Aviation experts have introduced a groundbreaking safety approach inspired by the human body’s natural defense mechanisms that have the potential to change how we protect increasingly complex air transport systems from known and unknown risks.
In a commentary paper published in the journal Journal of Journal Engineering, researchers propose a new security framework called System-System (SOS) Security, which draws inspiration from the human immune system to address emerging challenges in future air travel scenarios.
The paper notes: “As the expected increase in air traffic complexity in the coming years, the civil aviation transportation system (CAT) of the future is transforming into a complex network-physical-social system, surpassing all previous experiences in the history of civil aviation safety management.”
The shift to this new approach is at a critical moment. While global aviation has reached significant safety levels – the rate of fatal accidents is below 0.2 per million flights in nearly a decade, as air traffic volume and complexity continue to grow, researchers warn that such stability may become difficult to maintain.
According to the study, passenger flows are expected to increase by 4.3% each year over the next two decades, with more than 200,000 daily flights by the mid-2030s. This growth has brought unprecedented challenges, especially with the emergence of urban air mobility (UAM) – flying taxis and operating drones operating in densely populated areas.
Booz Allen Hamilton predicts that UAM can generate up to 11 million trips per day without being restricted — an astonishing 244 times the FAA’s current average daily flight.
Lead author Daqing Li and colleagues analyzed the evolution of four generations of aviation safety, noting that each wave of new technologies initially led to higher accident rates before improving safety. This model has attracted serious concerns about integrating numerous cutting-edge technologies into future aviation systems.
“If we apply the 2022 civil aviation safety level to the UAM scenario, the number of daily accidents will reach an astonishing 0.77, which is equivalent to two fatal accidents every three days,” the researchers calculated.
The proposed SOS security framework borrows key principles of human immunology. Just as our immune system continues to defend against various threats through the protective layer, researchers envision a three-layer aviation defense strategy:
The first line relies on regulatory constraints to prevent known risks, similar to the disorder in which the skin (such as skin prevents pathogens from entering the body). The second line provides real-time monitoring and intelligent decision-making to deal with emerging threats, comparable to the human innate immune response. The third line focuses on identifying and understanding unknown risks through digital engineering and simulation – similar to an adaptive immune system that learns to identify new threats.
“The SOS security concept demonstrates a transition from ‘process and outcome’ to ‘function-oriented’ intelligent security management,” the researchers explained.
The implementation of the framework is expected to unfold in three phases over the next few decades. The focus of the first phase is to enhance operational flexibility through technologies such as 5G air-to-ground communication and IoT sensors. The second phase extends security features to the design process, while the third phase aims to fully integrate design and operation through artificial intelligence.
Several aviation organizations have begun exploring resilient management methods, including American Airlines, Lufthansa, Ryanair and air traffic control providers such as Eurocontrol.
Despite being developed for aviation development, researchers believe their approach can benefit other complex systems facing similar challenges.
They concluded: “In most large complex systems such as vehicle Internet, emergency systems and cyber-physical systems, SOS security can serve as a guiding framework and approach to security engineering.”
With air taxis having the potential to fill urban skies within a decade, this immune-inspired approach to safety management may prove crucial to maintaining public confidence in the future of flight.
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