Aerospace and Defense (A&D) platform development has become a high-risk venture. The sector is experiencing competitive margin pressures at both the platform and supply chain levels. Design needs now interact across disciplines, influencing the product hierarchy. Customers require increased platform performance, thus OEMs are incorporating new capabilities through electrical systems. In this dynamic and competitive corporate climate, how can platform developers manage program risks?
The answer is a new generation of digital technologies that use a complete digital twin of the platform’s electrical system. The digital twin ensures that all information about an electrical system is stored in a single, easily accessible digital database known as the “single source of truth.” Organizations that adopt a digital approach see considerable productivity gains and a higher likelihood of completing program milestones due to their ability to completely exchange data and enhance engineering procedures. In reality, organizations that change into digital enterprises are currently among the top 5% performers in their area or industry.
Let’s look at six ways that digital twin technology can reduce risk throughout the A&D platform lifecycle.
A&D engineers have long desired a mechanism to test multiple architectures and assess their practicality before constructing the final system. A digital twin makes this possible. The technology makes use of data from model-based systems engineering environments, independent of origin, whether they are implemented in SysML, Visio, Excel, or any other format. Siemens’ Capital solution, for example, takes multi-domain system models and normalizes their data before generating electrical functional architecture models. The models drive electrical and electronic system development and let trade studies quickly examine different logical, physical, software, and network platform architectures. Platform developers can thus predict system performance before design implementation begins, reducing program risk.
Tribal knowledge is frequently concentrated in pockets or isolated departments, making it difficult to apply the expertise to eliminate errors, speed processes, and boost production. A digital twin facilitates knowledge exchange through built-in design limitations and rule checks. Constraints direct design execution while offering real-time input to the development team. Automated design rule checks can be used to ensure that electrical system designs conform with standards and regulations, as well as heuristic rules of thumb discovered by experienced developers over many program, test, and integration cycles.
The increase in platform electrical system content has made fitting all the systems, devices and components within the airframe a significant challenge. Successful electro-mechanical integration requires a deep level of collaboration between electrical and mechanical engineers. A digital twin enables the sharing of design information back and forth between electrical and mechanical design environments, avoiding the unpleasant surprises that can occur during test article fabrication. This cross collaboration enables trial routing and identifies potential conflicts which the electrical engineer can communicate back to the mechanical designer. The two disciplines can also reduce the probability of having any of the physical conflicts show up later during integration.
Electrical system complexity has a significant impact on compliance. OEMs must be able to satisfy and demonstrate compliance with all regulatory standards. Capital addresses these problems by providing compliance analysis tools with direct access to the electrical system’s configuration-controlled digital twin. Compliance simulation and analysis can occur simultaneously with design changes. A designer can determine whether a current electrical system design is compliant in minutes, not days or weeks.
Harness manufacturing today entails creating more harness types faster and in smaller quantities. At the same time, they want low-cost assembly delivered on time. Digitalization relieves pressure by integrating harness product and process engineering to the electrical system’s digital twin. This direct access results in an automated harness manufacturing engineering flow with no manual data re-entry. Important production aids, tooling, and cost estimates can be created fast and precisely the first time. Harness producers can better prepare to satisfy customer demands for timeliness, quality, delivery time, and profitability.
In-service operation is the longest and most expensive part of a platform’s lifecycle. A digital twin improves the efficiency of aircraft maintenance by reducing repair and maintenance turnaround time. The method generates correct maintenance paperwork directly from the digital twin of the aircraft’s electrical system. The system understands the exact version of the electrical system required for a certain manufactured and certified tail number, as well as the generic electrical system designs for an aircraft model or variant. Maintenance personnel thus know exactly how the as-built aircraft was equipped, resulting in significant increases in aircraft operating availability and effective fleet size.
Digitalization is a tried-and-true business process ideal for the twenty-first century. OEMs can streamline operations by migrating to a digital twin-enabled work environment. Advanced systems like Capital can assist A&D organizations in achieving these objectives, allowing them to move more confidently through the electrical product lifecycle to successful product launches in service and beyond.
