Airbus Group Innovation (Ottobrunn, Germany) developed MiRA technology to reduce the inspection time for tens of thousands of brackets that hold hydraulic pipes and wire bundles in place and attach them to the composite fuselage sections of the latest production aircraft.  Using a tablet-based interface equipped with a camera for visual inspection, operators superimpose a digital mock-up over “as built” reality. In other words, workers access the 3D model of the aircraft and compare the built and installed assemblies to their digital designs to inspect for missing, wrongly positioned or damaged brackets. At the end of the inspection, a report is automatically generated that includes details of any non-conforming parts which can be replaced or repaired quickly.

 

Airbus launched its MiRA/SART augmented reality solution in 2001 to standardize quality across its global network of production facilities. MiRA is already in use on the A320, A380, A350 XWB and A400M production lines in French, German, and Spanish Airbus factories. It reportedly dropped inspection time for the 60,000 to 80,000 brackets in the A380 fuselage from three weeks to just three days. Since 2015, MiRA/SART has been installed on about a hundred tablets and been operated by more than 1,000 users at production facilities across Europe. Aviation Week magazine reports that MiRA/SART has also been deployed at composite bracket manufacturer Daher Socata, in its Tarbes, France headquarters, on all of its large fuselage element assembly lines for a major French manufacturer of business aircraft.

 

Spirit AeroSystems has been testing and evaluating MiRA — now marketed and supplied by Testia as SART — in operational conditions for its inspection and quality control of brackets for A350 XWB composite fuselages before they are delivered to Airbus.

 

“This contract is a new milestone for SART’s international development. It embodies the cooperation we initiated with Spirit two years ago,” said Denis Gardin, Managing Director of Testia Group and Senior Vice President, New Technology Ventures of Airbus Group. “Spirit confirmed to us that with SART, the Return on Investment was realized quickly through the time and costs saved during inspection and quality control checks.”

 

For more information about Airbus’ development and use of augmented reality and other digital technologies for aircraft production, see its online article, “Factory of the future”.

 

Vertical flammability test: 14 FAR 25.853 b(4)), (App. F to part 25 part I § (a)

 

Smoke Density Test: 14 FAR 25.853 (d), (App. F to part 25, part V)

 

Heat Release Test: 14 FAR 25.853 (d), Appendix F, Part IV

 

Seat Test: 14 FAR 25.853 (c, App.F to part II)

 

Horizontal Test: 14 FAR 25.853 b(2,3), (App. F to part 25 part I § (a),(1)

 

45° flammability test: 14 FAR 25.853 (b), (App. F to part 25, part I § (6))

 

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