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This study presents the results of the ICE GENESIS 2021 Swiss Jura Flight Campaign in a way that is readily usable for ice accretion modelling and aims at improving the description of snow particles for model inputs. 2D images from two OAP probes, namely 2D-S and PIP, have been used to extract 3D shape parameters in the oblate spheroid assumption, as there are the diameter of the sphere of equivalent volume as ellipsoid, sphericity, orthogonal sphericity, and an estimation of bulk density of individual ice crystals through a mass-geometry parametrization. Innovative shape recognition algorithm, based on Convolutional Neural Network, has been used to identify ice crystal shapes based on these images and produce shape-specific mass particle size distributions to describe cloud ice content quantitatively in details. 3D shape descriptors and bulk density have been extracted for all the data collected in cloud environments described in the regulation as icing conditions.

In the framework of the European ICE GENESIS project (https://www.ice-genesis.eu/), a field experiment was conducted in the Swiss Jura in January 2021 in order to characterize snow microphysical properties and document snow conditions for aviation industry purposes. Complementary to companion papers reporting on snow properties, this study presents an investigation on mixed-phase conditions sampled during the ICE GENESIS field campaign. Using in situ measurement of the liquid and total water content, the ice mass fraction is calculated and serves as a criteria to identify mixed-phase conditions. In the end, mixed phase conditions were identified in almost 30 % of the 3800 km long cloud samples included in the ICE GENESIS dataset. The data suggests that the occurrence of mixed-phase does not clearly depend on temperature in the 0 to -10 °C range, but varies significantly from one cloud system to another.

The RTCA SC-230 committee began working on minimum operational performance standards (MOPS) for ice crystal detection using weather radar in 2018. The resulting MOPS document will be released in 2023. This paper presents the rationale, summarizes key requirements, and discusses means of validation for an ice crystal detection function incorporated in an airborne weather radar system.

Traditional solutions developed for the aerospace industry must overcome challenges posed for automation systems like design, requalification, large manual content, restricted access, and tight tolerances. At the same time, automated systems should avoid the use of dedicated equipment so they can be shared between jigs; moved between floor levels and access either side of the workpiece. This article describes the development of a robotic system for drilling and inspection for small aerostructure manufacturing specifically designed to tackle these requirements. The system comprises three work packages: connection within the digital thread (from concept through to operational metrics including Statistical Process Control), innovative lightweight / low energy drill, and auto tool-change with in-process metrology. The validation tests demonstrating Technology Readiness Level 6 are presented and results are shown and discussed.

In its entirety, automation is part of an integrated, multi-disciplinary product development process including the design, process, production, logistics, and systems approach—it depends on all these areas, but it also influences them as well. Automation in aerospace manufacturing is present throughout the entire supply chain, from elementary part manufacturing at suppliers up to final assembly, and a clear understanding of all the benefits (and drawbacks) of automation would help designers and engineers select the right designs for and levels of automation. The Right Level of Automation Within Industry 4.0 examines all impacts of automation that should be known by designers, manufacturers, and companies before investments in automation-related decisions are made—regardless of the which industry they work in. The process and the set of criteria discussed in this report will help decision makers select the right level of automation.

Increased production rates and cost reduction are affecting manufacturing in all mobility industry sectors. One enabling methodology that could achieve these goals in the burgeoning “Industry 4.0” environment is the optimized deterministic assembly (DA) approach. It always forms the same final structure and has a strong link to design-for-assembly and design-for-automation. The entire supply chain is considered, with drastic savings at the final assembly line level through recurring costs and lead-time reduction. Unsettled Technology Areas in Deterministic Assembly Approaches for Industry 4.0 examines the evolution of previous assembly principles that lead up to and enable the DA approach, related simulation methodologies, and undefined and unsolved links between these domains. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

“Smart” refers to tools that are “specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable/realistic, and time bound.” Smart assembly tools are used in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, and space for measuring, inspecting, gauging, drilling, and installing all existing fastening systems. Inside the Industry 4.0 environment, these tools have a huge influence on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), assembly cost reduction, process control, and even the product and process quality. These four domains—and their undefined nature—are the focus of this SAE EDGE™ Research Report. The technical issues identified here need to be discussed, the goals clarifying the scope of the industry-wide need to be aligned, and the issues requiring standardization need prioritized. NOTE: SAE EDGE Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the mobility industry.

Most of the decisions taken every day are based on the results of measurements of all different events that occur around us. The reliability of these measurements depends basically on the environment in which they are carried out, the procedure defined and the equipment used, evaluating their different contributions through the uncertainty of measurement. In the case of the measuring equipment, the calibration process associated with adequate traceability provides part of the information necessary to contribute positively to the generation of reliability. However, the physical nature of the instruments means that all of them have a certain degree of drift in their metrological characteristics, which requires users to establish time intervals to confirm the maintenance of the goodness of measurement of such equipment.

Accurate calculation of the catch efficiency β is of paramount importance for any ice accretion calculation since β is the most important factor in determining the mass of ice accretion. A new scheme has been proposed recently in [1] for accurately calculating β on a discretized two-dimensional geometry based on the results of a Lagrangian droplet trajectory integrator (start and impact conditions). This paper proposes an extension to the algorithm in Ref. [1], which is applicable to three-dimensional surfaces with arbitrary surface discretization. The 3D algorithm maintains the positive attributes of the original 2D algorithm, namely mass conservation of the impinging water, capability to deal with overlapping impingement regions and with crossing trajectories, computational efficiency of the algorithm, and low number of trajectories required to reach good accuracy in catch efficiency.

In response to the ice crystal icing hazard identified twenty years ago, aviation industry, regulation authorities, and research centers joined forces into the HAIC-HIWC international collaboration launched in 2012. Two flight campaigns were conducted in the high ice water content areas of tropical mesoscale convective systems in order to characterize this environment conducive to ice crystal icing. Statistics on cloud microphysical properties, such as Ice Water Content (IWC) or Mass Median Diameter (MMD), derived from the dataset of in situ measurements are now being used to support icing certification rulemaking and anti-icing systems design (engine and air data probe) activities. This technical paper focuses on methodological aspects of the derivation of MMD. MMD are estimated from PSD and IWC using a multistep process in which the mass retrieval method is a critical step.

Electroimpact has retrofitted two E4100 riveting gantry machines and two more are in process. These machines use the EMR (Electromagnetic Riveter) riveting process for the installation of slug rivets. We have improved the skin side EMR to provide fast and reliable results: reliability improved by eliminating a weekly shutdown of the machine. In paper 2015-01-2515 we showed the slug rivet injector using a Synchronized Parallel Gripper that provides good results over multiple rivet diameters. This injector is mounted to the skin side EMR so that the rivet injection can be done at any position of the shuttle table. The EMR is a challenging application for the fingers due to shock and vibration. In previous designs, fingers would occasionally be thrown out of the slots. To provide reliable results we redesigned the fingers retainer to capture the finger in a slotted plastic block which slides along the outside diameter of the driver bearing.

Insufficient chip extraction often leads to disruptions of automated drilling processes and will have a negative impact on the surface qualities. One opportunity to avoid chip accumulation is based on a kinematically enforced chip breakage caused by sinusoidal axial oscillations of the drilling tool. Recent investigations have shown that the quality of chip extraction is, amongst others, considerably depending on the chip shape and mass which are defined by the cutting parameters feed, amplitude and frequency. So far only mechanical systems in the form of tool holders have been available on the market, which are restricted to a fixed frequency (oscillation frequency is coupled to the spindle speed). In the present study a spindle with magnetic bearings was used which allows to adjust the oscillation frequency independent of the spindle speed and therefore enables all opportunities to affect the generated chip shapes.

Modern aircraft, such as A380 or A350 for Airbus, are very well connected in flight to ground stations through wireless communications. For maintenance and operations purpose, the aircraft is programmed to send regularly information such as flight reports based on the BITE messages (Built-In Test Equipment) or standard reports based on the value of physical parameters. Moreover, Airbus is capable of sending requests (called uplinks) to the aircraft to retrieve the value of different parameters in almost real-time. This ability, associated with adequate process, improves significantly the reaction time of the diagnostic and prognostic solutions that Airbus can provide to its customers. Traditionally Health Monitoring is considered useful when the Potential to Functional failure (P-F) interval is greater than one flight cycle.

The intent of this paper is to provide a general overview of the main engineering and test activities conducted in order to support A350XWB Ice and Rain Protection Systems certification. Several means of compliance have been used to demonstrate compliance with applicable Certification Basis (CS 25 at Amendment 8 + CS 25.795 at Amendment 9, FAR 25 up to Amendment 129) and Environmental protection requirements. The EASA Type Certificate for the A350XWB was received the 30th September 2014 after 7 years of development and verification that the design performs as required, with five A350XWB test aircraft accumulating more than 2600 flight test hours and over 600 flights. The flight tests were performed in dry air and measured natural icing conditions to demonstrate the performance of all ice and rain protection systems and to support the compliance demonstration with CS 25.1419 and CS25.21g.

The High Altitude Ice Crystals (HAIC) Sub-Project 3 (SP3) focuses on the detection of cloud regions with high ice water content (IWC) from current available remote sensing observations of space-based geostationary and low-orbit missions. The SP3 activities are aimed at supporting operationally the two up-coming HAIC flight campaigns (the first one in May 2015 in Cayenne, French Guyana; the second one in January 2016 in Darwin, Australia) and ultimately provide near real-time cloud monitoring to Air Traffic Management. More in detail the SP3 activities focus on the detection of high IWC from space-borne geostationary Meteosat daytime imagery, explore the synergy of concurrent multi-spectral multiple-technique observations from the low-orbit A-Train mission to identify specific signatures in high IWC cloud regions, and finally develop a satellite-based nowcasting tool to track and monitor convective systems over the Tropical Atlantic.

Glaciated icing conditions potentially leading to in-service event are often encountered in the vicinity of deep convective clouds. Nowcasting of these conditions with space-borne observations would be of a great help for improving flight safety and air-traffic management but still remains challenging. In the framework of the HAIC (High Altitude Ice Crystals) project, methods to detect and track regions of high ice water content from space-based geostationary and low orbit mission are investigated. A first HAIC/HIWC field campaign has been carried out in Australia in January-March 2014 to sample meteorological conditions potentially leading to glaciated icing conditions. During the campaign, several nowcasting tools were successfully operated such as the Rapid Development Thunderstorm (RDT) product that detects the convective areas from infrared geostationary imagery.

Airbus business and Extended Enterprise require more and more involvement of design and built suppliers, tier 1 but also across the complete supply chain i.e. tier 2-n. These suppliers are not working only for Aerospace industry and may have different cultures. The pressure on cost and overall efficiency is high and everybody has to cope with obsolescence and new regulation (e.g. REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals)). So it became very important for Airbus to clarify the criteria under which a change can be done without Airbus review, and criteria under which a change can be done without Airworthiness authority review.

The paper presents an innovative approach for the functional specification of complex and highly integrated aircraft control systems, such as the Environmental Control System (ECS), by applying model based specification methods. Complexity and effectiveness of modern ECS have significantly increased during the last few years along with development of new technologies and innovations in control engineering as well as digital data distribution and processing. Efficient management of cabin air flows on the one hand makes the ECS more energy-saving and on the other hand more complex with regard to its functionality and interaction with other interfaced aircraft systems. Numerous data interfaces to other systems and a high degree of automation are typical for a modern ECS. The aircraft manufacturer specifies the entire ECS functions and its interactions within the aircraft.

The work describes a concept application that aids a safety engineer to create a layup of equipment models by using an image scan of a schematic and a library of predefined standard component and their symbols. The approach uses image recognition techniques to identify the symbols within the scanned image of the schematic from a given library of symbols. Two recognition approaches are studied, one uses General Hough Transform; the other is based on pixel-level feature computation combining both structure and statistical features. The application allows the user to accept or edit the results of the recognition step and allows the user to define new components during the layup step. The tool then generates an output file that is compatible with a formal safety modeling tool. The identified symbols are associated to behavioral nodes from a model based safety tool.

The work describes a concept application to aid a safety engineer to perform an audit of a production aircraft against safety driven installation requirements. The capability is achieved using the following steps: A) Image capture of a product and measurement of distances between datum points within the product with/without references to a planar surface B) A digital reconstruction of the fabricated product by using multiple captured images to reposition parts according to the actual model. C) The projection onto the 3D digital reconstruction of the safety related installation constraints, respecting the original intent of the constraints that are defined in the digital mock-up.