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| Thursday, 13 February 2014, 16:00 HKT/SGT | |
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Source: A*STAR | |
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| A*STAR's exhibition at Singapore Airshow 2014 highlights its R&D initiatives in aviation |
SINGAPORE, Feb 13, 2014 - (ACN Newswire) - The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) will share its latest R&D initiatives for sustainable aviation at the Singapore Airshow 2014 at Changi Exhibition Centre, Booth D35 from 11th to 16th February. The innovations on display will focus on four key areas: aviation remanufacturing technology; analytics; aviation communications; and Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) for composites and structures.
The focus on R&D comes at a crucial juncture when there is a need to cope with the industry's demands. With approximately 3.3 billion people expected to fly commercially by 2014, and 38 million tonnes of cargo to be carried the same year[1], these research developments in manufacturing efficiencies and maintenance processes will be critical for safe and sustainable air travel and cargo services, and big data technologies will be key for more efficient operations and handling passenger movement.
- Showcase of New Research Capabilities for the Growth of Global Aerospace and Aviation Industry at Airshow 2014
The A*STAR showcase at the Airshow provides highlights of the multi-disciplinary capabilities available across the Science and Engineering research institutes, which the Aerospace Programme leverages on to address broad and complex range of interests of its Research Consortium members for a sustainable future.
The cutting-edge innovations on display will focus on improving manufacturing, maintenance and communication for sustainable aviation. Two of the highlights that will be showcased at the Airshow are:
* Laser aided additive manufacturing (LAAM): This additive manufacturing process, also known as 3D printing, uses high energy laser beams to melt additive materials to repair damaged parts or fabricate fully dense components. The process can help shorten manufacturing time and reduce material waste significantly.
* Data Analytics: A*STAR will showcase its award-winning flight prediction algorithm which, in a recent international competition, utilised data analytics to estimate flight arrivals nearly 40 percent better than the current industry estimates. This can result in greater efficiency for airlines, with huge potential savings in fuel and crew costs and improved convenience for passengers. Other data analytics innovations from A*STAR include a cutting-edge sensor network system and analytics platform that can accurately predict equipment failure; and a video analytics system with real-time human crowd detection, cross-camera tracking, event detection and semantic mining system for information discoveries.
- Multi-disciplinary Research by the A*STAR Aerospace Programme for a Sustainable Future in Aviation
Since 2007, the A*STAR Aerospace Programme (AP) has undertaken and completed more than 50 multi-disciplinary projects for the AP Consortium. These include projects targeted at further development of sustainability solutions for greater aircraft efficiency:
* The introduction of a superhydrophobic coating can improve aircraft operations and reduce potential mechanical damages to the aircraft. The coating can repel water on the skin of aircraft to protect the surface from condensation, friction, corrosion and mould. This will reduce drag and improve aerodynamics, leading to better aircraft performances and fuel savings. This technology will also be further developed by the Aerospace Programme into an ice-phobic coating to reduce the formation of ice.
* Through modelling, A*STAR researchers are better able to understand the penetration mechanism of fluid and moisture into composite material, and their effect on structural integrity and surface adhesion property. This is significant as today's aircraft structures are commonly made up of composite materials to reduce the weight of the aircraft in order to be more fuel efficient. Understanding the characteristics of composites when exposed to extensive water penetration will enable users to take preventive and corrective measures under Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities.
Mr. Tay Kok Khiang, Chairman of the A*STAR Aerospace Programme, said, "We are honoured to have many of the leading Original Equipment Manufacturers and Services companies in aviation within our Consortium. Over the years, since the Aerospace Programme was formed in 2007, our researchers within SERC have proven that they have the knowledge and capabilities to help our Consortium members better understand their areas of interests and come up with innovative solutions that enable our members to do more for their current and future products. We hope that our contributions to the aviation industry will benefit our members, many of whom have companies in Singapore, and further enhance the potential of Singapore as an important aviation hub."
Dr. Tan Geok Leng, Executive Director of A*STAR's Science and Engineering Research Council, said, "With the explosive growth in air travel, the ability to exploit science and technology will prove critical for industry players to remain at the forefront of aviation. Public-private collaborative platforms, such as the A*STAR Aerospace Programme, will enable industry players to leverage on A*STAR's cross-disciplinary research capabilities for competitive advantage."
Mr Bill Lyons, Director of Global Technology for Boeing, said, "Boeing is a founding member of the A*STAR Aerospace Programme Consortium, and we've been an active partner in collaboration of aerospace technology development. We have been successful in transitioning the technologies developed by the consortium to our manufacturing facilities with support from the A*STAR research institutions. We look forward to strengthen our relationship with A*STAR AP and its members and expand our mutually beneficial partnership with A*STAR in Singapore."
The current members of the AP Consortium include leading commercial airliner manufacturers (Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer); large engines manufacturers (GE, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce); components, systems and specialist material OEMs (Hexcel, Honeywell, Panasonic and SAFRAN); key players in aviation in Singapore (DSTA, SIA Engineering and ST Aerospace) and local SMEs such as Addvalue Technologies, Flight Focus and TruMarine.
List of Aviation Technologies Showcase @ A*STAR Booth
- Aviation Theme 1: Aviation Communications
1. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Tool for Antennas on Airplane
The electromagnetic interference (EMI) from transmitters / emitters can be a serious problem for flight and munition safety as it disrupts the performance of a circuit, causing loss of functionality and inadvertent activation of systems. An advanced simulation technology is developed to solve the problem of evaluating computing between two or more integrated sensor systems onboard electrically large aircrafts. The developed simulation technology allows for much faster analysis of sensors on aircrafts and help engineers identify proper locations for the installation of new sensors on aircraft.
2. Software Defined Radio
Software Defined Radio (SDR) architecture integrates Policy-based Management to create a platform that adapts automatically to changing conditions. SDR technology replaces traditional hardware-based radio signal processing tasks with software components while policy-based management allows configuration and management decisions to be autonomously made by a computer system based on a set of rules specified by the operator. In a space and weight constrained application such as in an aircraft cabin, a single unit of the platform can be used to provide wireless services to passengers using diverse access technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code division multiple access (CDMA), wireless local area network (WLAN) and more, keeping them connected throughout the flight.
3. Disruption Tolerant Networking
Disruption-tolerant networking (DTN), a new paradigm for message routing in intermittently-connected networks, can be employed to mitigate these challenges and enable reliable communications in airborne networks.
- Aviation Theme 2: Non destructive inspection (NDI) for Composites & Structures
Non destructive inspection (NDI) can greatly benefit maintenance, repairs and overhaul (MRO) applications for timely detection of defects that can pose a threat to aircraft safety. Some of the NDI techniques include:
1. Detection system for water ingress (water leakage or seepage)
Inspection of water ingress, or the leakage of water, is made easier with a simple and sensitive process that will allow better strategies in preventive maintenance of the aircraft. With this system, it will act as a tool for fast and reliable detection of water ingress along the rivets/bolts in composite parts.
2. Structured heating thermography
Structured heating can highlight low contrast defects, also referred to a degradation of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRPs), now in a more predictable manner. This is an improvement from the lack of reliable tools that does not usually detect such defects non-destructively.
3. Millimeter Wave Inspection
Early detection of corrosion is crucial to prevent relatively large area from being rehabilitated, which may require significant time, resources, and downtime. The initiation of corrosion is preceded by the presence of corrosion precursor pittings. Detection of precursor pittings yields information about the susceptibility to corrosion initiation.
A millimeter wave signal (30GHz to 300GHz) is introduced through a waveguide/antenna onto a sample under test. The signal is reflected back from any slight variation in thickness and/or dielectric coatings such as paint and corrosion, thereby revealing the presence and severity of a corroded region.
4. Piezoelectric Sensors
Piezoelectric sensors are not only able to listen to the occurrence of structural failures and achieve real-time monitoring for structural damages, but also can realize mechanical energy harvesting for powering up wireless signal transmission. Piezoelectric ultrasonic NDT can offer the ability to detect physical flaws with a large penetration depth.
- Aviation Theme 3: Aviation Remanufacturing Technology
1. Remanufacturing of Engine Components
Engine Components can now be remanufactured through an interdisciplinary approach using state-of-the-art technology. This can enhance capability, and expand the range of repairable parts, whilst meeting stringent environmental regulations.
Successful remanufacturing of complex 3D components requires a host of processes, including disassembly, cleaning, inspection for defects, digitising of part geometry, adaptive repair and machining, and surface finishing.
2. Laser Aided Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace Applications
Using lasers, additive materials in the form of wire or powder can be melted to build a part, layer by layer. This additive manufacturing process known as Laser Aided Additive Manufacturing is capable of repairing damaged parts, as well as directly fabricating fully dense components with the aid of CAD/CAM. The process can reduce the manufacturing time and the material waste, reuse the materials, reduce the down time and heavy capital expenditures for the replacement with new parts.
3. Stripping of Protective Coating on blades using Laser
Environmentally-friendly laser can be used to strip off Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) and Bond Layer (BL) from aero engine components on platform and around cooling holes rather than using corrosive agents. This technology uses a robotic laser system with easy programming methodology for automated and productive stripping of entire single vane.
- Aviation Theme 4: Analytics
(I) Image Analytics
1. "De-Haze" Software
With the "De-haze" software, images of outdoor scenes would no longer be compromised by haze, fog and smoke, in terms of contrast and colour fidelity. The haze removal technology effectively transforms the hazy image to a sharper and clearer image.
(II) Data Analytics
2. Boosting Productivity with Predictive Monitoring
Equipment failures and operational hiccups can be life-threatening in the aviation industry and any emergency maintenance of such equipment failures is often very costly and unproductive. This system consists of a sensor network and an analytics platform to accurately predict equipment failure from real-time updates of the equipment's condition.
3. Flight Prediction
The flight prediction algorithm won first place at the GE Flight Quest Competition for producing flight arrival estimates that were 40% better than the industry standard. This was achieved by creative extraction of features and the application of Machine Learning techniques that automatically captured the complex interaction between weather and congestion factors. This can help airlines better predict flight timings which would help reduce cost, provide greater efficiency and increase convenience for passengers.
4. Understanding Events with Video Analytics
Video Analytics makes use of machines to understand events, and will only sound the alert when necessary. The system is a visualization tool with real-time human crowd detection, cross-camera tracking, event detection and semantic mining system for information discoveries.
[1] Source: IATA Forecast Press Release 2011: http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/pages/2011-02-14-02.aspx
Contact:
Ms. Fazilah Latif
Officer, Corporate Communications
DID: +65 6419 6529
Mobile: +65 9009 1973
Email: fazilah-latif@scei.a-star.edu.sg
Ms. Doris Yang
Senior Officer, Corporate Communications
DID: +65 6419 6525
Mobile: +65 9367 5336
Email: yangscd@scei.a-star.edu.sg
Topic: Research and development
Source: A*STAR
Sectors: Daily Finance, Science & Nanotech, Science & Research, Airlines
http://www.acnnewswire.com
From the Asia Corporate News Network
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