the flight deck crew — which includes the pilot and co-pilot — can get trained and familiarize themselves with the cockpit controls and different scenarios — which might include even the most difficult situations — they might face while flying.
These days, many companies in the aviation sector — such as Celebi Aviation Holding, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, SATS, Japan Airlines, and so on — are already providing various kinds of VR and AR software solutions for safer, cost-effective, and efficient virtual reality and augmented reality airlines. In fact, according to a study report by Research and Markets, it is estimated that the virtual reality and augmented reality market in aviation will grow by more than $1.4 Bn during the forecast period (2025), at a CAGR of 61.2%. This indicates that the technologies, AR and VR are clearly here to stay, and companies that readily adopt it will stay ahead of the curve or else they will risk falling behind their competition.
If you are you looking for AR VR development services or gamified training solutions for your business or industry, then partner with TA.
Being an experienced AR and VR development company, we can leverage AR and VR technologies to provide cost-effective operations and immersive training in your sector.
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