Search Results

“Spotlight on Design” features video interviews and case study segments, focusing on the latest technology breakthroughs. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. In the episode “Diagnostics and Prognostics: Proactive Maintenance and Failure Prevention” (21:04), Delphi engineers explain how they leverage the growing number of sensors and computing power in vehicles to diagnose and proactively solve emerging mechanical or electronic problems, before a breakdown occurs. This video also looks at the next generation of automotive telematics, with HEM Data demonstrating how in-vehicle data acquisition is used to monitor the inner workings of vehicles.

“Spotlight on Design: Insight” features an in-depth look at the latest technology breakthroughs impacting mobility. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. When automotive and aerospace manufacturers look for a material with superior lightweight and strength characteristics, they often look no further than composite materials. In the episode “Composite Materials: New Trends in Automotive Design” (10:20), an engineer from Molded Fiber Glass Research Company demonstrates how they develop and test the properties of composite materials, and an engineer at MirTEQ Incorporated discusses designing molds for an aftermarket composite part.

The Sensory Prognostics and Management Systems (SPMS) program sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing developed and evaluated designs to integrate advanced diagnostic and prognostic (i.e., Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) or Health Management (HM)) capabilities onto commercial airplanes. The objective of the program was to propose an advanced HM system appropriate for legacy and new aircraft and examine the technical requirements and their ramifications on the current infrastructure and regulatory guidance. The program approach was to determine the attractive and feasible HM applications, the technologies that are required to cost effectively implement these applications, the technical and certification challenges, and the system level and business consequences of such a system.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have been growing over the past few years and will continue to grow at a faster pace in future. UAS faces many challenges in certification, airspace management, operations, supply chain, and maintenance. Blockchain, defined as a distributed ledger technology for the enterprise that features immutability, traceability, automation, data privacy, and security, can help address some of these challenges. However, blockchain also has certain challenges and is still evolving. Hence it is essential to study on how blockchain can help UAS. G-31 technical committee of SAE International responsible for electronic transactions for aerospace has published AIR 7356 [1] entitled Opportunities, Challenges and Requirements for use of Blockchain in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operating below 400ft above ground level for Commercial Use. This paper is a teaser for AIR 7356 [1] document.

In 1990 in the USA, Section 206 of the Clean Air Act ushered in a new era in passenger car and light truck service and maintenance. Ensuing requirements led to introduction of sophisticated vehicle on-board diagnostic systems. These systems demand the increasing sophistication of service providers. The amount of service information has expanded exponentially. The sophistication of the tools needed to diagnose and repair vehicles has become increasingly complex. To meet the needs of today's service professionals, new systems had to be developed. The convergence of regulations, vehicle complexity, tool capabilities and the growing volume of service information required the vehicle producers and service communities to implement more efficient information delivery systems.

The aerospace ecosystem is a complex system of systems comprising of many stakeholders in exchanging technical, design, development, certification, operational, and maintenance data across the different lifecycle stages of an aircraft from concept, engineering, manufacturing, operations, and maintenance to its disposal. Many standards have been developed to standardize and improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and security of the data transfer processes in the aerospace ecosystem. There are still challenges in data transfer due to the lack of standards in certain areas and lack of awareness and implementation of some standards. G-31 standards committee of SAE International has conducted a study on the available digital data standards in aircraft asset life cycle to understand the current and future landscapes of the needed digital data standards and identify gaps. This technical paper presents the study conducted by the G-31 technical committee.