Page 10 - AAA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2019 Online Magazine

the parts and systems it uses to manufacture
commercial and military airplanes by using the
digital twin asset development model. Digital
twins, he added, would be the “biggest driver
of production efficiency improvements for the
world’s largest airplane maker over the next
decade.”
GE Aviation, which has been a pioneer in the
use of digital twin concept in aviation, produces
digital replicas for every engine it produces,
thus giving the company an electronic trail for
the engines. So precise and true to life are the industry when it was tried out successfully on auxiliary power units.
company’s digital twins of its jet engines that Companies are now working to see how much of an impact it will
the Federal Aviation Administration allows it have on other components.
to use digital analytical techniques to comply Digital twins are part of Airbus’ digital transformation efforts as
with regulatory requirements, thus eliminating well. The plane maker has used the concept to design aircraft too
the need for physical inspections. executives have also been discussing their use of digital technology
During a flight with a GE engine, sensors to design and manufacture airplanes at least since 2017. Logistics
on the engine collects information about its is another area that can benefit greatly from the technology: Airbus
performance. This is then downloaded and uses digital twins to coordinate the 12,000 partners supplying the
transmitted in real time to the digital twin so parts that make up an A319. Siemens has introduced digital twin
that the electronic version is always up to date capabilities for components such as its electric propulsion units
with the actual engine. This allows the company for manned and unmanned vehicles.
to monitor performance and predict mainte-
nance issues, thus reducing maintenance Military Applications
costs. The company has also helped develop Digital twinning is catching on in the military side of the industry
the first digital twin for an airplane’s landing as well. In June this year, James Geurts, assistant US Navy (USN)
gear. According to Bill Ruh, former CEO of GE secretary of the navy for Research, Development and Acquisition,
Digital, the company has more than 1.2 million revealed that the US Navy is creating digital twins for an increasing
digital twins currently in operation, with most number of components and systems. The service is also consider-
of them in aviation and energy sectors. ing the use of the technology or simultaneous operations aboard

ships.
Growing Use of the Technology “The digital twin concept is critical,” says Donald McCormack,
Apart from building digital twin components executive director for the Naval Surface Warfare Center. “To pace
for its GE60 engine family, GE has teamed up the threat, we must have an agile testing methodology, which allows
with Infosys to reduce flight delays with the for the complexities presented by new automation and technolo-
help of aircraft landing gear prognostics. The gies. We need to understand how we test in the future with artificial
companies achieved this with developing a intelligence.”
digital twin of landing gear, one that applies to Defence major Lockheed Martin has developed digital twin
both the nose and main landing gears as well technology for its Aegis combat system as part of its efforts to
as to the hydraulic system that drives the gear. create digital replicas for its products, processes, and tools. When
Infosys created the digital twin by first studying developing its unmanned Orion spacecraft, the company relied on
the failure modes of the landing gear, and then its “Digital Tapestry” to create a digital twin as part of its efforts to
identifying 34 locations where sensors could ensure that the spacecraft was performing as expected.
be applied to provide data for early detection The US military has the world’s largest aircraft fleet, one that rivals
of wear or malfunction. Using the data from
these 34 sensors, Infosys created a digital twin
of each aircraft’s physical landing gear.
Data is collected an average of once per
second from each of the 34 sensors on the
landing gear during takeoff and landing. The
data is stored and then analyzed to diagnose
anomalies to determine fixes for any issues.
Actual data is then continuously compared with
predicted data based on the digital twin, with
deviations being used to modify the prediction
models for required maintenance intervals.
With the technology producing excellent
results on engines, it surprised no one in the

10 | October/November/December 2019 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ AAA