Safran (Germany)

The rollout of fifth generation (5G) cellular network technology has generated a new surge of interest in the potential of blockchain to automate various use cases involving cellular networks. 5G is indeed expected to offer new market opportunities for small and large enterprises alike. In this article, we introduce a new roaming network architecture for 5G based on a permissioned blockchain platform with smart contracts. The proposed solution improves the visibility for mobile network operators of their subscribers' activities in the visited network, as well as enabling quick payment reconciliation and reducing fraudulent transactions. The article further reports on the methodology and architecture of the proposed blockchain-based roaming solution using the Hyperledger platform.

This work is concerned with the acquisition of fingerprints samples on smartphones with the built-in smartphone camera. A novel approach to capture multiple fingerphotos in a videostream with a smartphone camera and the processing of the photos for the finger recognition is discussed in this paper. The proposed technique offers a convenient and efficient way to capture multiple samples of a biometric instance in a short time frame. Due the fact that fingerphotos can be easily replicated with low effort (e.g. print outs with an ordinary printer) and thus are vulnerable to presentation attacks, anti-spoofing algorithms were developed to detect such spoof attempts. The algorithms for the detection and segmentation of the finger as well the preprocessing of the photo with graphical operations and anti-spoofing were implemented in a prototype as application for the Android operating system. User tests are performed to evaluate the usability and to create a database of biometric samples for offline evaluation of the recognition performance. Further tests are done with diverse artefacts such as printed finger images, fake fingers of gelatin, gummy and silicon as well finger replay videos to measure the resistance of the developed solution against presentation attacks.

Next-generation networks are expected to provide higher data rates and ultra-low latency in support of demanding applications, such as virtual and augmented reality, robots and drones, etc. To meet these stringent requirements of applications, edge computing constitutes a central piece of the solution architecture wherein functional components of an application can be deployed over the edge network to reduce bandwidth demand over the core network while providing ultra-low latency communication to users. In this article, we provide solutions to resource orchestration and management for applications over a virtualized client-edge-server infrastructure. We investigate the problem of optimal placement of pipelines of application functions (virtual service chains) and the steering of traffic through them, over a multi-technology edge network model consisting of both wired and wireless millimeter-wave (mmWave) links. This problem is NP-hard. We provide a comprehensive “microscopic” binary integer program to model the system, along with a heuristic that is one order of magnitude faster than optimally solving the problem. Extensive evaluations demonstrate the benefits of orchestrating virtual service chains (by distributing them over the edge network) compared to a baseline “middlebox” approach in terms of overall admissible virtual capacity. Moreover, we observe significant gains when deploying a small number of mmWave links that complement the Wire physical infrastructure in high node density networks.

While the current deployment of 5G is concentrated on high-quality service delivery on a two-dimensional terrestrial area covering our planet's surface, ongoing 5G standardization already addresses parts of the third dimension with 5G Non Terrestrial Networks (5G-NTN). 6G is expected to further leverage aeronautical communication towards a full exploration and comprehensive unification of all three dimensions. In this way, future communication systems will not only encompass all kinds of aeronautical platforms such as satellites, High- Altitude Platforms (HAPs), civil aircrafts, (self-)flying taxis, and UAVs but shall also enable the unification of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks on a service platform level. This is further challenging, due to the rather closed aeronautical systems so far. We believe that emerging technology concepts such as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) can provide a basis for the full integration of aeronautical systems into their terrestrial counterpart. However, these technologies render the management and orchestration of aeronautical systems complex. As a step towards the integration of aeronautical communication and services into 6G, we propose a framework for the collection, monitoring, and distribution of resources in the sky among heterogeneous flying objects. This enables high-performance services for a new era of 6G aeronautical applications. Based on our proposed Aeronautical Federation Framework, we introduce emerging application use cases including aeronautical edge computing, aeronautical sensor networks, and aircraft cabin networks. In turn, we derive research challenges for 6G aeronautical networks.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a major innovative force and a major pillar in the fourth industrial revolution. This trend has been acknowledged by the European Commission, who has pointed out how high-performance, intelligent, and secure networks are fundamental for the evolution of the multiservice Next Generation Internet (NGI). While great progress has been done in the accuracy and performance of AI-enabled platforms, their integration in autonomous decision-making and critical systems requires end-to-end quality assurance. AI@EDGE addresses these challenges harnessing the concept of “reusable, secure, and trustworthy AI for network automation”. To this end, AI@EDGE targets significant breakthroughs in two fields: (i) general-purpose frameworks for closed-loop network automation capable of supporting flexible and programmable pipelines for the creation, utilization, and adaptation of the secure, reusable, and trustworthy AI/ML models; and (ii) converged connect-compute platform for creating and managing resilient, elastic, and secure end-to-end slices supporting a diverse range of AI-enabled network applications. Cooperative perception for vehicular networks, secure, multi-stakeholder AI for Industrial Internet of Things, aerial infrastructure inspections, and in-flight entertainment are the uses cases targeted by AI@EDGE to maximise its commercial, societal, and environmental impact.

Promising a number of advantages compared to existing ignition systems, the use of focused laser light to generate a spark for ignition in rocket combustion chambers has been studied around the world for several years now. At Airbus Safran Launchers, the experimental activities demonstrate the use of a laser-based ignition system in cryogenic liquid rocket engine while taking into account the typical requirements and constraints of a flight mission. The work performed at Airbus Safran Launchers addresses the integration of a laser ignition source into an existing liquid rocket engine. The demonstration activities focussed on the entire range of possible applications on the Ariane Launcher family, that is, the lower stage's Vulcain 2 engine with its thrust chamber and the combustion chamber of the gas generator as well as the re-ignitable Vinci upper stage expander engine. The first tests were performed on subscale hardware and proved the feasibility of using a laser ignition system in a rocket combustion chamber. Laser ignition systems were developed and hot fire tested for the application in full scale combustion chambers under flight-like operating conditions. In the first test campaign, a laser ignition system was successfully applied in the FLPP expander technology integrated demonstrator (ETID), which comprises several technologies for future cryogenic upper stage thrust chambers in the 120 kN thrust class. In a subsequent campaign two different laser ignition systems were used to demonstrate their maturity for the application in the gas generator of the Vulcain 2 engine.

Summary The first true multitechnology communication system is 5G, which is expected to have a large impact on society and industry. The European Commission funded H2020 5G‐PPP Phase 2 project SaT5G addressed the plug‐and‐play integration of satellite communication into 5G. One of the SaT5G use cases corresponds to the delivery of 5G connectivity services to moving platforms such as aircraft via GEO/MEO satellite backhauling. With focus on this use case, this paper elaborates on the practical implementation and measurement results obtained within the 5G Aero testbed developed as part of the SaT5G project. The 5G Aero testbed activities focus on the next generation of connectivity and content distribution services to airplanes through satellite and terrestrial integration in 5G at the user, control and management planes. Software‐defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) are key enablers to develop a powerful end‐to‐end testbed that can accelerate the adoption of multi‐access edge computing (MEC) for the next‐generation in‐flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) services, which use geostationary (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite backhauling technologies. Hence, measurement results obtained from both over‐the‐air demonstration over the O3b MEO satellite constellation and in‐lab validation over an emulated GEO satellite link are presented, towards the next‐generation 5G‐enabled IFEC services.

The vision of ubiquitous network connectivity to fuel uninterrupted services to any user has materialized with the Fifth-Generation (5G) of mobile technology and will probably find maturity on the way to developing 6G. To reach this goal, 5G technology and its evolution (B5G), as well as Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), alongside Machine Learning (ML) will play pivotal roles. This work sheds light onto a test bed development and initial experimentation results obtained to enable airlines' passengers on-board an aircraft with broadband connectivity as an advancement toward ubiquitous access. We detail our research and experimentation activity as part of the H2020 AI@EDGE research project around a 5G network and an edge-cloud built on top of aviation-certified hardware and off-the-shelf servers. The edge-cloud is used to develop and test MEC applications that can be seen as the next generation of services offered to airlines and to airlines' passengers and that rely on machine learning. The 5G network is integrated into a larger test-bed and connected to a 5G core on the ground by means of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite backhaul such as Starlink.

In plastic surgery, free skeletal muscle flaps are used for treatment of non-healing injuries like chronic osteitis or radiation ulcers. We wanted to evaluate if the neoangiogenesis induced by these flaps can also constitute a method for revascularization in ischemic heart disease. In diffuse small vessel coronary heart disease, patients are not suitable for bypass surgery because it is impossible to create a microanastomosis with the coronary artery. As an alternative, a free striated muscle flap, transplanted onto the heart, can constitute a source of neovessels. With the induction of extra-intracardial collaterals that develop within 4 weeks after transplantation of the flap, a new surgical approach may be offered to those patients. Our experimental work was performed with 20 dogs. In these, a myocardial infarction of the anterior wall was selectively produced using the Judkins-technique (Radiology 89: 815-824, 1967) for injection of Sephadex-microspheres. Four weeks later a free pectoralis muscle flap was transplanted onto the anterior wall of the heart. Arterial blood supply was achieved with an anastomosis with the internal mammary artery. The venous flow was directed into the right atrium. Four to eight weeks after surgery, the patency of the anastomosis was studied by angiography, showing patency in almost all surviving animals. Histological examination of the hearts revealed a prominent vascular network penetrating into the underlying myocardium. Corrosion cast preparations, as well as a postmortem angiography, showed even further penetration of the neovessels into the uninjured parts of the myocardium. Thus, myocardial revascularization may be achieved by transplantation of a skeletal muscle onto the heart.

Currently, there is relentless activity to conduct trials of 5G technology in realistic situations, targeting use cases that are driven by vertical stakeholders. Aligned with this strand and capitalizing on the recent standardization efforts of 3GPP that recently froze Release 15, we provide overview of an industry grade 5G experimental platform that targets the next generation of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) services, when considering the airplane as a self-contained edge environment. The platform is developed as part of the 5G ESSENCE project activities. The contributions of this paper are multiple: describe the IFEC market from a general standpoint, show the hardware and software constituents of the 5G platform and present two virtualized services, namely virtualized video transcoding and caching, which are forecast to play an important role for the future of IFEC on commercial flights.

Opening and disaggregating the Radio Access Network (RAN) in mobile networks is key to improving flexibility, scalability, and vendor interoperability, which are essential for the development of 5G and future 6G networks. Integrating disaggregated RAN (dRAN) with Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), such as satellites, is also necessary, as these networks play a key role in 6G and in ensuring seamless connectivity with terrestrial 5G networks. However, deploying dRAN units in space over long-distance wireless links introduces challenges in link reliability and capacity, especially in space-to-ground communications due to atmospheric turbulence. In addition, satellites’ limited capabilities in handling high computation and power constraints pose further restrictions. In this paper, we explore architectural scenarios for deploying dRAN units in NTNs, an area still largely unexplored beyond early 3GPP proposals. We also suggest using a combined Free-Space Optical (FSO)/Radio Frequency (RF) communication method to improve link reliability, especially for ground-to-space links affected by atmospheric conditions. This hybrid method, along with terrestrial and non-terrestrial multi-connectivity, aims to increase link availability and provide consistent service in NTN setups. We propose and analyze several deployment scenarios to support future NTN-dRAN integration.

In stabilization applications, cross-sensitivity to linear vibration of the interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) is increasingly becoming of concern. This vibration error is expressed as the quotient of input acceleration and output angular power spectral densities. The obtained results show that this quotient tends to flatten out to white noise with increasing overall vibration error. Therefore, it was found sufficient to express the vibration error as a gain factor expressed in units of angle per acceleration, which can be used to relate linear vibration to angular noise. The theoretical model has been confirmed by measurements on an industrial scale. The test setup itself was verified independently by autocollimator measurements. Based on these measurements, a development project to reduce vibration error was monitored. It was demonstrated that the proposed hardware improvement reduced vibration cross-sensitivity from > 4 arcsec/g to < 1 arcsec/g.

The aviation industry is moving toward a greener, more sustainable, integrated, and digital ecosystem, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning showing potential key roles in the transformation process. Travelers, who are now increasingly used to ubiquitous data access, are restarting their air travels with higher expectations and demands for connectivity services. This trend highlights the importance of the in-flight entertainment and connectivity system, which should adapt to such changes and be designed to focus on network security and privacy. In this article, we provide experimental demonstration of an AI-based edge-computing platform developed within the cloud-enabled Aircraft Network and ARtificial Intelligence-based data Analysis (CANARIA) project, which targets to deliver proof-of-concept of an in-flight edge network. The CANARIA edge-computing platform offers a set of AI-based and containerized applications to not only improve the in-flight experience for cabin crew and passengers, but also to underpin the cabin digital transformation while increasing the safety and security of the connectivity system.

One of the main challenges of an instrumentation engineer is to provide accurately the required information while preserving the test vehicle inherent behaviorwhich, somewhere, breaches the universal Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

&lt;div class="section abstract"&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;Enhancing the comfort for passengers, airlines are constantly increasing the number of services within the aircraft cabin such as meal ordering directly from passenger seats. The payment and menu selection can be completely processed by means of a passenger-individual airline user account also considering the remaining inventory of the galley. The implementation of such type of services is supported by digitalization of cabin business processes. For these new services the airline requires a high availability of the process-related system functions to ensure airline’s revenue and customer satisfaction.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;A possible approach to reach the target of high availability of these functions is to use the trend of digitalization for improving function-relevant maintenance processes within the aircraft cabin. This requires an introduction of flexible communication architectures to enhance the existing maintenance process by establishing an automated fault detection, root cause analysis, and/or even fault prediction. For implementation it is necessary to provide system data and parameters digitally, e.g. by sensor measurements or an online evaluation of already existing system data logs. An example is the working light within the aircraft galley used to create an appropriate working environment for the cabin crew to prepare ordered meals for the passengers. Currently, fault detection is only possible by identifying its failure effect, i.e. a not illuminating lighting unit. However, by measuring the current consumption of the light source via a digital sensor, it would be possible to detect a changing trend in the current consumption and, in turn, triggering a maintenance task to replace the light before it actually fails. The evaluation of such current measurement with the resulting fault prediction would expand the maintenance system by a new function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;This paper describes how digitally supportable maintenance processes for any cabin system can be systematically identified and which system modifications are necessary for realization. Further-more, a methodology for cost and benefit assessment is introduced to find the right level of digitization for the cabin system under analysis.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;