July-August_2021 - 24

COVER STORY
the ecosystem of partners that they have
to extend functionality features, so that
they can take what YVR has built and
see if they could do something on their
own to improve logistics, whatever the
use case might be, " he said.
For the airport's passengers, DuJohn
said one of the short term goals with
the digital twin is helping people with
accessibility. Currently, the airport
offers tours for passengers with autism,
allowing them to go through, see and
experience the airport prior to their trip
to help familiarize themselves with the
environment. With the digital twin,
these tours can be given from the
comfort of a person's home.
" So, if you're a little afraid of flying
or you haven't flown before, being able
to experience it safely and from your
own home before you're actually in the
facility, I think would be a huge benefit
for people with accessibility challenges.
Through YVR's Digital Twin, being
able to illustrate exactly how they want
to move through the airport, or, are
you just really interested in what that
experience will be before you leave, is an
exceptional tool to have. " DuJohn said.
IoT Sensing
The other project off the ground
at YVR's
Innovation Hub is
the
partnership with BCIT and giving
their students a place to practice the realworld
skills they'll need in their careers,
while benefiting the airport through the
application of IoT Sensors.
The first project the students are
tackling at YVR is an environmental
issue.
" One of the problems that we have is,
we do quite a bit of manual data collection
for storm water management and the
students right now are in the process of
designing a system that would be able to
provide sensors to read various data points
and automatically provide a statement.
So, they're designing that right now in
conjunction with our environmental team.
And in the fall, they will be installing
those sensors and we'll start getting some
OPTIMIZE YOUR OPERATIONS
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems are cutting
edge solutions airports can implement to compile and
synthesize all of the disparate smart data they are already
collecting to optimize and innovate their operations. The
purpose of an EAM system is to allow an organization to
plan, optimize, execute and track any needed maintenance
activities with the associated priorities, skills, materials,
tools and information, said Brian Benedict, Development
Director, Enterprise Solutions, Arora Technology Group,
LLC. Furthermore, Benedict notes, an EAM system can
connect and provide a true feedback loop between a
building's Digital Twin and IoT building systems. The
Digital Twin, as Tim Wong noted, provides data which can
and should be influencing both Capital Planning, Facilities
Operations and Maintenance. " Having a cool 3D model
is helpful, but having that 3D model interact with critical
systems and influence real world outcomes is that much
more powerful, " states Benedict.
" EAM systems have become popular, powerful tools
for airports seeking to streamline their operations.
These solutions often exist in the cloud and combine
the systems, software and services used to maintain the
physical assets of an organization throughout each asset's
lifecycle, " Benedict said.
These systems help Airports to establish maintenance best
practices and reduce maintenance costs, ensure regulatory
compliance with FAA requirements, manage safety
systems and increase sustainability through improved
asset energy utilization and conservation, among
numerous other benefits, Benedict added.
" EAM systems allow an airport to transform from relying
on planned maintenance for their assets to world class
maintenance best practices that are part of a Reliability
Centered Maintenance (RCM) Asset Management
program, " said Steve Bisch, Vice President, Enterprise
Solutions, Arora Engineers, Inc.
An RCM program relies on the historical data housed in
today's modern systems to identify and predict equipment
failures and recommend pro-active activities that will reduce
the number of failures and also extend the life of equipment. "
With airports being such dynamic facilities, they
often house the smartest, most complex systems and
technology. The right EAM system captures IoT data
and uses it to steer Facilities Maintenance operations
both at the leadership level and the technician level
through an advanced mobile work order management
system. With an integrated asset management system
aviation facility managers are able to coordinate and
optimize management, allowing them to compare
short-term versus long-term benefits, expenditures versus
performance levels, planned and unplanned availability, or
capital costs versus operating the diversity and complexity
of assets.
Mobile Work Order solutions further optimize the
efficiency of an airport's EAM system, said Benedict.
" Implementing a Mobile Asset Management which
is fed by your EAM solution allows operators, office
administrators, inspectors, engineers, and superintendents
to access important asset information no matter where
they are. The right mobile work order management system
seamlessly integrates with the airport's EAM system to
provide real-time, actionable information, " Benedict
continued.
EAM systems are highly configurable to the specific needs
of an airport. However, Benedict cautioned, airports
should configure with care.
" While configuration can go a long way in ensuring the
EAM system appearance meets the expectations of an
organization, they also drive-up costs and make EAM
systems harder to maintain, " Benedict said.
Bisch added that airports can expect to see some of the
following when adopting an EAM system:
f Increasing labor efficiency and reducing overall
maintenance costs.
fImplementing effective equipment-based maintenance
schedules to reduce downtime.
fManaging work order processes to ensure on-time
delivery.
fImproving overall warehouse and inventory
management.
fModeling of various scenarios to determine optimum
asset levels and drive decision making.
fDevelopment of business processes and system
capabilities for the tracking and charge back of airline
and tenant maintenance services.
fEnhancing customer satisfaction from improved
performance and control of product or service delivery
to the required standards.
fImproved health, safety, and environmental
performance.
fOptimized ROI, increased wrench time, and extended
asset life.
fLong-term planning, confidence, and performance
sustainability.
24 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / JULY/AUGUST 2021
dashboards and information so that we
can understand that area of our business
better, " DuJohn said.
YVR is essentially an island,
described Jonathan Bassan, director, IoT,
with BCIT. YVR is right on the ocean
with arms of the Fraser River running
down either side of it.
" It is susceptible to a lot of influences
by tide and high flow of meltwater
down the Fraser and there's a need to
monitor constantly all the canals that
drain there at the airfield and the airport
area, " said Bassan.
The IoT sensors will also be used to
monitor water quality and parameters
to ensure that it is clean.
" All the area around the airport is
wildlife and pristine so the first actual
project that we're going to be doing
with the airport is going to replace a
whole lot of manual sensing and some
old valves that are not working properly
with new IoT sensors. And the whole
concept will be to be able to monitor
24 hours what's happening in all of the
July-August_2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July-August_2021
