Rapid changes are happening in the aerospace/defense ecosystem.
Alternating every year with the Paris Airshow, the Farnborough Airshow was back to an in-person event this July 2022. It focused on six key themes— space , defense , sustainability , innovation , future flight , and workforce . Within these themes, digitalization and data emerged as very prominent messages. Some of the prototypes and actual devices on display at the particular event felt like they were taken straight from a set of HBO’s Westworld.
These airshows—we at Cadence have now attended Melbourne, Paris, Dubai, and Farnborough— quite vividly showcase the complex aerospace/defense ecosystem, addressing various audiences. Here you can find a mix of representatives, from end consumers to end equipment suppliers, like Boeing and Airbus, and their supply chain partners who are several levels deep and include everyone, from suppliers associated with engines, electronics, and materials to tool and service suppliers like Cadence. At these events, aerospace enthusiasts enjoy flight demonstrations, chats with sharp-looking pilots in uniform, or check out the latest plane seat and other types of aircraft configurations. The big OEMs and their own immediate providers like BAE Systems plus Lockheed Martin interact with buyers in their chalets—big custom-build halls and tents—competing in both size and air conditioning during a hot British summer. These airshows are venues for business transactions plus partnership announcements. The company aspects fade down into the particular latter part of the week as the shows transition more in order to flight demonstrations and public visitors on the weekends.
Given the vast audience diversity, explaining “electronic design automation” becomes quite a challenging feat. During a press briefing with an editor of an aviation-focused publication in the Farnborough Airshow, I reverted to quite drastic measures, simply referring in order to Cadence and EDA as the “equivalent of Home Depot for the electronics plus systems industry, where we provide the tools, services, some materials, and building blocks. In other words, you can do it, and we can help. ” This analogy resonated quite well, and we had a great discussion on how the industry structure plus ecosystem of aerospace/defense are rapidly undergoing a digital transformation. There are certainly parallels and lessons learned from the automotive area, with Oes taking on more software plus control and design, hyperscalers doing their particular custom semiconductor designs for computing, plus the OpenRan disruption of the networking business.
Not unlike the changes driven by electrification, digital cockpits, and security/safety in the automotive market, the Farnborough Airshow chalets showcased roadmaps toward net-zero transmission, new fuels, plus electrification. Within the run-up to the particular show, We had given a webinar on Electronic Engineering Best Practices in Aerospace & Defense . The term “digital twinning” echoes loudly in this particular industry and is widely applied across various stages of the lifecycle through development through lifecycle optimization and multiple levels of scope from pure data via components, systems, systems associated with systems, and the real production.
Optimizing future air mobility has been visible in many locations, but my favorite was Supernal’s view of the future. The stated vision from their website is “to redefine how people move, connect, plus live, ” and correspondingly the Westworld-ish vehicle from their booth “fuses autonomy, electrification, robotics, and intelligent manufacturing technologies to accelerate the development of sustainable mobility solutions. ” I actually met some Supernal associates at the reception later within the day. It is easy to get behind their vision – “one where technology and innovation preserve the planet plus unleash human potential. ”
You can easily see how EDA-enabled electronics can potentially play a critical role within enabling fantastic user experiences in today’s aerospace sector
Speaking associated with sustainability, with an SAP-sponsored discussion upon digital transformation with various players, Airbus talked about how digitalization contributes to even more sustainable aviation. Data analytics eliminates paper from the cockpit and better predictability reduces the gap between airline flight plans and execution due to network disruptions. The particular quantifiable result is about an 8% CO 2 reduction. Airbus emphasized how their own system, called Skywise, combines data through many different areas, eliminating up to $10B of the particular $42B cost of inefficiencies per year. Of course , the geek in me wondered throughout the presentation whether the naming committee on Airbus had seen any of the particular Terminator movies. But oh well. This presentation showed digital change at its best along with quantifiable impact.
Bottom line, Farnborough was a great reminder of how exciting the long term in modern aviation can be plus how our day-to-day life in EDA is a crucial enabler, being—ahem—the House Depot associated with the consumer electronics and techniques industries.
Frank Schirrmeister
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Frank Schirrmeister is senior group director, options and ecosystems, at Cadence. He leads a team charged with translating customer challenges in the hyperscale, communications, consumer, automotive, aerospace/defense, industrial and healthcare vertical domains into specific requirements and solutions. His team focuses on cross-product technical solutions such as 5G, artificial intelligence, machine learning, safety, security plus digital twins, as well as key partner collaborations.
