Seat Project

    The proposed project focuses on upstream quentions of an integrated system that i) creates a healthier and more comfortable cabin environment through reduction of noise and vibrations and user specific climatic controls and ii) provides a high level of customer focused services that simulate home and office environment.

    The need for a novel approach to passenger comfort originates in the fact that travel has become a global activity that is not confined to any geographic area, social or ethnic group. As a consequence airlines need to address frequently conflicting requirements and in a centrally controlled environment, the "lowest common denominator" approach is the only viable one. This is frequently utilised at the lower price end, while the high end of the market normally opts for more services and features that would satisfy these usually more demanding customers. However, examples such as MiniPod show that the current thinking is focused on the traveling executive requirements but do not necessarily address the contextual needs of different group, require a lot of space and many of its costly facilities are rarely used. Users have very little time to study different features and are frequently reluctant to do so. Hence it is important that such features are not manually controlled but are part of an integrated system that adapts to the passenger's needs. 

    This project aims to develop such new radical approach through integration of cabin systems with multi media features and will strongly draw on preceding European projects where some of the partners have been already involved.

The main SEAT objectives could be defined as follows: