ABSTRACT
One of the greatest challenges an airline faces is managing information. The key objective is getting information to individuals where and when they need it in a format that can be used by everyone. Federal Express (FedEx) has a project called 'TITAN' that meets this challenge in innovative ways. The Totally Integrated Technical Aircraft Network (TITAN) project is a combination of networking components and input/output devices that allow for automatic and interactive use of data and information. FedEx's strategic long-term vision is to eliminate most of the paper documents on the aircraft, to provide high-speed, low-cost, realtime communications between the aircraft and the FedEx ground network, and to create an electronic interface between the aircraft airworthiness log book and the FedEx maintenance mainframe system. To accomplish these goals, FedEx worked with its vendor (Spirent) to develop an infrastructure on the aircraft that would allow for growth in the years to come. It was realized that once these baseline components had been installed and certified, adding additional components and functionality could be done at less cost with few certification hurdles.
