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[ MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL ]
Brimming with ness. With the Internet of Things (IoT), the
idea became commercially viable, but it took
a while before the aviation industry started
paying attention. The interest in digital twins
has spiked in recent years, not only in the case
of OEMs but also carriers and MROs, thanks to
the introduction of new generation aircraft, the
enormous amounts of data that they generate,
Possibilities and the giant strides made in data analytics.
The numbers reflect the increase in interest.
WITH AIRCRAFT OEMS REAPING THE BENEFITS According to a report by Grand View Research,
OF USING DIGITAL TWINS, MROS HAVE STARTED the global digital twin market size is expected
TO INVEST IN THE TECHNOLOGY AS WELL to reach USD 26.07 billion by 2025, growing
at a CAGR of 38.2% over the forecast years.
A digital twin is a virtual, state-full representa-
Arun Sivasankaran
tion of a physical object or system across its
In an industry where any idea that minimizes aircraft downtime life-cycle (design, build, operate) using oper-
is worth its weight in gold, the excitement around the concept of ational real-time data and other sources. The
digital twins and the growing use of it in predictive maintenance virtual replica or mirror image of physical air-
hasn’t come as a surprise for industry watchers. plane parts works in tandem with real time data
The concept of a digital twin has been around for more than a to accurately predict how they will perform over
decade, but there was a question mark over its cost effective- the lifecycle of the aircraft. While a digital twin
provides a digital representation of the “current
state” of a manufactured product or system at
any given point in time, a digital thread is the
digital record of all “states” of a manufactured
product or system over time. The digital record
helps in asset production, operation, planning
of repair and also eventual retirement of the
asset.
Showing the Way
As is to be expected, it was the OEMs that took
the lead. In September last year, Boeing CEO
Dennis Muilenburg told investors in California
that the company had been able to achieve up
to a 40% improvement in first-time quality of
ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE October/November/December 2019 | 9
