The glowing promise of electrification is the most impactful disruption to our largest two industries—aerospace and automotive—in decades. The shock waves of this determined worldwide movement are being felt in all areas of manufacturing, design engineering, and production, as well as the science of measurement: metrology. There is actual consumer demand for a sea change in transportation, and buyers want options now.
The best part of change is its challenge to the status quo and the long-prevailing industry norms that can become a rut for everyone in the manufacturing ecosystem. The design and production of electric vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft is one innovation pushing the far reaches of engineering and the best minds in the aerospace and tech industries. Mass adoption of eVTOL aircraft will surely change how we transport our population and goods. Manufacturing Inspection Report
It is reported that more than 600 eVTOL concepts are in development worldwide. But are we tech-ready for this new phase of on-demand aircraft travel, where safety and cost are top issues? In the metrology arena, we are geared up with a new generation of sophisticated data acquisition systems that can capture real-world quality data for measurement, positioning, and inspection. This is the critical link between the real and virtual worlds that enables smarter manufacturing. But to reach full potential, stakeholders within the entire manufacturing process must have on-demand access to this data to ensure quality is maintained throughout the product lifecycle. Metrology and the data, analytics, and actionable insights it provides are essential to smart manufacturing and the development of precision products.
Next-gen laser trackers enable the field of large-scale scanning to meet the stringent precision dimensional control needs of aerospace. Not only do these systems enable measurement-assisted production technology, they also allow the brightest minds in the business to innovate more real-time feedback and machine-learning applications. These advancements, in turn, raise the level of digital transformation required to make manufacturing smarter.
As large-volume hand scanners bridged the gap between terrestrial laser scanners and metrology-grade solutions, another recent technological leap took a different path. The first direct-scanning laser tracker was introduced into Hexagon’s Leica Absolute Tracker family, creating a completely new field in metrology. The quest for 100 percent surface cover for aerospace structures can be realized, as 3D data is captured within a single coordinate system within volumes up to 197 ft. [60 m]. A single operator can use the Leica Absolute Tracker ATS600 to scan objects with the needed efficiency within the required accuracy range that was simply not possible in the past.
The operator fully controls the balance between process speed and the level of detail delivered to the metrology software. Another arrival this year is a new laser tracker that addresses the “measure-anywhere-workflow” trend with unprecedented portability for large-scale manufacturing applications. This particular laser tracker, the Leica Absolute Tracker AT500, is cable-free with hot-swappable batteries with a run time of six hours. The tracker works with the newest B-Probeplus, a probing tool designed to gather hidden 3D points across a large measurement volume.
Insitu measurement capability is important to the eVTOL and aerospace industries, meaning measuring a large, unmovable object where it sits outside on the tarmac, inside the factory, or in a remote testing location. The laser tracking system has an ingress rating, which is essential for outdoor use. Regarding eVTOL/drone technologies, their rigorous testing regimens are quite often performed outdoors. For this application, ease of use for scanning and tracking has been a major concern, which is now solved.
This year’s unveiling of a unique, cross-platform scanner delivered another major leap forward, as it can be used with portable arms, laser trackers, and robots. This type of progression helps manufacturers re-imagine how they can apply quality throughout the product lifecycle of an eVTOL model, as well as conventional aircraft and space applications. In the past, scanners were stand-alone devices or coupled with a single receiver unit, such as a portable arm. The Absolute Scanner AS1’s design allows it to be used on a portable arm or as a handheld scanner working in tandem with a laser tracker.
An operator can gather critical points via probing and then slip into scan mode with a flick of a switch when attaching the scanner. This particular scanner hits the “scan everything” checklist as it can scan 99 percent of surface types in its default mode, a must for prototyping and the vast swath of materials used in many aerospace applications.
Perhaps the most important point to make here is that the AS1 is also cross-platform compatible with the robotics used in metrology–assisted automation processes. With a point acquisition rate of up to 1.2 million points per second and a frame rate of 300 Hz, this scanner meets the requirements for closed-loop manufacturing and on-demand intelligence, which is most complete when customers have real-time access to 3D measurement data.
Given all the activity around digital twins, it is not a huge leap to state that aerospace manufacturers continue to move toward digitizing production processes. Their goals can be all over the map, from removing manpower where there are repetitive processes, eliminating manual errors, and running their factory processes 24/7 to improve total output. There are many instances where dimensional and other types of inspection tend to be the singular process that occurs outside the manufacturing and assembly processes. However, the utilization of metrology in manufacturing today is clearly trending toward pushing quality directly into the production workflow, augmenting or even replacing traditional in-process checks. This is an area where precision scanning can play a huge role.
It is an exciting and challenging time in the evolution of aerospace design and manufacturing as all of our accumulated technology advances are being applied to the eVTOL frontier. Simultaneously, aerospace companies are embracing this emerging level of metrology automation with the intent of embedding these traditional laboratory quality inspections directly into smart manufacturing facilities. These new scanning systems are designed to measure mid- to large-sized parts from landing gear to fuselages, and are powered by the incredible accuracy of the latest laser trackers.
Automation solutions based on portable measurement systems allow manufacturers to utilize lab-grade metrology technology on the shop floor—in-line, near-line, and off-line. In simple terms, laser trackers enable flexible implementations, including high-accuracy surface scanning, feature calculation, and discrete point measurement that drive the highest level of quality into the manufacturing process.
It is natural to want to make comparisons to the old-style measurement cells, but the major differentiator is software not hardware. These new “scan cells” are driven by sophisticated software programs for robotic automation, metrology reporting and measurement data management platforms.
Contemporary robotic automation software provides the ability to efficiently plan, program, and control robotic cells. The software also enables easier integration with the wider manufacturing software ecosystem, simplifying the data acquisition process for smarter manufacturing processes. In the hard-driving movement for more electrification of our transportation, metrology-assisted automation was due for an upgrade.
Today, new software programs orchestrate the sensors, software, and robotic equipment of an inspection scan cell from a single, intuitive interface, making automated measurement more accessible, efficient, and reliable. An offline programming environment is also required to maximize equipment utilization and provide accurate path simulation for virtual commissioning of the system.
Users can also execute rapid deployment of programs to the real scan cell.
In the software realm, another game changer for scan cell inspection is a robust reporting software solution that merges a manufacturer’s disparate reporting tools into a central location. This approach ensures critical data is flowing into one tool with on-demand access to the data when needed. Users gain additional insights and analysis from this data, providing essential intelligence to information that would otherwise be missing.
To complete the loop, an enterprise IT solution is necessary to structure and manage 3D-measurement data generated from scan cells. This technology closes the information gap in the quality assurance process and provides controlled access to measurement results, plans, tolerances, alignment systems, and analysis sessions. There are also significant innovations in automatic prediction (artificial intelligence) functionality giving quality professionals the ability to learn more about processes in terms of stability and potential tolerance deviation. Using automatically generated forecasts, aerospace manufacturers can act before real problems occur.
Dynamic eVTOL research and development is an important kick-start for digital transformation. The good news is a new precision runway is built for today and tomorrow. Large-scale scanning technologies and metrology-assisted automation platforms are the springboards that enable the development of future eVTOL and aerospace transportation options.
Schedule An Inspection The complexity of legacy automation platforms is now in the rearview mirror. Robotics, 3D measurement systems, and critical supporting software solutions ensure rich data acquisition and provide the stepping stones toward smart manufacturing. Automating quality processes can be a pivotal step, as a manufacturer can address current quality control challenges and gain insight into what smart manufacturing looks like further down the tarmac.