Prof. Dr. Marius Swoboda, Head of Design Systems Engineering at Rolls-Royce, in conversation
In Dahlewitz, the British company Rolls-Royce is developing the aircraft engines of the future: virtual reality has long been a reality in aviation. We spoke to Prof. Swoboda about 1:1 visualization, engine health monitoring, safety requirements and potholes.
Visualization technologies in aviation: How far are we, where is Prof. Swoboda heading?
In general, visualization technologies in aviation are continuously increasing and are already being used in many areas – from design and marketing to training and service. At Rolls-Royce Germany in Dahlewitz, for example, we operate a 3D virtual reality CAVE for the true-to-scale visualization of engines and their components. This not only enables a 1:1 visualization of our products, but also worldwide cooperation with colleagues for the collaborative and optimal design of components. Since the facility was set up, interest and demand have risen rapidly within the company – the immersive visualization experience and the practical benefits have been convincing in a short space of time.
Visualization, robotization, AI in aircraft production: How high is the “hands-on” share?
I can only speak for our company here. For example, we are currently working on approaches for the automatic inspection of assembled engine components. This involves filming the real components from many perspectives and comparing them electronically with CAD design data. The software solutions used here include many AI approaches.
We have gone even further when it comes to AI in service. We are the pioneers of ‘Engine Health Monitoring’ (EHM), i.e. the monitoring of engines in the air. What began decades ago is now firmly established with our customers and we are constantly developing it further. For example, we are increasingly using AI to monitor the operating data of individual engines and evaluate it together with the entire fleet of an engine type. What we learn with one engine benefits the operation and safety of all of them – not only retrospectively, but also in terms of preventive measures in service when corresponding trends emerge. In the latest Pearl engine for Bombardier, we are already recording thousands of parameters – originally there were only dozens.
Does this replace the pilot?
No – not at all. Our Operations Centers receive the engine data via satellite. Our engineers track this data and evaluate it – manually and with the help of AI applications. Should measures become necessary, our experts first talk to the aircraft operators, whose managers in turn talk to the pilots. The captain always has the final decision for an aircraft in the air.
Is fully automated aircraft production, at least in concept, within reach?
As we have just said: We can only talk about our field of activity. Engine construction is still largely a manufacturing process, which has to do on the one hand with the extremely high safety and quality requirements and on the other with the quantities produced. We standardize to a considerable extent and to some extent pursue a platform strategy similar to the automotive industry. But how much is automated is also a question of the business case. Please bear in mind that there are around 25,000 passenger aircraft in active use around the world today. Compared to the number of cars that are produced largely automatically, this is a very small number. This ratio will continue: Both Airbus and Boeing delivered around 700 aircraft each in 2017. VW sold around 5 million vehicles in the same year.
Keyword self-flying aircraft: the autopilot of the skies has been around for a long time, only now is the technology slowly arriving on earth. Why is autopilot in the air so well established and nothing to get “nervous” about, whereas autonomous driving is?
Once an airplane is in the air, pilots generally face hardly any challenges from the immediate surroundings. On the road, however, an incredible number of changing boundary conditions have to be taken into account for driving dynamics (traffic, potholes, pedestrians, weather, etc.). Up to now, sensor technology and information processing have simply not been sophisticated enough to utilize the volumes of data that must be taken into account in the car in real time and convert them into suitable actions. Flight simulators for practicing the necessary actions have been around since the 1960s, but the first car driving simulator only came onto the market around 1985 (Mercedes Benz Marienfelde). On the one hand, this is because flight mechanics can describe the movement of an aircraft very well and things usually proceed in a very orderly fashion (including take-off, landing, gust loads), but on the other hand, there is simply too much going on in road traffic!
As a British company, you research and produce on the outskirts of Berlin – why? What potential does Brandenburg have as a location now and in the future?
That’s right, we’ve been around for around 25 years and are constantly evolving. Originally, we were a joint venture between BMW and our British parent company Rolls-Royce plc in Germany. At the time, we were looking for a convenient, attractive location with access to qualified specialists. This was the case in Brandenburg. Not only do we have a very open-minded, committed state government here, from which we have always received a lot of support, but also an academically demanding environment with universities of applied sciences, the BTU Cottbus and the TU Berlin. Since the start, we have succeeded in being given responsibility for many new projects from the UK. Every success qualifies us for future contracts.
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