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鈥檛 happen 鈥� and to speed up the inspection process 鈥� manufacturers have started assembling planes with the help of augmented reality (AR).
鈥淚t used to take about three weeks for the inspecting team to check all those brackets were in the right position,鈥� says Nicolas Chevassus at Airbus Group Innovations. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 less than three days.鈥�
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Airbus is testing a system called MiRA to build both its A350 and A380 passenger craft. Around 1000 workers across its production sites in Europe and the US have been given tablet computers running augmented reality software.
Pointing the tablet鈥檚 camera towards part of the aircraft gives the engineers a view on the screen on which a virtual structure can be overlaid. It will show, for instance, where each bracket should be. Comparing what鈥檚 on the screen with the actual aircraft makes it easy to spot missing parts.
Airbus is also using AR to check that control panels are correctly configured. Every switch and button that needs to be set for a given test is highlighted in the AR view.
The tablet-based system works well when one or two people need to see what is on screen. But to give a view that several engineers can see at once, Airbus is using video projection tools that superimpose virtual information onto the aircraft鈥檚 structure itself.
鈥淚t used to take three weeks to check everything was in the right place. Now it takes less than three days鈥�
The virtual representations of the parts to check are taken from the 3D models of the plane created at the design stage. 鈥淵ou can completely automate the production of instructions,鈥� says Chevassus.
To give workers an AR view without having to hold a tablet, Airbus hopes to introduce headsets in the next two to three years. These would be roughly similar to Google鈥檚 Glass headset, although to be practical they will need better processors and longer battery life, Chevassus says.
Airbus researchers are also developing virtual training environments in which assembly-line workers can learn how to put parts together. In a recent test, .
The headset let them see and interact with a virtual door superimposed on the actual environment around them. The researchers found that the mixed reality training was as effective as a normal training approach in which workers would interact with real parts.
This would make it easier for instructors to teach new workers. 鈥淵ou could actually be trained in something like this while not located in the same place,鈥� says Pablo Bermell-Garcia, who was involved in the research.
Jeffrey Lee Funk at the National University of Singapore thinks that augmented reality training environments are a good idea. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to help people learn much more quickly,鈥� he says.
Cyber sick
But Funk thinks there are a few technical hurdles to overcome before it is widely used. For a start, quite a bit of processing power is needed to stop the AR viewpoint feeling sluggish and disorientating. Chevassus says the problem is worse if the user is wearing a headset. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an issue with head-mounted displays because any latency makes you feel cyber sick,鈥� he says. It is only a matter of time before such wrinkles get ironed out, though.
In the meantime, other industries are also experimenting with augmented reality.
Canadian firm system provides a view of a structure that can be annotated from a remote location. Drawing on the screen allows them to highlight specific features, such as indicating which of a number of cables in a bundle needs to be plugged in. A person on site can see this highlighted cable on their tablet.
The device remembers the position of the cable so that every time the tablet鈥檚 camera hovers over the bundle again, the right cable will still be marked. 鈥淚f you bring your tablet back to the object everything will snap back,鈥� says Scope AR CEO Scott Montgomerie.
Scope AR鈥檚 system is being used by utility companies, car makers 鈥� including Toyota 鈥� and aerospace firms such as Lockheed Martin. Boeing is experimenting with similar technology, too.
Augmented reality is seeping into many different industries, says Funk. People are learning to work in two places at once 鈥� the real and the virtual.
Meet me in Virtual Reality
Augmented reality can help you understand a complex structure that鈥檚 right in front of you. But sometimes you need to work on something that doesn鈥檛 exist yet.
This is the idea behind French firm MiddleVR鈥檚 system 鈥� a virtual meeting place where engineers in different locations can come together to examine the latest 3D prototypes.
Founder S茅bastien Kuntz says that it allows technicians to upload several different models and manipulate them at realistic scales. French naval defence contractor DCNS is already using the system, and the company plans to widen its scope from engineering to industries such as architecture.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淟et鈥檚 build a plane鈥�
