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In a recent interview, I had the opportunity to chat with Faiz, Kontron’s Software Product Line Manager, to discuss avionics software and gain insights into upcoming industry trends. With his experience and vision, Faiz has been instrumental in expanding Kontron’s software offerings, which are adaptable and scalable across various platforms and industries and aligned with future demands.
Throughout our conversation, Faiz painted a vivid picture of how he is helping reshape the aviation landscape - accelerating customers' time to market, enhancing in-flight entertainment and connectivity, and preparing for AI integration and big data monetization on the aircraft.
It’s an exciting time for software, and it’s clear that his work is not only helping Kontron meet industry demands but is also positioning the company ahead of the curve in many ways.
Can you share a bit about your role and how your responsibilities have evolved over time?
Faiz: I’m currently leading a team that provides engineering services for Kontron North America and also serve as the Software Product Line Manager for Avionics. My personal journey with Kontron has been quite diverse. Initially, I was more focused on hardware designs and architecture but as we grew, we expanded our offerings and even integrated the avionics team into our North American engineering services team.
My background includes experience in verification and hardware design, and I first got involved with Kontron America through an opportunity with a customer in Asia. They wanted a bundled hardware and software solution, which led to our first software venture—an operating system with a middleware solution. That project paved the way for us to offer more software services, including API developments, BSP development, BIOS customization, technical support as well as software packages to support qualification and test of our Avionic Products out of Malaysia under the umbrella of North America.
Could you tell us about the software solutions Kontron is developing for Avionics and how they’ve been designed with flexibility in mind?
Faiz: Our work in avionics is quite exciting. We have significant plans in the pipeline, particularly around our comprehensive middleware solution. Our software allows customers to integrate their solutions on any of our platforms. For example, if a customer is using our Ace Flight™ 4608 server, they can easily migrate to our Ace Flight™ 4783 dual modem manager because of our unified middleware approach. This flexibility is something we’re laser-focused on.
More than just Avionics
In fact, we’re architecting software that isn’t just limited to avionics—it’s designed to be applicable across various markets like transportation and communications for example.
What customer challenges have you addressed and how is your software unique?
Faiz: The landscape has definitely changed over time. Previously, we were more focused on being hardware providers. We would supply APIs and documentation, and the customers would have to get everything running on different operating systems, which often led to a lot of back and forth.
Customer challenges
It used to take our customers over a year to get their base system running before they could focus on developing their applications. Today, customers don’t want to spend time on getting the foundation to run. They’re more focused on the end applications, where they can tailor the solutions for their own customers.
Speeding up software deployments
With our current approach, we’re providing a base platform that’s ready to go. Customers can use Docker containers and virtual machines (VMs) to seamlessly run our software, cutting down the time to deployment to as little as 6 months. We also handle things like data decoding within our solution, so customers don’t have to worry about that. It’s all about making the process faster and easier for them.
Of course, we make sure that core portions of the system are controlled to maintain stability, ensuring that hardware and software work together seamlessly. Beyond that, we give customers flexibility in networking and applications, so they can do what they want. We also provide periodic updates and fixes to ensure security is maintained.
How are these solutions helping your customers accelerate their time-to-market?
Faiz: One of our main goals is to help our customers get to market faster without the headaches of dealing with low-level technical details. As hardware designers, we have the expertise to ensure that the most suitable drivers are used, conducting everything in a stable manner.
We offer solutions that take care of redundancy and provide a stable foundation, so customers don’t have to spend time on those aspects anymore. Essentially, we handle the complex groundwork, allowing them to focus on what they do best.
It sounds like Kontron is really making strides in simplifying the deployment process. What’s next on the horizon for you and your team?
Faiz: We’re continuously working on refining our middleware solutions to make them even more versatile and robust. There’s a lot of potential in expanding these solutions to more markets, and we’re excited to see how our customers will leverage them in the future. The goal is to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, making our platforms as adaptable and user-friendly as possible.
Where can these software solutions be deployed?
Faiz: Our software is designed to run on all kinds of systems—servers, modem managers, fixed installation Line Replaceable Units (LRUs), and even portable systems. This “openness” and flexibility is a big part of what we offer, ensuring that our solutions are adaptable to various hardware configurations.
I can see how ease of configuration and open architecture are important aspects. How is this a differentiator in the market?
Faiz: We’ve made it a priority to open up configuration and integration so that customers can do it themselves. This means they’re not limited in what they can develop to improve their offerings. Our open architecture is also aligned with industry standards like the Seamless Air Alliance. Unlike some vendors whose software limits scalability, we ensure that if a customer needs to scale with additional hardware, they can easily configure our systems to support it.
Empowering customers
Customers have the power to define how they want their systems to behave, what kind of topology their system can support, and if they need to scale up LRUs, they can do it themselves. Even with in-seat displays, if a customer wants to extend to a "bring your own device" approach, our solution can be configured to support that without needing a separate piece of hardware or software.
And how do these advancements enhance in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFE&C) for passengers who fly?
Faiz: The main benefit is reliability and when our software is consistently running without hiccups, it ensures a seamless experience for the end users—whether they’re using in-flight entertainment systems or other services. If the core isn’t stable, it can negatively impact the passenger experience, which is something we aim to prevent.
KontronOS
We’re looking at more than just helping deliver content. It’s also about ensuring reliable connectivity. Our solution is embedded directly into the platform—what we call KontronOS. It allows for easy development and deployment of applications across the Kontron IFE&C hardware family which all impact the overall passenger experience.
Interesting. So it is an operating system?
Faiz: Yes it is. But we also have our fleet management software powered by Kontron Pulse.
Kontron’s Avionics Fleet Management
It helps monitor, report on, and analyze your fleet. Both KontronOS and Kontron Device Management need to work together and we’ve ensured that our OS and middleware come pre-loaded with Kontron agents. This setup allows for remote fleet management through the cloud, which is particularly beneficial for customers seeking those capabilities.
What can we expect from Kontron at APEX Global Expo 2024 coming up in October?
Faiz: At APEX in Long Beach, we’ll be showcasing our Cab-n-Connect™ P100 portable infotainment systems, running our solution. One of the key things about our software approach is that we’re not limiting our customers' ability to innovate. We’re focusing on future-proofing our solutions and maintaining scalability, so our customers can continue to innovate for their clients without constraints. All this and more, will be discussed on the show floor.
Looking to the future, what trends do you see and how is Kontron preparing for them?
Faiz: One of the biggest trends is the integration of AI. Traditional systems have limited scalability, which makes deploying AI on aircraft challenging. However, software is evolving, and customers are interested in more features and offerings that align with AI and IoT. We’re making sure our systems are versatile enough to adapt to these new demands, which is becoming increasingly important for airlines.
AI to personalize passenger experiences
For example, AI could personalize passenger experiences by analyzing frequent flyers’ preferences—what they like to eat on the plane, what movies they enjoy watching. This data could drive recommendations, making choices easier for passengers.
AI for automation
We’re also looking at implementing sensors that monitor passenger behavior to mitigate potential issues. From an airline perspective, AI could help automate tasks, reduce crew count, and increase efficiency, ultimately benefiting the airline’s bottom line.
Big data
There’s also the potential to monetize big data from each flight, creating new revenue streams through targeted ads or personalized reading materials. We’re already thinking about how to integrate these into our systems as we build them to be “future-proof.”
About Faiz
Ahmad Faiz is a highly experienced hardware and software Architect, heading the Kontron North American Engineering services team at Kontron Asia Pacific Design Sdn. Bhd. based in Malaysia. He is also the Software Product line Manager for Kontron Canada. With 14+ years of experience at Kontron and a total Industrial Experience of 19+ years over various industries, he has deep understanding of hardware architecture, design, validation, verification software architecture and development. Faiz combines his technical expertise with a passion for Avionics driving software development advancements which will be applicable across various vertical markets. He has a Bachelors Degree of Science (Hons) in Electrical & Electronics Engineering focusing in Communication from AIMST University, Kedah, Malaysia.
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