CGI Inc. to lead development of cloud-based flight data recorder for the ESA

CGI has been awarded a contract under the European Space Agency – ESA -‘s Space Systems for Safety and Security program with the support from the UK Space Agency. CGI will lead a consortium in the development of a Service Demonstrator for a virtual flight data recorder. Replicating the function of a traditional crash-protected flight data recorder – Black Box – in a virtual, cloud-based environment, the new system will allow the assured, authenticated and provenance-controlled storage of data transmitted by an aircraft while in flight. It will enable access to that data almost immediately in case of an emergency, incident, or accident. The Universal Virtual Flight Data Recorder will be designed for use on any aircraft equipped to send engineering telemetry and operational data to the ground. A future UVFDR service can be used on its own on smaller aircraft, or alongside traditional recorders on aircraft legally required to carry them. The system is built using CGI’s TrustedFabric, a proprietary blockchain solution for the secure storage of highly sensitive data and is hosted on the cloud.