The Computerworld Honors Program
Honoring those who use Information Technology to benefit society
LOCATION:
São Paulo, Brazil

YEAR:
2008

STATUS:
Laureate

CATEGORY:
Manufacturing

NOMINATING COMPANY:
Sybase

ORGANIZATION:
Embraer

PROJECT NAME:
In-Flight Test Engineering Database



Introductory Overview
Embraer is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jets up to 120 seats, and one of Brazil's leading exporters. Embraer's headquarters are located in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, and it has offices, industrial operations and customer service facilities in Brazil, the United States, France, Portugal, China and Singapore. Founded in 1969, the Company designs, develops, manufactures and sells aircraft for the Commercial Aviation, Executive Aviation, and Defense and Government segments. The Company also provides after sales support and services to customers worldwide. As of December 31, 2007, Embraer had a workforce of 23,770 people, and a firm order backlog of US$18.8 billion.

With the introduction of each new family of aircraft, Embraer’s Flight Test Engineering group needs to carry out hundreds of tests in Brazil and abroad. In each test, thousands of parameters such as altitude, speed and temperature are measured and analyzed by a team of engineers to meet demanding certification requirements. With successful testing, each country’s certifying authority then approves the sale and operation of specific Embraer jets for their jurisdiction. “Flight Test Engineering is responsible for carrying out tests on aircraft prototypes to ensure that the final product meets the customer’s and our own engineering specifications, and most of all, safety requirements,” says Sérgio Duarte Penna, Embraer Computer Systems Engineer.

The aircraft are tested in Brazil, but they must also handle the extreme cold of Alaska, the great altitudes of Bolivia and the cross winds in Patagonia. Besides withstanding the rigors of various climates, the aircraft must also demonstrate compatibility with the sophisticated equipment at European and American airports. The testing period can last more than one year, with tests conducted several times per day, and in some cases using two or more aircraft simultaneously.

Besides the certification tests, there are also production flights where each recently manufactured aircraft is tested in full flight before being delivered to the buyer. Flight Test Engineering also conducts tests aimed at developing new aircraft characteristics. In these test flights, it is possible to confirm in practice the conditions theoretically defined during the jet’s design and manufacturing phases. Any safety or performance issues would have an immense negative impact on Embraer’s reputation and financial position, as well as on the lives of its employees and passengers.

“Each test is prepared many hours, at times days, in advance. The aircraft and its systems must be correctly configured and calibrated and all modifications must be traceable. We take computers on the airplanes that are capable of withstanding the extreme test conditions (cold, great accelerations, etc.) and capable of storing the enormous amounts of data collected by the sensors. Back on solid ground, we unload the information into the database and everyone has quick access to the results, whether in Brazil, USA, France, China or any other company subsidiary,” says Sérgio Penna.

The Importance of Technology
How did the technology you used contribute to this project and why was it important?
Featuring state-of-the-art technology, enhanced comfort and cost-effectiveness, the Embraer 170 imposed a new challenge to engineers: how to certify this new aircraft, full of new technologies, in a record short time? The answer was a bold flight-test campaign, with more tests in less time, more parameters in each test and a carefully designed harmony between the certification requisites and test results. It was impossible to accomplish this challenge without a system that coordinates every aspect of flight test activities and provides a common infrastructure where data could flow between existing systems from different areas of the company.

Since its inception, when the system was just a shared file, it had a profound impact in the Embraer flight test activities. All processes were revised and almost all procedures were changed to conform to the Flight Test Engineering Database. Now, the system has a three-layer architecture and uses a Windows/Intel platform with web servers and database in clusters environment. The clusters guarantee that the system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Using SQL Anywhere as the database for its flight test system, Embraer users see almost instantaneous responses for even the most complex queries. “The database permits the creation of self-related tables and has an excellent cost/benefit ratio,” says Antônio Magno Lima Espeschit, Embraer Computer Systems Engineer.

The communication between Embraer and its partners has also improved because the system allows users from one site to access data stored in another. Luiz Algodoal, Flight Test Engineer at Embraer, said "I can operate the system not only in our bases at São José dos Campos and Gavião Peixoto but also in any other city where we have an Internet connection".

Attending to business requirements, Antônio Espeschit explains that ANAC (the Brazilian National Agency for Civil Aviation and Brazil’s certification authority) requires Embraer to save the configuration of each aircraft in each test. “It is necessary to know the status of thousands of parameters in hundreds of different flights and prototypes, and this all remains stored in the testing database. We could not accomplish our mission without it.”

The processes begins when an Embraer engineer submits a Flight Test Proposal, a document that specifies all test procedures, expected results, safety requirements and other aspects regarding the flight test. From the requests of one or several Flight Test Proposals, Flight Test Engineers can define every aspect of a flight test, from detailed test procedures to the expected values of some parameters. The Flight Test Engineering Database provides a sophisticated workflow where a group of engineers can create, approve and check all the requirements of each flight.

While Flight Test Engineers are preparing a test, Embraer engineers with other responsibilities are reviewing other modules of the system that impacts that flight. In the Prototype Configuration module, for instance, technicians in other areas can explain the status of parameters in all available prototypes.

After users of several modules have worked together to define a test, the system exports XML and text files that are used to configure the in-flight systems. Some files are also exported to configure ground equipments to receive data sent via radio telemetry from the aircraft while the test is being executed.

After the test, there are huge binary and text files that must be moved from the aircraft to dedicated servers where external systems can read and analyze this result data. The Flight Test Engineering Database extracts and stores metadata from these files and provides a common interface to users access test results via different external systems.

Benefits
Has your project helped those it was designed to help?   Yes

Has your project fundamentally changed how tasks are performed?   Yes

What new advantage or opportunity does your project provide to people?
Without the certification, Embraer cannot sell its aircrafts. So, any delay in the certification process can result in financial costs to the company.

This system provides a common interface where engineers and technicians in different areas of the company can interact to define and execute flight-tests and share test results. This allows each area to work synergistically to certify an aircraft in less time with complete confidence in its safety. If an aircraft is certifiable in less time, it can be sold earlier, leading to an improved return-on-investment and better margins for the company. The system also tracks and controls every aspect of the tests, including improvement in the quality of the final product delivered to customers.

This system also helps in the development of new features. After design and implement a new feature, the installation of a bigger fuel tank for example, it's necessary to test it to measure the real interference in other aircraft systems and guarantee that all safety conditions was satisfied.

The Flight Test Engineering Database also helps to identify and solve potential problems with Embraer clients’ aircraft. In another example, a client may complain that there is a high noise level when the aircraft is at specific altitude and speed. With this testing protocol, we can reproduce this condition, detect what is causing that problem, develop a solution and test again to see if the solution has fixed the problem.

“Flight Test Engineering is responsible for carrying out tests on aircraft prototypes to ensure that the final product meets the customer’s and our own engineering specifications, and most of all, safety requirements,” says Sérgio Duarte Penna, Embraer Computer Systems engineer. The system control activities of preparation (before the flight) and analysis (after the flight). The activities during the flight are also affected because the system exchange data with the computers installed in the aircraft via XML and text files.

There is a workflow that guarantees that all technical procedures were done in a correct sequence, the safety conditions were analyzed and every aspect of the flight are in optimal condition to the execution of the test. Many activities that were executed with paper and pencil are now computer controlled, reducing costs and improving accuracy and reliability.

Embraer engineers must be able to access and rely upon information technology and have easy access to test results. The Embraer database simplifies this work for its legion of company engineers and outside workers who use its data. To access information obtained in the tests, Embraer created a Web portal to serve its technical support team. “Altogether, we have more than five thousand registered users and two million page visits per month,” says Antônio Espeschit.

Overall Key Benefits:
• Access of data from anywhere you have an Internet connection.
• Data integration between different systems.
• Workflow that checks adherence to aeronautical and company standards.
• Traceability of changes.
• High availability.


If possible, include an example of how the project has benefited a specific individual, enterprise or organization. Please include personal quotes from individuals who have directly benefited from your work.
The ability of the system to interact with the Internet, its versatility and its ability to integrate several technicians’ work are highlights, according to several Embraer Engineers. Paulo Quattrocchi, Flight Test Engineer at Embraer, said "The system's best feature is its web browser/internet interface that links all users, tests tasks and required database, anywhere they have an internet connected computer."

Luiz Algodoal, Flight Test Engineer at Embraer, said "the system provides a workflow that is crucial to integrate different people, at different places, each one doing a small part of one complex task: issue a flight test order, in accordance with safety requirements and Embraer needs".


Originality
Is it the first, the only, the best or the most effective application of its kind?   First

What are the exceptional aspects of your project?
All Embraer flight test procedures are represented in the system data model and web pages. When some business rules change, we need just change some rules in database and deploy new versions of some web pages. One of the outstanding and most original features is that there is no need to retrain engineers or deploy new systems at different types of computers.

The system permits different Engineers to work at the same project at the same time in accordance with the Embraer internal normative system and best practices of the aeronautical market. This is ability does not exist on other test systems.

The test system uses a web interface in a three-layer architecture to control flight test activities. With this architecture, Flight Testing can be done in different parts of the world at same time, which increases efficiency, saves time, helps the company save money, and may have a hand in improved safety. The system can integrate Engineers as far apart as São José dos Campos and Gavião Peixoto doing the same flight test at same time. In just a few hours we can use at São José dos Campos the data gathered from a flight test done in the US state of Alaska. This way, the data is collected just once, where the information is generated and direct from the owner of the information. And just after this data has been collected, it is made available to all its potential consumers.

The business rules are then implemented on the web and the database servers, where it can be easily changed. As a result, there is no need to reinstall new applications in several computers across the company. The system extends and integrates legacy systems allowing its data to be accessed from any browser anywhere in the world. The centralized database allows combining and merging information generating a new view of the controlled processes. The system allows users to identify who changes what and when the change occurs. Tracking this kind of information, we can improve the process design. An automated workflow allows each one of hundreds of activities to be managed and monitored throughout the life cycle of the project.


Difficulty
What were the most important obstacles that had to be overcome in order for your work to be successful? Technical problems? Resources? Expertise? Organizational problems?
There were several problems faced by Embraer’s Flight test system. These were:
• Web interface originally discredited because the users associated it with the "World Wide Wait" of Internet applications.
• Integrated database also means a single point of failure.
• The users were afraid about to loose the agility and versatility of "ad hoc" procedures that can be changed any time. They were worried about to wait "months" until that the system could be changed to face a new business rule.

Embraer implemented these solutions:
• Divide all system in small modules.
• Choose one module, of easy implementation, and deploy it as soon as possible
• Show the users that module is stable, working consistently 24 x 7, and has good performance.

With this strategy, the user had the opportunity "to see to believe" that the results were worth the effort need to build the system.

When some key users became confident about the project, they help building other modules.

Some people originally said that implementation of this universal Flight test system was impossible because there were many legacy systems to integrate and many "ad hoc" process to put in a workflow. Embraer overcame those problems by demonstrating testing procedures, the versatility of the program, and its efficiency.

Every time a procedure changes there is some resistance. This becomes more pronounced when the procedure is used for three or more different areas in a company. Embraer has changed procedures and documents several times. Sometimes it seems like an impossible task because each affected department has a very different perception about what must be changed and that change was critical to the system success. The Embraer Flight Test system overcame all of this because of its ability to deliver on its promises and help to make the company more financially successful.

Often the most innovative projects encounter the greatest resistance when they are originally proposed. If you had to fight for approval or funding, please provide a summary of the objections you faced and how you overcame them.
Embraer gave all funding and necessary support to the project, buying all hardware and software, and providing courses in new technologies. The company’s developer team was trained in both Brazil and the United States. It was difficult to design hardware, storage and bandwidth because there was no previous system to use as a baseline. It was also a challenge to integrate different areas of the company because each area has resistance to change its own process or adopt the terminology of another area. To use an integrated database, the system has to make non trivial translations when the data originated in one area is shown to another. There were also many legacy systems that needed to be replaced or integrated. We had to provide interfaces to these systems and create new ways to interact with them. Before, the users had great flexibility to change anything. Now, they have to log in the website, access an interface that checks the consistency of every change and generate a file to configure the legacy system. This seemed like extra work at first, until the advantages of web-based information became apparent.

Success
Has your project achieved or exceeded its goals?   Exceeded

Is it fully operational?   Yes

How do you see your project's innovation benefiting other applications, organizations, or global communities?
Embraer published papers about some modules of the system at international conferences (e.g. European Telemetry Conference). The company has probably influenced the development of other systems.

Over time, the certification process has experienced exponential growth in complexity and this project has made it possible for Embraer to certify a new aircraft family in a record time. The system created new ways to share data between Embraer, its partners and the certification agencies around the world. Those certification authorities can access Embraer’s system over the Internet, consulting documents, asking questions and new requirements. Before the new Flight test system was introduced, this would have had to be by phone, fax or meetings in Brazil or abroad.


How quickly has your targeted audience of users embraced your innovation? Or, how rapidly do you predict they will?
Understanding and using the Flight testing program has become fundamental at Embraer. The system is so integrated that is almost impossible accomplish the company’s mission without using it. Flight Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers have on-line access to the Embraer Normative System to check any safety procedure. The system reinforces the use of all safety procedures.

The Flight test program output gives reports about the flight test costs and performance that is very useful to executives.
After an initial period of skepticism, the system was completely accepted.

At first, the users were reluctant to change their habits. It was difficult to abandon customized applications and procedures used for decades in order to use a new, sometimes unfriendly, web interface. We overcame this by dividing the system into modules and breaking down objections one module at a time. And while Engineers always look to question and improve, the system has been universally adopted and is a foundation of success at Embraer.
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