Panasonic Avionics has announced the launch of Wellness – the latest solution set available as part of its NEXT platform. Wellness has been designed to improve the comfort, health and wellbeing of passengers during flights.
Panasonic’s Wellness solution, which was developed alongside the research and development teams from Panasonic Corporation in Japan, includes Active Noise Control, Premium Seat Lighting, and Panasonic’s nanoe technology.
Features
Active Noise Control aims to provide passengers with a more comfortable and restful sleep aboard long-haul flights by reducing background aircraft noise, with no headphones required. It can reduce ambient noise at the seat by up to 15 decibels, and is optimised for the 80-400Hz frequency range with no impact on human voices. The technology is adaptable to each seat configuration and will calibrate automatically to a passenger’s seat in-flight.
Premium Seat Lighting tailors a passenger’s lighting to different phases of the flight. Specialised sleep and wake algorithms aim to help passengers have the best possible rest inflight and awake refreshed and at their body’s own pace. Lighting scheduled during meal services is optimised to improve food colour saturation whilst reading lights are designed to reduce eye strain for passengers. For the airline, a range of accent lighting highlights themes and branding in the cabin are available, with differentiation available for First and Business class sections.
nanoe deodorizes the air in the cabin and around a passenger’s seating area by applying low voltage to moisture which bursts into nano-sized electrostatic atomised particles at a rate of 480 billion nm particles per second. It also neutralises air and surface viruses, bacteria, moulds, and pet-related allergens.
Panasonic has secured launch customers for each feature, all of which are available on both long and short-haul flights.
Just the beginning
In addition to these Panasonic products, the company is also showcasing applications developed in collaboration with select wellness experts: Detalytics, a provider of health-related AI services, is demonstrating a health advisory application integrated into both PAC seat-back and passenger mobile screens, and Mimi Hearing Technologies, a leader in advanced audio enhancing algorithms, is showing integrated personalised audio capabilities.
David Bartlett, Chief Technology Officer of Panasonic Avionics Corporation, said: “Our airline partners are actively researching new ways to enhance passenger wellbeing, especially on long-haul flights. As responsible partners to the world’s leading airlines, our mission is to leverage the latest advancements in technology to improve the passenger experience on board all Panasonic-equipped aircraft. nanoe, Active Noise Control, and Premium Seat Lighting represent the first set of solutions that we believe will dramatically enhance the flying experience.”
He added: “These features are just the beginning of a wide range of technology, services, and content that Panasonic will be rolling out in the near future.
“New features will draw from a wide range of partners from the health, wellness and biometric industries, in addition to Panasonic’s significant investment and offerings in consumer wellness solutions.”
