HKUST has become the first and only university in Hong Kong chosen to develop a wireless communication system for Boeing's commercial planes, including its latest Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Two other universities on the mainland identified to be Boeings new collaborative research partners are Tsinghua University in Beijing and Southeast University in Nanjing, both renowned for their technological and academic excellence.

Each of the three universities will work separately and on a different facet of the wireless communications system.

Professor Lionel Ni (right) and Dr Zhang, from HKUST's Computer Science and Engineering Department at the press conference.

HKUST will develop the wireless communication system for Boeing's commercial planes to facilitate onboard entertainment and communication among maintenance technicians. It will focus on the problem of seamless connectivity among different networks used by aircraft line maintenance technicians at airports.

Managed by a research team comprising Professor Lionel Ni, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Dr Qian Zhang, Associate Professor and other postgraduate research students of the Department, the project is intended to be ongoing, rather than being constrained by a specific timeframe. Boeing will review the project every year and allocate funding for continued collaboration, in line with Boeing's research portfolio review process.

Speaking at a signing ceremony in Beijing, HKUST's representative, Prof Lionel Ni said, "We are honoured to be named a partner of this research project for the world's largest civil aircraft manufacturer. It speaks soundly of HKUST's research strength and technological capabilities."

Dr Zhang had this to say about the project, "Today's aircraft information, including performance data and track record of the flights are not fully digitized. If a plane experiences any irregularities, line maintenance technicians could only retrieve relevant data for the ensuing diagnosis and repair after the plane has landed, causing enormous disruption to its own schedule and the entire flight scheduling.

" The collaboration between HKUST and Boeing will focus on how to leverage efficient wireless communication to reduce the maintenance period in airport as much as possible."

Boeing regarded the research collaborations with the three Chinese universities as "examples of the company's strategy to leverage world class research wherever it is located throughout the world".

Boeing's spokesperson added that "Chinese universities have made great strides in their research capabilities and many multinational companies have established research labs in China. The Chinese are working on very innovative wireless and information technology research which could benefit our commercial airplane products."

HKUST will own the intellectual property rights for results derived from this collaborative research project.