Completed projects

Since its creation in the spring of 2009, SITA Lab has conducted a number of projects, some of which are described below.

Malaysia Airlines MHmobile

Pilot deployment of full Mobile suite including booking and check-in, launched in December 2009
Now part of SITA's product portfolio and is available to all SITA Reservation and DCS customers

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> View demo

Malaysia Airlines MHkiosk

First airline deployment of kiosks to sell airline tickets based on the Apple iPad

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> View demo

Malaysia Airlines MHdeals

First airline Augmented Reality application
Allowed SITA Lab to explore Augmented Reality ecosystem and technology in addition to testing a different way to connect with Generation "Y" customers

British Airways Club Mobile - In-Flight Portal

In partnership with OnAir, SITA Lab developed the world's first in-flight contextual mobile portal enabling passengers to access useful travel-related services and other information in real-time based on their destination.

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Project SILK - Android and iPhone - Flight information prototypes

Developped both iPhone and Android prototype applications with innovative features
Positioned SITA as a player in mobile services - generated customer interest and gained mobile competence
Provided key inputs to SITA's mobile strategy
A successful pilot that led to the Malaysia Airlines "Smart Mobile" Pilot Project

Project Reservoir - ACARS Data-mining

SITA Lab created a database with five years of ACARS messages. It proved the ability to merge multi-airline ACARS data and to extract valuable reporting information. SITA Lab was able to use the data to build prediction models for fuel usage and taxi times. The project was an input for the development of an airline community data service cloud, fed by SITA data, airline's private data, and community data, such as ATC and OAG. The data would be available to all participants for their benefit.

WIMAX for Tarmac Air to Ground connection - Proof of Concept

In partnership with SITA AIRCOM, SITA Lab evaluated and selected the best suppliers for aeronautical WIMAX. It co-developed and calibrated antenna systems and conducted tests in the laboratory and on the tarmac. Field trials in an airport environment demonstrated the suitability of WIMAX for tarmac usage.

The technology developed is being utilized in further developments by SITA AIRCOM, in particular in the European Sandra (Seamless Aeronautical Networking through the integration of Data links, Radios, and Antennas) project.

In Memory Grid Computing - benchmarked leading products

In collaboration with the team working on the SITA next generation inventory management system, SITA Lab Identified leading vendors for in-memory grid computing. The results showed that that technology is well suited for very high transaction rates. SITA Lab also conducted a head-to-head comparison of the two leading vendors. SITA's next generation inventory system is being built using the vendor that won the benchmarking.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (Citrix vs VMWare)

SITA Lab deployed Citrix VDI within the SITA network and demonstrated its suitability for SITA's desktop offerings as an alternative to VMWare. The results were used to feed the SITA desktop product offering roadmap.

Nomad Project - Remote Office of the future

SITA Lab demonstrated the feasibility of the SITA ATI Cloud to provide SaaS and IaaS to the industry, based on cloud appliances distributed in airports worldwide and connected to the SITA data network. SITA Lab set up an airline remote office demonstration room in Geneva, Switzerland using virtualization deployed in AirportHub 3.0 in Frankfurt, Germany. Results showed that airline pain points with remote offices can be addressed by such technology in a cost-effective manner when a community infrastructure is deployed.

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Mobile Bag tracer

This project demonstrated the ability for passengers to scan their baggage tag with their mobile phone and retrieve information on their baggage whereabouts. As part of this project, SITA Lab contributed enhancements to Google ZXing - an open-source, multi-format barcode image processing tool - to add support for the ITF (Interleaved Two of Five) format, which is the industry bar code standard for baggage.