Page 5 - AAA JUNE - JULY 2022 Online Magazine

COVER STORY
TRACKING

IN-FLIGHT CATERING

AIRBUS INTRODUCES ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE-ENABLED FOOD SCANNER
By Our Correspondent

How can more precise tracking of in-flight catering – from meal
and beverage service to the collection and disposal of waste –
lead to more sustainable air travel?
consumption. This can be further optimised
Airbus’ highly innovative digital solution to this challenge includes with a pre-flight meal ordering system made
the automatic capture of data for passengers’ onboard meal con- available for passengers – which already is
sumption, along with tracing the amount of unused food and drinks being used by a growing number of airlines,
that remain. By integrating such information in an artificial intelli- particularly for their premium travellers.
gence-driven system, airlines could optimise their catering services
and better manage the after-meal disposal – leading to a potential The advantages of Airbus’ in-flight catering
for double-digit reductions in their CO2 emissions through weight tracking solution are numerous. In addition to
reductions and fuel savings. reducing the amount of food and beverages
carried during flight – with the associated lower
Elements of this solution have undergone initial evaluations in aircraft weight and reduction in fuel burned
realistic conditions aboard the Airspace Explorer – a dedicated – the Airbus solution holds the promise of
cross-programme flight test platform that Airbus utilises to test better management over the amount of food
and demonstrate new innovations for future aircraft cabins. produced at the origin, along with the reduc-
tion in dedicated catering space aboard the
The volume of airline cabin waste is expected to double by 2030 aircraft, as well as enhancing the waste col-
“The numbers speak for themselves: an estimated 1.43 kilograms lection and separation process. Additionally,
of cabin waste is generated by each passenger per flight, of it would limit the amount of food and bever-
which more than 20 percent is represented by untouched food ages that are discarded upon arrival – with
and drinks,” explained Michael Bauer, an Airbus Cabin and Cargo certain countries requiring such waste to be
Architect. “The situation becomes more critical with the prediction burned.
that overall airline cabin waste – which totalled 6.1 million tonnes
in in 2018 – is expected to double by 2030,” says an IATA survey The Food Scanner was demonstrated aboard
issued in 2021. Airbus’ Airspace Explorer aircraft during a
recent South Asian demo tour.
Airbus’ solution for the tracking and controlling of in-flight catering
is the Food Scanner, an artificial intelligence-enabled device that “The first feedback from airlines and their cabin
analyses the composition of food in a simple point-and-shoot pro- crews was positive,” said Sascha Thoerner,
cess. It uses the same principle as scanners that are increasingly the Airspace Explorer Programme Architect
available in supermarkets today. at Airbus. “Demonstrating the Food Scanner
in such a realistic environment with end-to-
The Food Scanner’s downward-looking camera identifies what is end connectivity is an important step toward
on the meal tray as the cabin attendant pulls it out from the trolley maturing this system. Airbus would then be able
during the in-flight service, and subsequently captures pictures of to work with potential partners – including the
what remains when the tray is returned. A horizontally-oriented bar- airlines, caterers, and system manufacturers
code scanner tracks the beverage bottles and cans that typically – for in-service trials, followed by eventual
are placed atop the trolly. Optimising Data from the Food Scanner’s production.”
Utilisation. A cloud-hosted dashboard would use trends and statis-
tics for catering prediction and planning to minimise waste. Airbus’ Airspace Explorer is taking advantage
of a specially configured A350-900 flight test
Data from the Food Scanner can be processed via a separate, aircraft fitted with an award-winning Airspace
off-board cloud-hosted dashboard that generates KPIs (key per- cabin to test and showcase a number of cus-
formance indicators), using trends and statistics to enable highly tomer-centric innovations. These innovations
accurate catering planning and the prediction of food/beverage are focused on passenger experience, digital-
isation, onboard health and sustainability.
ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE June_July 2022 | 5