Aircraft Building Safer In Augmented Reality (AR)

Building Aircraft in Augmented Reality is Quicker and Safer

With thousands of components, assembling an aircraft is eye-wateringly complex. Mixing the real world with the virtual makes the job a lot simpler

New Scientist | March 2, 2016

Putting together an Airbus A350 is an eye-wateringly complex task. The wiring for a single aircraft runs to more than 500 kilometres, not to mention dozens of pipes and hydraulic lines, all held in place by 60,000 brackets. Missing a few is not an option.
To make sure that doesn’t happen – and to speed up the inspection process – manufacturers have started assembling planes with the help of augmented reality (AR).
“It used to take about three weeks for the inspecting team to check all those brackets were in the right position,” says Nicolas Chevassus at Airbus Group Innovations. “Now it’s less than three days.”

"It can provide information at the point and place of need. It can even adjust to the current context: a technician can start by himself and request support from an Augmented Reality application when he cannot continue based on his own knowledge." Existing and Future Use Cases for AR Technology. Source: http://augmera.com/?p=138

<more at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2079159-building-aircraft-in-augmented-reality-is-quicker-and-safer/; related links: http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a13967/lockheed-martin-augmented-reality-f-35/ (Lockheed Is Using These Augmented Reality Glasses to Build Fighter Jets. The defense giant is experimenting with glasses that instruct engineers on how exactly how to build and repair F-35s. February 6, 2015) and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224207954_Augmented_Reality_for_Aircraft_Maintenance_Training_and_Operations_Support (Augmented Reality for Aircraft Maintenance Training and Operations Support. Francesca De Crescenzio, Massimiliano Fantini, Franco Persiani, and Samuele Salti. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 31(1):96 - 101 · February 2011. [Abstract: Recent statistics on causes of aviation accidents and incidents demonstrate that to increase air-transportation safety, we must reduce human errors' impact on operations. So, the industry should first address human factors related to people in stressful roles to significantly minimize such errors. In particular, aviation maintenance employees work under high-pressure conditions- that is, they're under strict time constraints and must adhere to stringent guidelines. Because of such constraints, they might be prone to making errors. Unfortunately, many of these errors might not become apparent until an accident occurs. Although maintenance errors are a recognized threat to aviation safety, there are few simulation and computer-based tools for managing human factor issues in this field. The main advantages in using computer-based systems to train or support technicians are that computers don't forget and that they can help humans clearly understand facts. Such features can help reduce errors due to procedure violations, misinterpretation of facts, or insufficient training. Toward that end, augmented reality (AR) is a promising technology to build advanced interfaces using interactive and wearable visualization systems to implement new methods to display documentation as digital data and graphical databases. Nevertheless, many factors-such as cumbersome hardware, the need to put markers on the aircraft, and the need to quickly create digital content-seem to hinder its effective implementation in industry.])>