Focus on the Future: Emerging Technologies Panel
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APEX Insight: APEX TECH’s closing session brought together a panel of remarkable people to brainstorm and investigate emerging and future technologies. In setting the stage, APEX’s Rich Salter says “The thinking was that technologies are changing so fast that we needed to bring together a panel to look 5 to 15 years in the future. The Emerging Tech Advisory Panel will get together periodically during the year. The panel is open to APEX and non-APEX members.”
After an extensive, heated discussion about technical standards, moderator Bryan Rusenko, APEX technical director, asked the panel “What technologies are going to shape our IFE content experiences in the future?”
Albert Koval from DECE says since smartphones are more powerful than even our set-top boxes at home, and can have better screens than our TVs, the inflight experience can start before a passenger boards. “The real challenge, I think, is for consumers to get a fast download [of content] at the gate, so not only can they enjoy the content that they want, but you can sell it to them on the spot. And these smartphones are so loaded with sensors that, as an industry, there’s got to be a way to tie into that, and actually find out what the passenger experience is, in every seat in the plane,” says Koval.
“I want to make sure that airlines are directing our efforts and activities from a technology perspective.” – Joe Leader, APEX CEO
In the recent APEX Worldwide Survey, data shows that 48 percent of people use two screens at home, on a laptop or on a smartphone while watching TV. But the numbers in Asia are even higher, says Joe Leader, APEX CEO. “Over in Japan, it’s 79 percent, Hong Kong, 72 percent, and in Thailand, it’s 66 percent. So when you see numbers like that, it double underlines the importance of two screens in the IFE, so you can do what you’re used to doing at home, as it dramatically increases your positive passenger experience.”
When it comes to the quality of video content, Kwaai Oak’s Reza Rassool believes that encoding technology needs improvement, automatically adapting to displays, whether embedded or on passengers’ PEDs. “We still have dragons to slay in video compression. There’s a whole lot more that can be done. With an encode that can understand the size of the screen and adjust appropriately, we’ll get a consistent quality of experience,” says Rassool.
Video is moving to even higher quality than HD, with 4K and HDR content becoming available. “But I think what we’re going to need to look at is an advancement in display technology to reproduce what’s there, whether it be OLED or quantum dot technology displays that can do higher dynamic range and wider color,” says panelist Bob Kisor. “And there may be new technologies that haven’t been commercialized yet, that become a seatback display.”
“I have one idea about content,” says Michael Stattmann of castLabs. Utilizing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, Stattman believes compelling content can delivered in flight. “Imagine if you had cameras on the outside of the airplane, and everybody on the plane could watch outside. Or let them leave the plane while they’re still on the plane. There’s an opportunity with AR and VR to let people be present somewhere else,” he says.
“Everybody wants to be special,” says Bitlogic’s Andy Rosen. “You know enough about the passenger to steer them to content, so why not bring to their attention that we’re flying over their neighborhood. You don’t need gigabytes of data to personalize content.”
Roomstorm’s Maksim Izmaylov believes that data exchange of passengers’ details and preferences between different travel providers’ computer systems will lead to integrated travel applications. “Five years from now, I’d like to be able to sit in my home and organize a trip to Frankfurt. Instead of opening multiple applications, I’d just open one application. The app would give me a list of transport and hotel options that I can select,” says Izamylov.
Following the panel discussion, CEO Joe Leader reviewed APEX’s future technology roadmap. “Alfy [Veretto], our president, always reminds me that the ‘A’ in APEX stands for ‘airlines.’ With that, I want to make sure that airlines are directing our efforts and activities from a technology perspective,” says Leader. Among other initiatives, APEX FlightTrack will be the industry’s first standardized system of reporting of IFE flights, combining airline tail tracking with hardware data. Designed for incremental growth, the core components of FlightTrack are planned for release next year.