Integrated Specimen-Level Laboratory Evaluation of Aircraft Seating Systems: A Sociotechnical Protocol for Passenger Health, Sustainability, and Cyber-Physical Resilience

Aircraft seats are tested for fire safety, emissions, hygiene, durability, and, for connected seats, cybersecurity, but each property is tested separately, on different samples, under different standards. As a result, current laboratory evidence cannot show how these properties interact once a seat has been cleaned, worn, and aged in service. This concept paper proposes the Integrated Seating Specimen Evaluation Protocol (ISSEP), a six-stage laboratory workflow that tests one controlled material lot across every property after realistic service-life conditioning. The stages are specimen and lot control; service-life conditioning; parallel fire, emission, microbiological, and durability test arms; a cyber-physical test bench for connected seat assemblies; an integrated decision matrix; and exposure feedback with interlaboratory comparison. The protocol was derived from a document analysis of aviation certification rules, laboratory standards, and cabin research, and it is organized through sociotechnical systems theory. The paper maps four documented research gaps to protocol requirements, presents a worked example for a bio-based seat fabric, and sets out a preliminary risk register and a validation plan. ISSEP is intended to supplement, not replace, certification testing by giving laboratories, manufacturers, and regulators one evidence base for seat safety, health, and sustainability decisions.