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Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Avionics and electronic flight bag

Article  in  International Journal of Services and Standards · January 2008

DOI: 10.1504/IJSS.2008.016634 · Source: DBLP

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Int. J. Services and Standards, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2008 217

Boeing 787 Dreamliner: avionics and electronic

flight bag

Peter D. DeVries
Department of Finance, Accounting, and CIS
University of Houston–Downtown
Houston, TX 77002, USA
Fax: 713–226–5238
E-mail: peter@uhd.edu

Abstract: As the airline industry continues to adapt to high oil prices and
ongoing security issues, new technologies continue to create opportunities for
aircraft manufacturers. Continental Airlines will take delivery of ten Boeing
787 aircraft starting in 2007. This paper focuses on two key technical areas.
First, the state-of-the-art Rockwell/Collins avionics systems for the 787 are
described. The flight deck overview includes displays, flight controls, security,
data and communications systems supporting 787. Second, the ‘electronic
flight bag’, which replaces the large black case that pilots typically carry, is
reviewed and the reasons for one carrier’s decision for choosing a specific
configuration are presented.

Keywords: avionics; flight deck; flight bag; airline industry; technology;

Continental Airlines; services; standards.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: DeVries, P.D. (2008)

‘Boeing 787 Dreamliner: avionics and electronic flight bag’, Int. J. Services
and Standards, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.217–223.

Biographical notes: Peter D. DeVries is an Associate Professor of CIS at The

University of Houston–Downtown. His research includes wireless networking,
the internet, website design, the eBay economy, EDI, online education,
entrepreneurship and data portrayal. Prior to academia, DeVries was an
Aerospace Manufacturing Engineer, KPMG Management Consultant and SAP
Consultant implementing global corporate enterprise systems.

1 Introduction

Despite industry headwinds, Boeing continues to push engineering and technical

boundaries related to air travel. Although this paper focuses on the 787, one cannot
ignore the recent development of the Airbus A380; an aircraft so large that many airports,
such as LAX, are scrambling to retrofit building infrastructure to receive the behemoth.
On the other hand, the Boeing 787 will not have many ground facility issues to deal
with. Boeing’s strategy is one of smaller and more efficient aircraft. Formally titled
the ‘Dreamliner’, this aircraft shares much of the common components with the
Boeing 777. In fact, flight deck elements such as the overhead panel are identical to the

Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

218 P.D. DeVries

777. By leveraging 777 technologies and the reuse of many common flight deck
elements, a pilot trained on at 777 can be ‘converted’ to fly a 787 in as little as five days
(Ramsey, 2005).
This overview will start with the avionics of the 787. This includes flight deck
improvements, security, communications and data infrastructure. As previously
mentioned, the 787 flight deck shares many common elements with the Boeing 777, but
there have been enhancements and data infrastructure changes that will ultimately be
retrofitted to previous generations of Boeing aircraft.
For the second item, we will look at a component of the flight deck called the
‘electronic flight bag’ (EFB), which will replace the tried and true, yet cumbersome,
black flight case. The black flight case or bag contains the paperwork and various flight
computing equipment and associated administrative ‘stuff’ necessary to fly the aircraft.
What is in the flight bag? Jeppesen manuals, loose-leaf flight guides, flight computers
and a VFR log pad, to name a few. There are several styles of electronic flight bags
available. Boeing offers a ‘built-in’ option, which is a fixed screen with input devices
permanently mounted in the flight deck. Another option is to have a laptop that is ‘fixed
mounted’ within the cabin. Finally, there is a version where the pilot carries a laptop or
tablet PC with him from flight to flight (Cave, 2003). We will review one carrier’s
analysis regarding which option best fits the requirements.

2 787 avionics overview

The Boeing 777 continued a trend that has been going on for some time. The ‘glass
cockpit’ or multifunctional displays – MUFIDs – provide the flight crew a clean interface
to a ponderous amount of flight data. With the introduction of the 787, this trend
continues. Developed by the Rockwell/Collins Company, the 787 flight deck resembles a
NYSE stock market kiosk (Figure 1) with five 15.1-inch LCD displays; four are arranged
horizontally across the flight deck, and one display – the CDU – is mounted on the
flight stand (Tvrdy, 2005). The CDU, which stands for Control Display Unit, uses data
that describe a specific flight plan. Data are entered by the flight crew, which enables,
among other things, information from the navigation database. The CDU calculates
present position and pitch, roll and thrust commands required to fly an optimum flight
profile. In most installations, one CDU is active and the others are inactive. All flight
management-computing tasks are accomplished by the active CDU, while the inactive
CDUs monitor the active one and are ready to replace it should a system fault occur. In
addition, the 787 has two LCD heads-up display units. The system uses curser control
devices as well as a keypad for data entry.
Rockwell/Collins developed a new generation of pilot controls and is considered
an industry leader in this area. In addition to the control stand development,
Rockwell/Collins is developing auto throttles, pitch, roll and interfaces to the
‘fly-by-wire’ systems (Tvrdy, 2005). Many of the components in the 787 are shared with
the 777, which simplifies installation and maintenance and provides a common interface
for the flight crew. The common interface aids in reducing training time.
New Integrated Surveillance Systems, or ISS for short, are on tap for the 787 as well.
These ‘aircraft-specific’ systems aid the crew in situational awareness regarding the
aircraft’s position, condition and status. ISS will include weather detection, traffic alert
and collision avoidance technologies. The Core Network, offered as standard on the 787,
 Boeing 787 Dreamliner: avionics and electronic flight bag 219

extends Rockwell’s investment in management information systems. Boeing wants to

re-enable the aircraft with common open standards systems. The Core Network is open
for third-party applications, and is intended to improve information processing. We will
present additional operational examples of this later in this paper. Figure 2 presents a
view of the electronics in the cockpit.

Figure 1 Boeing 787 flight deck

Source: Ramsey (2005)

Figure 2 Cockpit view

Source: Ramsey (2005)

220 P.D. DeVries

At the centre of the 787 electronic design sits the Common Data Network (CDN).
Considered a key component of the Smith’s Common Core System, the CDN is a robust
data network consisting of a fibre optic cable plant. Standard copper cabling
infrastructure is available as well. Utilising specific protocols developed by ARINC, the
data infrastructure is designed to manage communications between the on-board systems.
Rockwell and Boeing will adopt many of the terrestrial bound data network standards by
deploying conventional Ethernet technology – with some adaptations to the aircraft’s
avionics. The 787’s data bus will consist of a full duplex 100 Base T data network
enabling higher data rates compared to the current generation of Boeing aircraft (Ramsey,
2005). With this network, conventional technologies that are taken for granted on the
ground will be enabled while in flight.
Leveraging the CDN, the EFB will utilise this robust data infrastructure and enable
a paperless environment versus the 77 pounds of administrative paperwork typically
carried on the aircraft today (Shamo and O’Neil, 2000). For airlines such as Continental,
the newly integrated avionics on the 787 will essentially create another ‘node’ on
Continental’s already robust and widespread data network. In addition, this platform
creates the opportunity to gather a larger number of data points – such as real-time flight
characteristics – that will measure component conditions and current stress loading of the
aircraft’s superstructure, including, to name a few, flaps and ailerons. With this
understanding, the next section further explores the Boeing 787 data-processing
enhancements and focuses on a detailed look at the specific component called the EFB.
As one can imagine, the 787 will enable most, if not all, conventional terrestrial
technologies. How these technologies are used will be explored in the next section.

3 The electronic flight bag

A replacement to the tried and true black case or bag that everyone has seen pilots tote
around airports, the electronic flight bag, or EFB for short, is a system created by Boeing
to replace the manual process involved with today’s administrative duties related to
flying the aircraft. EFB is one of Boeing’s new core technology initiatives intended to
remove the paperwork and replace all of these activities with an electronic version. This
is part of Boeing’s e-Enabled, where data and information can be efficiently transported
from system to system.
Replacing the manual flight bag is a laptop, or tablet PC. Using custom software
written by Boeing and its subsidiary, Jeppesen, the system digitally delivers vital updates
to the charts and manuals that pilots need to fly the aircraft (Boeing Company, 2006). By
transporting up-to-the-minute information to the digital manual, the pilot has the most
current information in order to develop flight plans. The software includes performance
calculators whereby the pilot can input the flight plan, current weather conditions, current
loads, and at any runway and then compute the most efficient flight profile. Jeppesen has
also created software that provides an Airplane Moving Map. This is available on the
Class 3 EFB only.
What does this do? The Airplane Moving Map provides runway awareness by
integrating geo-terrestrial technology with the Jeppesen airport taxi charts (Figure 3).
This enables flight crews to understand precisely where they are while traversing the
airport taxiways. There are three separate and distinct versions of the EFB that are
 Boeing 787 Dreamliner: avionics and electronic flight bag 221

currently available to the airlines. Starting with the lowest-cost version, this device
consists of a tablet PC running a variety of Operating Systems. Information gathered
from the website Aeromagazine.com provides the following information:
“The open architecture of the EFB Class 3 system will allow airlines (or
third-party suppliers) to develop software for the Microsoft Windows®
processor using a software development kit provided by Boeing and
Jeppesen. The software development kit will include application programming
interfaces that will provide access to onboard communications and the flight
deck printer.”

Figure 3 Class 3 electronic flight bag: Airplane Moving Map

Source: Ramsey (2005)

The EFB Class 3 architecture has two flight-deck-mounted display units and two
electronic units mounted in the main equipment bay. The electronic units provide the
display to the deck-mounted display units, which show the selected applications,
allowing transfer of display between the two deck-mounted units (Allen, 2003). This
enables the flight crew members to view each other’s display, and control unit brightness.
So what are the benefits of the EFB? Quite a few – let us start with something simple
such as paper. As stated earlier, the current price of jet fuel continues to confound the
airlines’ pricing power. Airlines are taking every opportunity, no matter how small the
gain, to reduce an aircraft’s weight, and by extension, fuel requirements. The EFB
replaces approximately 77 pounds of paper (Cave, 2003). Very few individuals are aware
of how much administrative paper goes for a ride on every flight. Staying with the fuel
issue, typical calculations regarding fuel burn are highly conservative and are based on
early estimates of weight and balance. The EFB enables ‘real-time’ calculations of these
metrics and allows the flight crew to adjust thrust settings based on actual, current
information. Additional EFB benefits include improved taxiway safety, video feeds of the
flight deck, and e-documents integration that facilitate future applications and
configurations for transporting the EFB data. Let us look at each of these individually.
222 P.D. DeVries

Flying the aircraft may seem easy compared to landing at an unfamiliar airport with
limited visibility, or in the dark of night. Pilots will typically refer to the Jeppesen
manuals in order to plot their path to the gate. This can be tedious and dangerous if an
incorrect path is taken. The EFB assists to solve these problems by having on-board
real-time situational awareness. The Class 3 version of the EFB has GPS-enabled data.
Therefore, the crew knows where they are in relation to the taxiways and can plot the
path to the gate with greater confidence.
The EFB is also capable of receiving video feeds from existing cabin monitoring
systems. Digital video can be fed in through the Ethernet connections from the camera
units. The user can then select specific cameras for display on the EFB. The position and
location of the cameras are up to the flight management team. Monitoring the flight crew
activity can then be used for future training and to provide examples of ‘best practices’
for later reference (Boeing Company, 2006).
E-documents application is another benefit of the EFB. As mentioned previously, the
EFB can eliminate 77 pounds of paper. This is accomplished through the electronic
equivalent, e-document. The electronic version contains crew operating manuals, federal
regulatory requirements and the Aeronautical Information Manual. E-documents will
enable airlines to host and write documents in various forms. XML will be the preferred
format. The e-document ground administration tool can convert the HTML documents
into PDFs for later viewing. Scanned images are accepted into the e-document
application as well. Accepted formats include GIF, JPG, TIF and CGM.
The open architecture of the EFB allows for future developments and new
applications utilising Microsoft development tools in conjunction with Software
Development Kits (SDKs) developed by Jeppesen and Boeing. The development kit
includes APIs supporting an interface to the EFB platform. The development kit will
facilitate communications to on-board equipment as well as printing capabilities (Boeing
Company, 2006).
Having access to the data is one thing, but the sharing of information is where
real benefits of a computing network are realised. The EFB has several data transport
options available. The EFB uses a communication management function that connects to
the aircraft’s data interface. By connecting the preferred communications subsystem,
the airline can define the parameters of the communications interface. The most
interesting of these includes an 802.11b terminal gate-link system (Rockwell, 2006). This
ubiquitous wireless format provides mobile flexibility while, at the same time, efficient
downloads and uploads. The high-speed connection – approximately 11 megabits per
second – facilitates quick transport of a wide array of information. EFB applications will
have access to this high-speed link. The crew and ground support staff can set up
staged downloads and uploads based on operational priorities. Boeing has defined a
Distributed Data Management system or DDM for short. Options for loading data include
Cdrom from the DDM through an AIRINC interface, or the high-speed terminal link
described above.
Continental’s approach in adopting the EFB involved the analysis between three
different possibilities. The most basic approach offered by Boeing is to provide the
functional software on a ruggedised laptop or tablet PC. The pilots would carry this from
flight to flight and do all their planning with the EFB software. The second option
involved a tablet PC with a specialised mount. This would remain on the aircraft and be
used by different crews. This option can also be adapted to Continental’s existing fleet of
 Boeing 787 Dreamliner: avionics and electronic flight bag 223

777s, 767s and 737s. For the newly ordered 787, Continental has selected the Class 3, the
fully integrated version of the EFB (Figure 1). The carry-on EFB versus the fixed
mounted unit is still under analysis at Continental. Continental will also consider the
current ground support systems capabilities and develop an analysis to determine if these
systems will require enhancements to support new data flows from the 787.

4 Managerial implications for services and standards

The introduction of the Boeing 787 has already influenced the airline industry as it
considers technology as a solution to maintaining high levels of service with shrinking
profit margins. New technologies continue to be developed that create opportunities for
aircraft manufacturers to become leaner and more streamlined in their operations. The
newly designed Rockwell/Collins avionics systems for the 787 Dreamliner are the next
step in a logical progression towards updated automated systems and operational
efficiency. The flight deck displays, flight controls, security, data and communications
systems supporting the 787 are a significant step forward when compared to more
traditional systems.
Second, this paper looked at the electronic flight bag or EFB, which replaces the large
black case that pilots typically carry with them. The functional aspects of the electronic
version of the flight bag and the reasons for choosing a specific configuration lend insight
into the options available to airline carriers and why they should be interested in adopting
this technology. The avionics systems on-board the Boeing 787 could conceivably evolve
into the standard to which future aircraft designs are held and one to which other
manufacturers aspire.

References
Allen, D. (2003) ‘Electronic flight bag’, Aero, Third Quarter, July, pp.16–27.
Boeing Company (2006) ‘Air Canada to launch Boeing electronic flight bag in North America’,
WebWire, 8 February, http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?SESSIONID=&aId=9203
(retrieved 3 March 2006).
Cave, M. (2003) ‘Electronic flight bag’, Aero, July, Vol. 23, http://www.boeing.com/commercial/
aeromagazine/aero_23/EFB_story.html (accessed 3 March 2006).
Ramsey, J.W. (2005) ‘Boeing 787: integration’s next step’, Avionics Magazine, 1 June,
http://www.aviationtoday.com/cgi/av/show_mag.cgi?pub=av&mon=0605&file=boeing787
.htm (retrieved 11 March 2006).
Rockwell, C. (2006) ‘FlySmart with airbus’, Online Product Catalog, http://www
.rockwellcollins.com/ecat/at/FSA.html?smenu=101 (retrieved 26 March 2006).
Shamo, M. and O’Neil, K. (2000) ‘ICIS: integrated crew information system’, April,
http://www.aatl.net/publications/icis.htm (retrieved 12 March 2006).
Tvrdy, P. (2005) ‘Boeing 787 flight deck reveals Rockwell Collins next generation avionics
systems, information management and pilot controls’, Rockwell Collins News Release,
31 August, http://www.shareholder.com/col/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=171832 (retrieved
11 March 2006).

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