Sensors
SECURITY FOR AVIATION
AND SPACE TRAVEL
Pressure sensors are used throughout modern air and space travel
// JÜRG DOBLER AND DR. GÜNTHER KADEN
The airplane is one of the safest modes
of transport in the world. This can be
attributed to the excellent training of
the pilots and sophisticated technology
both on board and on the ground. This
applies even more so to space travel. This is
where Keller AG für Druckmesstechnik
joins the ranks of suppliers of highsecurity
technology with its transmitters.
SAFE AVIATION
Many people get an uneasy feeling when
they board an airplane, as opposed to when
using a car, even though the latter presents
a significantly higher likelihood of being
involved in an accident. According to the
Federal Association of German Aviation
(BDL) and the Aviation Safety Network
(ASN), a total of 4 billion passengers were
transported by air in 2017, 79 of whom
died in ten civil aviation accidents. In 2017,
the risk of losing your life on a commercial
flight had fallen to its lowest level since
records began. According to the BDL, 13
times more passengers are being
transported by airlines than in 1970.
Despite this growing number, the
statistical probability of being killed in a
plane crash averaged 1 in 264,000 in the
1970s and stood at around 1 in 92,750,000
in 2017. This means that flights were 350
times safer in 2017 than they were in the
1970s. These records do not take account of
accidents involving military aircraft or
smaller airplanes with less than 14
passenger seats on board.
The improvement in safety is thanks to
the improvement in aviation technology,
airport infrastructure and air traffic
control. Nowadays, airplanes are generally
116 SHOWCASE 2020 \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
1 // In aviation, just like in
space travel, cutting-edge
technology is not used to
give increased reliability
less susceptible to interference. The success
can also be seen as due to the careful
selection and strict screening of suppliers
and their products. Keller has been
supplying pressure sensors to all manner
of aircraft fleet sectors since 1997.
Ten different pressure transmitters are
used throughout the entire aircraft.
Depending on the type of aircraft, either
all application areas are handled by Keller,
or only certain parts of them. The specific
application description is subject to an
obligation of secrecy. Three types of
aircraft are, however, described below,
showing how different the applications can
be and thus how broad the spectrum of
demands on pressure measurement
technology is.
The four-engined wide-bodied A380
aircraft has two compact air conditioning
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM