Opinion: Aviation Needs Consensus-based Data Governance Standards

In fall 2023, the headlines were screaming about fake parts appearing on several aircraft. It turned out that while the parts were genuine, the airworthiness documentation had been falsified, making the parts appear newer than they were. Regardless, this could have posed a serious hazard to the flying public if these parts had gone undetected.

At the time, several industry experts pointed out at that digitally tracking aircraft parts could have avoided this problem. However, even this would not have helped if this tracking information could not have been shared readily amongst the entities in the supply chain that needed to know. There is a lack of governance standards in the aviation industry today to allow such seamless sharing of data.

Let us briefly consider the current standards related to data sharing. The accompanying figure shows a three-layer model for data usage. At the bottom is the physical level consisting of the very basic building blocks of data connectivity. This includes communication and data handling protocols and standards for interacting with physical hardware such as sensors, devices, displays, etc.

The next level up is where much of the engineering work of data usage happens. In this logical or functional layer models are developed, enterprise data systems control and monitor processes, financial data is exchanged, etc. Many standards development organizations (SDO) are active in this layer developing standards for data usage.

The top layer deals with data governance, and it is governments and intergovernmental agencies such as ICAO that are most active here. Since many tools for data usage are built by individual companies for their own use or the use of their clients, considerations such as standards for data sharing are not high on their list of priorities. Many proprietary databases developed by airlines fall in this category. There is a need for industry-created standards for data usage that will be accepted by all, thus affording everybody a level playing field.

Having the means to digitally track individual parts from birth to disposal and allowing stakeholders necessary access to these records would have helped alleviate some of the issues related to counterfeit parts. To ensure that this access can be affected in a fair and efficient manner, consensus standards for governing data sharing are essential.

Another example is related to aircraft operational data. With aircraft getting more sophisticated and powerful in data acquisition, storage and communications, airlines and OEMs are developing advanced analytical solutions to help diagnose issues so that preventative action can be taken to avoid potentially disastrous failures. We have seen several instances where different airlines flying the same equipment can benefit from pooling their data so that technical problems can be analyzed more thoroughly and optimal solutions are developed faster. Varying data privacy laws in different jurisdictions and intellectual property concerns of data owners make this sharing of data from different carriers much more difficult. Consensus standards related to data ownership, usage and sharing can help ease the situation so that critical solutions can be developed quickly to the benefit of all stakeholders—including OEMs and operators.

AOG situations are one of the most vexing problems the industry faces. It is crucial in such cases that airlines can easily access reliable and accurate data for available parts with all necessary documentation. Existence of a consensus standard for data sharing would be of tremendous help.

In these and other critical situations, a lack of global governance standards for data sharing has hindered the industry, with many players developing siloed solutions. This duplicates effort and reduces efficiencies, thereby making the entire system more inefficient. The development of such governance standards will in no way stifle competition, nor will it lead to collusion. It will allow suppliers, operators and regulators access to data that they are entitled to while reducing barriers and increasing efficiencies. Several SDOs are working to fill the gaps in the bottom two data layers. The International Data Center Authority is specifically targeting the data governance layer to develop consensus standards for data sharing.

Ravi Rajamani is an independent consultant working on applying model-based and data analytical solution techniques to aerospace and other complex systems. He recently assumed the presidency of the Independent Data Consortium for Aviation, developing data governance standards for the aviation industry.