Mobile device integration in the cockpit: benefits, challenges, and recommendations

There is a proliferation of mobile devices such as cellular handsets, tablet computers and portable computers used on-board aircraft by both passengers and crew members. This paper focuses on the use of such devices by pilots. While it is recognized that mobile devices can provide operational benefits to pilots, such as improved productivity and situational awareness, there are human factor, operational, architectural, and certification aspects to consider when using these devices in the cockpit. The introduction of interfaces between the mobile device and the avionics, including wired and wireless interfaces, also raise cyber security considerations related to data integrity, spoofing, jamming, and information access. This paper explores these issues through six use cases that progressively illustrate increasing functionality for the pilot and increasing data exchange between the mobile device and the avionics. Each use case is analyzed to identify the human factor, operational, architectural, and cyber security issues that must be addressed by the design implementation, operational procedures and limitations, and training. This paper presents a case for which cockpit information functions are acceptable to implement using mobile devices and which should be avoided due to operational, data integrity or cyber security concerns. The paper notes mobile devices are used both on and off the aircraft and often connect to off-aircraft open networks such as the Internet. This poses challenges for configuration control and cyber security of the information stored and processed on the mobile device. The paper also examines the impact of, and mitigations for, using commercial grade mobile devices in the cockpit that do not meet established avionics design assurance levels.