Virtual and Augmented Reality for Quality Control of Aircraft Interiors

Abstract

Automation is a driving force in manufacturing, enabling to ensure quality and scale during production and assembly. After a slow start, civil aerospace industry efforts in automating production, assembly and testing, are gaining pace and novel technologies are being experimented for enabling automated assembly and inspection phases, which are reliable and safe. In this context, a cluster of research projects were devised for the improvement of assembly and inspection phases of aircraft interiors, with a focus on cabin and cargo lining and hatrack elements of single-aisle aircrafts. This paper is focused on the inspection phase which follows the assembly, where a novel approach involving automated testing and human supervision aim to provide faster, safer and more flexible inspection operations when compared with more traditional ways, using virtual and augmented reality scenarios.